No Crochet!!!!

I can't believe that I still don't have those soda tab necklaces done yet! I haven't been doing my homework at school during my long break between classes, so I have to do it at home and that cuts into my crochet time. I don't do thread work really well at school. I have to pay to close attention when I work with thread and I can't do that at school. I do have a couple more bath sets to do. Maybe I'll take those instead of the soda tab necklaces.

Anyhoo, I've decided to get back to doing homework at school during my long breaks between classes and use the time I have been doing it at home for crocheting. That way, hopefully, I'll be able to get the soda tab necklaces done in the next couple of weeks. It would be great if I could get them done by the Trainfest committee meeting on Monday, but since I've got 8 more to do, I don't think that's going to happen. I do have the original necklace made with sport weight yarn. I'm going to cut those little dears right off of there and use them for thread necklace number 10. I hope to get one done every couple of days. That will put me getting number 17 done in time for me to get them to the council office at the first of the week of Trainfest. I plan on dropping them off when I go to drop off my handouts and stuff to get copies made for my classes. I'm also going to get the bath set done by then for the auction they'll be having at Trainfest.

Wish me luck! I have a feeling I'm going to need it. :)

Test Day

I dislike the fact that most of my instructors give tests on the same day. Today I had two- math and business finance. I think I did okay on the business finance test. I think I flubbed on the extra credit on it though. I was really hoping to get full credit on that extra credit too :(

My math test only had 4 problems! I was okay for the first 3, but that last problem I am worried about. Well, maybe not real worried. After all, it's a little late now. But I'm going to be antsy about it until Monday.

I got my Critical Thinking test done and then my Business Law test. Those I got done on Monday. I have a income tax test on Tuesday. Then I'll be done with tests for at least a couple of weeks.

Books Away, With Hooks I Can Play!!!

Wow, I was worried I would get behind in some of my classes since I missed so much school at the beginning of the month. So far, other than missing all of chapter 2's lectures in tax class, I think I'm okay. I got an A on my math lab and today at home I got a really great start on my finance take-home test, finished my federal and state tax forms for tax class and I'm going to try to do my online test for business law tomorrow at school during my really long break between math and tax class.

I'm trying to get into the schedule that I originally worked out at the beginning of the semester. Since I have those long breaks 3 days a week, there's no reason why I should have much homework to actually do at home. That way, when I do get home I'll have all kinds of crochet time. Not to mention time to help the kids with their homework.

Gideon is missing mama's cooking right about now. I talked to him yesterday and when I asked him if there was anything he needed, he started listing off all this food :D Bless his heart. Him and Isaac are still cleaning in that house. At this rate, I don't know if they'll be able to have their house warming party on the 10th or not. He's still plugging away at it though. I'm proud of him!

Empty Nest Blues

Well, it's official. Gideon came home today after the family reunion to get the rest of his clothes and his movies and video games. Apparently the house is ready and Gideon and Isaac are going to be able to spend their first night in their very own place tonight. It's been heartbreaking watching him go through the movies and packing up all his clothes. He'll be coming again to get his bed. He's going to borrow Stephen's sleeping bag while he's awaiting the availability of a truck to be able to haul his bed. I guess I'll have to get used to him not being around. Oh, well, kids have to grow up sometime.

Crochet Classes are almost ready!

I am so excited about teaching the crochet classes at Trainfest. I'm just about all set. I have a lesson plan and I'm now thinking of someone to practice on. I think it would be a good idea to practice. I'm going to be hunting out some balls of yarn and making sure that I have enough of the right colors (solid colors, light but not white) and the right weight. I'm also going to hunt out all of my hooks and pack up my extras with the yarn and stuff I intend to take. I want to have extra hooks in case I have some that didn't get or forgot to bring their own hooks

I read a post to my CrochetPartners group that asked for crochet instructions to use for teaching a beginner class. The answer than I read pointed out the Craft Yarn Council of America's "Each One Teach Two" program. Not only are there really good diagrams and instructions to use for a beginner crochet class, there is also a certificate to print out to give to the students. I am so excited about that. So not only will my beginning crochet students get a Ghoul Scout SWAP to take home with them, they will also get a certificate saying they successfully learned to crochet! Groovy :D

