< thirty squares >

Back in January, Jacob asked me to make him an afghan. Having just learned how to crochet, I enthusiastically agreed and decided that it would be fun to make lots of squares using different stitches and patterns. So I went to Hobby Lobby and bought this...

 (yes, I know it looks like something from the 80's)

 ....and 4 colors of soft yarn to match his bedding and started right away. There was a bit of a learning curve as I had to adjust each pattern to fit the 10" size that I wanted to do. Then I hit a snag with the green I had chosen (Red Heart Kids) - it felt like sandpaper when I crocheted with it. I took that back and chose another green with "baby" in the brand (Vanna Baby), thinking surely it would be soft! Not so much... it was also scratchy. So I got discouraged and pretty much stopped working on his afghan altogether and moved on to dishcloths and my ripple afghan.

About a month ago while browsing at Michael's, I saw a new green yarn (Red Heart Soft). The color was a WAY better match to his bedding, and it actually felt soft!! The afghan gets moved back into production. I even talked my mom into helping me crochet some of the 30 squares while they were here a couple of weeks ago. And today ------ I finished the last square!! All that's left to do is attach them together and finish up with a border. Here are a few pictures of the progress so far...

I was happy to hear that it passed the preliminary quality inspection. ;-)