I have been quite a busy bee, crocheting up a storm, while also enjoying some time with family and my best friend. Recently, my best friend since sophomore year of high school and I went to CKC Manchester (in New Hampshire). We used to go yearly, until the pandemic hit, so this was our first trip back. It was relatively small this year but we did pick up a few fun crafty goodies, and had a lovely day together. I’ve been out shopping with my mom a few times as well which is always so nice. My husband and son and I went to Six Flags New England a couple of weekends ago. My son is a huge fan of roller coasters and so we have been trying to take him to new parks to check them off of his list. We snagged season tickets during their sale last month that covers us through 2026 for all of their parks. This past year he was able to also get Cedar Point, Kings Dominion, and Busch Gardens Williamsburg crossed off.

I went to see the release party for Taylor Swift’s new album over the weekend with my stepdaughter. That was so much fun. We got to go to the Eras Tour in Toronto together last fall (the best concert I’ve ever been to). And of course I have been blasting The Life of a Showgirl on repeat all weekend. I haven’t decided my favorite song yet. Right now it’s a 3-way tie between The Fate of Ophelia, Opalite, and Elizabeth Taylor.

I wanted to share a few recent crochet projects I completed. Most recently, today I completed this cute little rug for my cozy corner in my bedroom. I just wanted something small to go under the rocking chair (mostly to protect the hardwood). I used this free Mandala Rug pattern from Marinke Slump and Bernat Maker yarn in steel blue.

I also have been enjoying the Snowy Wheat Stitch Puff Hat pattern from Briana K Designs. I’ve made myself two hats and am in the process of making a matching scarf for the cream tweed one.

I bought one ball of the Caron Anniversary yarn cakes in the color Cookie Mint and made this enormous triangle shawl blanket using the Modern Day Shawl pattern by MJ’s Off The Hook Designs (with my own crab stitch border) to wear this winter when I’m at home. I did not enjoy this yarn, however, and will not repurchase. It was very splitty and kept unraveling (not the ball, the yarn itself) while I was crocheting with it. Plus I had a LOT of factory knots in the ball. For such an expensive item (which I did buy with a coupon), I feel the quality is not up to par.

And finally, and most regrettably, I did finish that Log Cabin Shawl, but it did not come out well, and it will likely remain buried in a drawer forever because…well…it was just a big failure. And that’s ok. It happens sometimes.

I did not have enough yarn to make it as long as I wanted to, which was my main problem. And the neckline I added to try to compensate for it being too small doesn’t lay correctly. The arm holes don’t really help either. Oh well, just got to move on and consider it a learning lesson.

So that’s what I’ve been up to lately. I have made more progress on the Persian Tiles blanket since my last post, but I find it a bit tedious repeating the rounds for all the tiles so I have to switch it up with other, quicker projects as I work on it. But I am loving how it is turning out.

Until next time…