Me? Crochet?

I am a die-hard knitter. When customers tell me they can't decide whether they want to knit or crochet, I immediately say - oh, you definitely want to knit. And our crochet instructor, Jan, (one of my first customers when we opened our doors in 2003) tolerates my disdain (yes, I will go so far as to say "disdain"). We have for years bantered back and forth about the "C" word.  So don't ask me how this happened, but I saw a crocheted blanket on  Ravelry and said - I don't hate everything crocheted...I actually saw a blanket I liked. "Show me", she said, with a smirk.  Well, I couldn't for the life of me find the damn pattern.  So I went through pages and pages and picked out the few blankets I liked (not sure which one originally appealed to me).  And I showed her my selections.  She picked out the one she thought would be a good beginner project which was the Country Fresh Blanket by Patons.  She said - you can do this.  What?  And to prove to her that I am open minded and only half kidding about the "C" word, I said - alrighty then.  We both picked out yarn (I chose Kenzie) and we started our respective blankets on Sunday.  And this is what I've done so far with Jan's extraordinary patience.  I have, however, taken a lot of razzing over the past week.  Jo asked me if I wanted an awl since I had trouble getting my hook in a particular stitch.  Very funny.  I accused Jan of switching on me.  I swear one time she showed me to put the yarn over the hook and another time, under it.  She laughed and laughed and said there's only one way to do it right.  Oye.  She has, however, been very impressed with my diligence and yesterday, she graded my pattern.  Apparently, I'm doing quite well and am the top one in my class, destined to graduate with honors.  Now if you excuse me, I have a color-change coming up and get to use the dark blue!

For Women Only

You may remember our spectacular San Diego Capelet designed for the 2013 San Diego Yarn Crawl.  Modeled by Judipatuti's gorgeous granddaughter, Blakely, it made waves!  Judy and I were a titch envious and so we decided it was time to make a woman's version for larger, more magnificent women (speaking for myself of course).  So we chose a new Kenzie/Luxe Mohair color combo of Boysenberry and Hot Pink which is dazzling.  Judy knit this beautiful sample, which is warmer and longer than the first.  Now I don't want to call this Grandma's version of Blakely's capelet, but it kind of is.  In a good way, though.  If Judy's damn cat*, Babies, hadn't gotten so close to the sample, I would have slept in it last night.  LOVE IT!!!

*Nothing personal against Babies but I'm highly allergic to cats.