In Which the Pirate Pulls Out the Blanket.

Although summer did its best to hang on long past its usual farewell, autumn is finally beginning to take hold. We had our first frost warning of the season this week. I gave in and turned the heat on (just at night, though) and put the electric blanket back on the bed… then I remembered that I’d been crocheting an afghan, and brought it out of hibernation. Here are the first four squares I made… three years ago. Ooops.

I’ve been working in strips that are 12 squares long, and I have three of those completed already. The finished blanket will have 14 to 16 strips in total, depending on how long it gets once I put it all together. The slowest part of the process is making the chain for each new square, so I thought I’d try making a strip or two of six double-sized squares. The last few rows are satisfyingly quick, with so few stitches to work.

Some of my friends are gently encouraging me to sign up for National Novel Writing Month, but I think I might dedicate November to this blanket instead. There’s little chance of actually finishing in only 30 days (not with 140 squares left to go, no way!) but if I focus, I could make some significant progress. Maybe I could even have it done before next summer…?