For my advanced beginner crochet class I'll need to do more prep. I've got a lesson plan and I want to practice it too. However, the project for that class is using plarn (cutting plastic grocery bags into strips to use as yarn) to make a water bottle holder. I thought about using different colors of bags for each ball of plarn I make, but Mama suggested using the different colors in each ball to make variegated, maybe even striping patterns. I need to hurry up and finish those necklaces so I can play around with that idea and see what I like.

I'm pretty sure I'm going to have to make the plarn-making a family affair. I know I can get Dorinda and Stephen to help with the folding and cutting. I might even be able to get Steve amd Stephen to help with the joining and then Steve, Gideon and Stephen to help with the winding.

Planning Crochet Classes

I volunteered to teach a couple of crochet classes at the training weekend for our Girl Scout council in October. Now, I've really never taught crochet before, so this is all new territory for me. I'm going to be looking for some good graphics for my handouts. I know I've seen some I just don't remember where.

For my beginning crochet class, I'm going to have some crocheted stuff set out so people can see that crochet is not just afghans and doilies. I have a sweater, a bath set, a water bottle holder, and a table runner all ready to be admired and I hope to have a baby set (afghan, sweater, hat) ready, too. I'm also going to be wearing a necklace made with soda can tabs (although I suspect that some of my donated tabs didn't come from just soda cans ). This is also going to be my stash buster class. I'm going to use up a bunch of my yarn stash for the students to use. The class is only an hour and a half long, so I'm going to be concetrating on the slip knot and the chain stitch. If we have time, I'll move into the single crochet stitch. The project for the class is going to be a simple chain stitch (or single crochet stitch) SWAPs holder. I'm going to make myself one to be wearing with some SWAPs already pinned to it. The Ghoul Scouts I made a couple of years ago are what I'm using for the SWAPs. I'll be giving one to each of my students as a memento.

I'm also teaching an advance beginning crochet class. For that one, I'm going to have the same projects out as well as my Masters in Basic Stitches portfolio from the Crochet Guild of America. I'm also hoping to get some brochures for the Guild ready to set out for anyone who is interested. For that class, I'll be doing crocheting in the round. I'm going to have different granny squares to show off. I'm hoping that everyone who signs up for that class will already know how to do the double crochet stitch. The project for that class is going to be a water bottle holder made of plastic grocery bags. I'm also planning on going over some pattern reading and stitch anatomy.

For both classes I want to have a pattern or two for my students to take home and try out. I'm looking forward to teaching. I'll be a new experience for everyone involved.

Meet Bone-ita!

In order to advertise our Girl Scout leader training weekend event that's happening in October, I volunteered to make a milk jug skeleton that will be the end product of one of the classes. My own little Girl Scout Brownie contributed hands and feet as well as helped pick out the name. Her escort is my oldest son. He hates having his picture taken (in case you couldn't tell ).

She is wearing a SWAPs sash made with a Boye size I hook and Red Heart Super Saver "Pretty in Pink". My sweet Girl Scout Brownie also donated a SWAP and also made another one just for Bone-ita.

Long Time No See

I didn't realize that it had been so long since I had posted. My goodness!

Well, I have been busy with school-mine and the kids'. Steve helps with a lot, but I'm too much of a control freak to hand everything over to him. He has pretty much taken over cooking supper and making sure the kids do their homework and Gideon does a lot of the house work since he's not working or going to school. It has been great to have so much help. My baby girl is so proud of me going to college and likes to do her homework with me while I'm doing mine. I'm taking the summer off, however. I was getting burned out. I started out with straight As and had every intention of keeping my grades up as high as I possibly could. This last sememster I found myself not really doing my best and when it came down to cases, I found that I didn't really care as long as I passed. Not the attitude I want to have. So, I decided to take the semester off. It may put me a couple semesters behind in graduating, but at least I'll still have a happy marriage and children who feel loved instead of feeling like their playing second fiddle to my school work.

