The 100 day project kicked off back in February, a few days before I left for QuiltCon, and day 50 — halfway! — is this Sunday. This year I decided to lean into my recent obsession with crochet. I didn’t have a detailed plan of attack, but I’ve been using Block by Block Crochet by Leonie Morgan as my guide. I really like all of the modern quilt-ish crochet blocks featured in the book, and it’s been a good way to build my crochet skills.
The squares you see below are my most recent finishes, and everything else I’ve made so far is further down. The squares pictured further down on the left — with the variegated yarn — were actually mostly made prior to the start of the “official” 100 days, so consider them practice pieces I guess.
(But aren’t they all kinda practice pieces? Yes, yes they are.)
On day 2 of the project, I went to my local yarn shop (Park Avenue Yarns) and asked the folks there to recommend a few yarns suitable for a beginner. Each of the three yarns I chose has a different fiber content and feels a little different, both in texture and when crocheting. Observations so far:
The green/navy Scheepjes Catona yarn is 100% cotton and the thinnest of the three. It has been the easiest for me to stitch with but the texture is also the roughest, if that makes sense. The smaller, striped square in the picture above on the right was even done with a 3 mm hook, while the rest of my squares used a 4 mm hook. All of these squares have 6 rounds, so it was good to see how hook size affects the finished size of the square.
The blue/white Berocco Comfort yarn is 50/50 nylon/acrylic and has been the most difficult for me to stitch with. It’s very “splitty,” and while that has become less of a problem as I gain experience, it’s still more difficult than the other two. This is the softest of the three yarns though, and I like that.
The teal/purple Berocco Vintage yarn is 52/40/8 acrylic/wool/nylon and has emerged as my favorite of the three. It’s a little splitty, but not as much as the Comfort; it’s not as soft as the Comfort, but it’s softer than the Scheepjes Catona. So, somewhere in the middle!
All of the squares I’ve done so far have been stitched in the round, but there are quite a few in the book that are stitched in rows and I’ll be moving on to those for the second half of my project.
And finally, I think my tendency is to stitch too tightly, so I am working on loosening my tension just a bit.
If you’ve been here for a while, you know that 100 day projects have been a big part of my creative process in the past. This current life season has made it harder, and the last couple years haven’t gone as planned. But I’m excited that this project is going well! I clearly haven’t finished a whole block every day, but I’ve done at least a few minutes of stitching almost every day, and I’m calling that a win.
How many squares will I end up with by June? We’ll see! Will a more firm project goal emerge during the second half? I don’t know! Either way, it’s been fun so far!
