Happy birthday...to my knit/crochet group!

It's a couple days early, but it's the 7th anniversary of the first Meetup, which was scheduled for February 13, 2011. Thank you to those who've been part of the group. Whether you've only made it to one Meetup, moved away, been a member for as short time or since the beginning, your involvement means the world to me. Here are a few pictures from today's meeting/celebration. It's been several years since I've celebrated the anniversary, but it seemed like the right time.

I wanted to give a special shout out to Margaret, Shar, and Cathie for helping with lots of the organizing and hosting while I've largely stepped out that role.

While at the group I was working on a hexagon for Lilla Bjorn's crochet along. I love the idea of the top. Now that the second step is out...I'm still not done with the first. I need to get this one to 22 or 24 rows and then create the second. Then I can do step 2. This is an entirely free pattern and there are some great instructions on YouTube. I'm thinking of working on a corner to corner join as you go pillow to learn a neat way to incorporate so color and triangles.

My test knit is complete. So...so...so happy to be done. I'm also finishing three days late, which is was a big bummer. It turned out beautifully :).

A lovely little surprise was in my mailbox yesterday. Quick shipping is always nice, but it was entirely unexpected. There was also some tea, which I gladly enjoyed today. This yarn is from Six and Seven Fiber. I looked up the shop because it was supposed to have kits for a mystery knit along and I was curious what colors they were putting together. I didn't see any kits, so I'm assuming they sold out. After poking around I saw a colorway named "Luna's shoes" and I thought it sounded lovely. I'm not a big Harry Potter buff, but I always appreciated Luna and the colors are lovely. After deciding to treat myself to a skein, I wanted to enjoy a few other colorways, so I purchased three mini skeins. This minimizes the guilt factor for me and I have more colors to enjoy :).

I had discussed a mood blanket that I wanted to start today. I believe I've found a nice lacy square that will be easy to join as you go:  Square Upon a Square. This link is straight to the Red Heart website, so you can see it without being a Ravelry user. I also love the granny square so much that I started to modify one to make the edging comparable to the more lacy one. I think I've done it. I'll start my tracking spreadsheet tonight and then try to work in the squares periodically. They are about 2.5 inches wide so if I made the table cloth or runner 18 by 20 squares, it would be 45 inches by 50 inches. That wouldn't quite be a table cloth without a significant edging for out modest dining room table, but maybe that could be the center.

The cotton really shines in with the flash :).

One last note, my family has had several unfortunate events over the last week or so. If you could send them some good thoughts or prayers, I'd greatly appreciate it.

Have a nice week and happy crafting.