Keeping Busy

A few month after we started TTC, I decided that I needed a hobby to help keep me occupied so that I didn't spend all of my time thinking about babies. Whenever someone is stressing about the 2WW, people always make the suggestion to find a hobby. So that's what I did. I decided that it would be fun to learn how to crochet. I thought it would be a good hobby for me because 1) it's cheap, 2) I could teach myself how to do it and 3) I could make things for my dogs! It was a good choice for me. I think it really helps with my general anxiety because it's pretty mindless, but you still feel like you're getting something accomplished.

For my first project, I made holiday scarves for Binky and Bear. They were pretty cute and we used this picture for our Christmas card (don't worry - I only sent it to my parents, niece, and godson).

Then I made a scarf for my godson, Brian. Then another for my dad. And one for my mom. Then I thought - hey, it might be time to try a new project. All of my scarves were done using the afghan stitch because that's all I'd been able to figure out (thanks to my "Learn to Crocket" book and my friend E). Luckily, I found a video online and finally figured out how to complete more than one row of the single crochet (thanks people of YouTube)!

My first non-scarf project is still pretty basic. I'm just making small blanket made up of a bunch of single-crochet rectangles that I'll stitch together at the end. Here is the "official" pattern.

It took me an unreasonable amount of time to come up with that. I chose Hogwarts colors for obvious reasons. The colors in the pattern aren't accurate. This is what the yarn looks like:

I had a little bit of trouble keeping the gauge consistent at the beginning, so the first one or two squares were a bust but I'm getting better at it. Out of 49 squares, I think I have maybe five decent, usable ones. I may have started this project in February or March, but progress is progress, right?

I'm not going to lie - I'm (not so) secretly hoping that I'll get to use this blanket to decorate a baby's room. And let's face the facts, statistically I'm probably more likely to get pregnant than to finish this blanket within the next year so I probably won't be disappointed. If not, I'm sure that Binky and Bear would love to have it!