March 26, 2022

The Week 4 patterns were released yesterday and I’m almost up-to-date. I have not done Week 1 Plain Hexie B in 961 Mersey because I’m waiting for the yarn to arrive. My pack is older and is missing the 8 newest River Washed colors. I bought them in 50g balls when I bought the joining/border yarn from Wool Warehouse. I may make something with the extra 40g I’ll have of each of those, or I may see if anyone else is in the same situation and offer it to them.

April 2, 2022

I received my yarn order yesterday, so I’m all up-to-date now through week 4. The week 5 patterns were released yesterday and I’m really enjoying them!

April 10, 2022

I really liked the Week 6 patterns and colors. I am all caught up for week 6 which came out two days ago.

I’m back in a groove with fitting in crochet around my busy schedule -- I now work full time plus some. I’ve made a plan where I work on the Lizzie blanket during the week in the evenings (because it does not require looking at patterns or videos and is about all I can handle after a crazy day of meetings). Then, on Saturdays, I’m keeping up with this VVCAL and on Sundays I work on Frida’s Flowers. I throw in an occasional Totally Tunisian square once a month and Tunisian Calliope Cowl during Zoom with Family (because it also doesn’t require much attention) and I’m good.

That plan may all fall apart after a while, but plans energize me so we’ll see. Maybe that’s why planning is such a big part of my work life too, but my crochet plan is all under my control so it’s much more satisfying!

April 16, 2022

I’m ready to start week 7 today! It’s the day before Easter and it struck me how searching for the week’s colors in the yarn pack is much like an Easter egg hunt! This week’s colors are also quite appropriately Eastery.

Week 7 is complete. I really enjoyed this week’s hexies and the weather was beautiful and Spring-like, so I did them mostly on my front porch.

May 28, 2022

I finished the 40th hexie tonight. I’m a few weeks behind, but it is a three-day weekend so I should be able to finish the remaining four so I’ll be caught up.

Rachele’s released the PDF with the complete pattern which I bought to support her, but I’m enjoying the pace of this CAL so I plan to just continue as it’s released week to week. I enjoy crocheting along with Rachele’s videos, though I loved having the charts on my phone last week when I was on a plane to DC.

June 12, 2022

This continues to be a pleasant paced CAL and I am on track. Week 15 was released two days ago and I’ll work on those this week. Just two more weeks of hexie designs until I start the wide join. It’s unlikely I’ll finish all that celtic lace edging/joining plus the filler triangles and border in three weeks, but I have no deadline. Like the past VVCALs, this one has been a delight and I’m in no rush to see it end.

Note: I ran out of yarn on the second half hexie in week 14. I had to frog a round and do it tighter. Use a tighter tension and leave less tail yarn for the next pair!

July 3, 2022

I finished the last motif tonight! Now to decide on how I am going to join them and decide to block or not to block?

September 3, 2022

Time to get going on the join of this blanket! I took a break from crochet over the summer to get a different hobby (doll collecting) downsized/rightsized. Now I have space cleared out for a crochet nook in my master bedroom.

The YouTube playlist above has videos on the Celtic Lace join, starting with Part 1 of 3.

My first order of business is to get all of my hexies out and find the ones for the first row. I’ve attached the layout diagram for the 1 pack of Stone/River Washed to the bottom of my pictures here on this project page. I can write the column number right on the label since I’ve rolled them all up and put them into their labels. (Or I can snap a picture for the rows for which I don’t have all the labels since some came from larger skeins.)

Then I’ll proceed, doing one row at a time like that.

My joining color is 821 Pink Quartzite.

Row 1: 816 (Coral), 807 (Red Jasper), 823 (Carnelian), 961 (Mersey), 947 (Seine), 804 (Boulder Opal)
Row 2: 956 (Avon), 957 (Eisack), 960 (Murray), 944 (Nile), 946 (Mississippi), 832 (Enstatite), 959 (Ural)
Row 3: 942 (Steenbras), 808 (Corundum Ruby), 834 (Morganite), 833 (Beryl), 809 (Yellow Jasper), 817 (Citrine)
Row 4: 829 (Obsidian), 810 (Garnet), 836 (Tourmaline), 820 (Rose Quartz), 819 (New Jade), 812 (Lemon Quartz), 827 (Peridot)
Row 5: 943 (Mekong), 835 (Rhodochrosite), 945 (Ganges), 814 (Crystal Quartz), 953 (Severn), 950 (Wheaton)
Row 6: 949 (Yarra), 830 (Lepidolite), 818 (Lilac Quartz), 828 (Larimar), 948 (Danube), 806 (Canada Jade), 962 (Narmada)
Row 7: 803 (Black Onyx), 805 (Blue Apatite), 811 (Deep Amethyst), 952 (Thine), 826 (Fosterite), 954 (Congo)
Row 8: 941 (Colorado), 802 (Smokey Quartz), 815 (Green Agate), 825 (Malachite), 958 (Tiber), 951 (Amazon), 955 (Po)

September 23, 2022

I’ve run out of Pink Quartzite on row 6! I bought the recommended 8 skeins but apparently that is way off based on the comments in the Facebook group. I placed an order with Wool Warehouse for some more, and while I wait, I’ll turn my attention to finishing the border on the Lizzie Blanket. It’s good to have a break anyway, just a little annoying to pay shipping twice for yarn coming all the way across the pond.

I love how the blanket is working up! It is a good size with the wide lace join. I’ve decided this will be for the back of my glider rocker once I move it upstairs to my new crochet nook in the master bedroom.

October 15, 2022

Last full hexagon was just added to the blanket! Now on to the half hexies on the sides.

October 19, 2022

Half hexies added!

I’ve decided to do the fill triangles all in the Pink Quartzite background color. I’ve made my first, but if I follow the pattern as written, there will be 6 ends to sew in for each triangle A and I need 13 of them. Because I’m using one color, I should be able to eliminate two ends by just continuing directly onto the celtic lace rows.

October 22, 2022

Fill triangles finished. Now to join them all to the top and bottom edges.

October 23, 2022

Border finished! I am leaving it as In Progress until I block it (I’d like to make the corners be a little more square).