October 2, 2019

The Tips and Tricks blog post was released today, along with the video tutorial for the gauge swatch which is the first 5 rounds of the pattern.

October 9, 2019

I’m at 33cm at the end of part 1, which is a little big. There’s also a bit too much of the carried color showing through, so I think I’ll go down to a smaller hook starting in part 2.

October 16, 2019

Part 2 was released today but I’m starting over with Part 1. As I stated in my last update, I feel my gauge is too loose, based on the measurement, and my carried yarn is showing too much compared to pictures other participants are posting on social media. I also missed this tip from Tatsiana on round 11:

To make the join invisible, don’t grab contrast yarn up when joining the round, but do it with only Yarn A. the join on the right side will be neater, and you’ll have floats of yarn on the back side.

This morning I frogged part 1 and started again with my 3.5mm Clover hook. I’m back to round 8 now and hopefully I’ll be able to catch back up to the CAL schedule this week.

October 19, 2019

I finished Part 1(again) today. I’m happy that I restarted -- it is exactly the size it should be now and with less of the carried yarn showing.

November 6, 2019

Part 4 is done, the first (of 4) parts of the overlay border around the central mandala. It takes a long time to get around now that there are 520 stitches or so per round.

December 6, 2019

I finished part 7 today. I am a bit behind the CAL releases, but that’s fine. Since going back to work full time I’m only able to manage about 1/2 of each part per week. I am loving how it looks, though! My husband actually asked if it could be his (he rarely even notices what I’m making).

December 8, 2019

Note to self - corner first two “brick” colors alternate between:

• Blue / Green (D / C)
• Purple / Yellow (E / B)

December 15, 2019

Ugh! My second corner (part 8) is in the wrong place. I’ve been tired after work and wasn’t paying attention. Sigh. Time to pull it all out and try again.

December 22, 2019

I finished part 8 (the 4 corners) this morning. I really love how this CAL is coming out.

April 4, 2020

I’ve picked this up again after a long break and finally finished part 9, the first half of the bottom panel. I was worried I would have lost the knack of the tapestry crochet but I certainly didn’t.

January 8, 2022

Well, it certainly has been a long time since I worked on this UFO, which is totally crazy since it is almost done and is so beautiful!

Back in April, 2020, I got about 6 rows in to part 10 when I discovered I had made a minor mistake on the popcorns on one of the first rows of that part (I made them straight up and down instead of slanted). I put it aside while I decided if I could live with the mistake or if I wanted to frog it and do it again. Meanwhile, I started something new (the Wrapped in Jamie CAL), so when I did decide I wanted to redo the section, I had lost the momentum to deal with it.

A year and 9 months later, I have finally pulled it back to the beginning of part 10, I’ve located the hook again, I’ve re-watched Esther’s video to get my head ready for it, and I’m poised for the home stretch! Since I had minor surgery yesterday and it’s most comfortable to be in bed, I’m going to use that as a sign that I should spend a relaxing Saturday with Rozeta and see if I can get through the entire part 10 today. Then, I’d only have part 11, the border, to complete.

Stopped at 43:25 Row 39. Only 5 rows left to the bottom panel!

January 9, 2022

I added the 5 final rows for the bottom panel this morning and I’ve added a part 10 picture.

I’m excited to start the border and I hope I have enough of color A left.

January 11, 2022

Yesterday, I finished half of round 3 of the border. I weighed the skein of color A before starting the round and it took 11g of yarn for half, so my 50g is going to come up short. I considered only doing 5 rounds of the border instead of the complete 7, but I decided I wanted to finish this right!

So, this morning I ordered one more skein of color A (from Jimmy Beans Wool). Hopefully the dye lots will be close enough. While I was there, I ordered the joining yarn for my Emma Squares project (also Scheepjes)

January 13, 2022

As expected, I’ve run out of color A after 1/3 of the way around the final round of the border. The extra ball is expected Saturday, so I’ll have a finished object this weekend!

I’m not wildly in love with the border. It curls quite a bit and I wouldn’t have to block the blanket at all if not for that. But I will finish it according to the pattern.

January 16, 2022

My extra skein arrived so all the crocheting is done and pictures added! This definitely needs to be blocked so not marking it as Finished yet.