I have made sure to make time for crocheting. I decided to make matching bath sets for Dorinda and all her friends for Christmas and I officially finished the last one today. I used Pricilla Hewitt's pattern: Five Piece Bath Set and added a bath mitt of my own design. I used Peaches and Cream yarn with each set being in a different variegated color. Here's the face scrubbers in all the other colors I used:

I'll try to look up color names if you're really that interested, but I can't guarantee anything.

I also made afghans for the kids of a friend of mine that is going through a really ugly separation and I'm afraid it might turn into a bad custody battle. I did a crochet version of a knit afghan I found called Gotta Touch It Baby Blanket for the 6 year-old and the 2 year-old. I used a double strand of Lion Brand's Homespun instead of the Wool Ease. Unfortunately I haven't got pics of those. I did those a couple of months ago and the kids absolutely love them. The older one said she loves stuff like that because it was made just for her and nobody else has one like it. The baby won't take his nap without his, I'm told. My friend also has a 16 year-old girl from his first wife and I made her afghan with a plainer yarn, but a more of a pattern. I used the Adoring Hearts pattern that I used to make my cousin's baby afghan when his son was born, but it is in worsted weight yarn and in colors a teenage girl would like. I wish I could have had this afghan when I was a teenager :D

It turned out so great. She hasn't been to her daddy's yet to get it, but she knows she's getting one. Before the break-up, my friend had been married for 12 or 13 years. It's been hard on everyone involved.

Since I have a bath set for the little girl, I'm working on a Learn Your Colors Fish Counting Toy for the little boy.

I'm not sure about the teenager yet. I would like to do an afghan for my friend too, but I've promised my younger son an afghan and I need to do it first. He's been patient for over a year and has even changed his mind now about what he wants it to be. He did want keyblades from a video game called Kingdom Hearts and I even looked up his favorite ones and graphed them out, but lost the graphs before I could make the afghan. Bless his little heart. He's decided now though that he's moved on. Kingdom Hearts was a phase and he wants something different. He wants now pictures of symbols from horror movies: Freddy's glove, Jason's hockey mask, Pinhead's puzzle box. I just don't know if I'll be able to graph those. That's always assuming I can find good enough pictures of those things for me to graph from. Wish me luck!

From hook to needles

No, I'm not talking about the book. I'm talking about switching from crocheting to knitting, at least temporarily. All the leaders in DD's Girl Scout Brownie troop & the sister Junior troop want to give the girls an ornament for their tree this year at the Christmas party. Now, it just so happens that I have that wonderful pattern from Aunt Kay for those marvelous stockings that I make last year and gave to Dorinda's class at their holiday party. So, at the next leaders' meeting that is at the end of this month, I'm going to offer to make stockings for everyone. They would be similar in coloring as the "Ghoul" Scouts I made last year. The Brownies would have brown stripes and the Juniors would have teal stripes. The leaders will have stripes of blue with the heel, toe, and cuff being the color that corresponds to the troop that they lead. Lisa's and Angela's, of course, will have to have some way of having green and brown on their's since they serve both troops equally. I'm going to have to practice with it and see what I can do.

So many afghans, so little time.

I have got to put the hook to yarn and get my 2 afghans on the move. One is a comfortghan that I'm doing for a friend of DH's who is fighting breast cancer. The other one is a request for a Christmas gift that I promised to do for a friend of mine at school. I've gotten stalled on both of them.

The comfortghan wasn't all that much to do since most of the squares were mailed to me, but I got my square done, all the squares edged and ready to go and I got bogged down with school and haven't gotten it put together. I'm going to get that done this week and get it delivered.

The gift afghan is a Star Wars afghan and I just can't seem to get going on it. I mean I've gotten started on it, but I can't seem to get going on it. I'm giving myself until the end of November to get it done, so I'm figuring that as soon as I get the comfortghan done and mailed off, that I'll be able to get going and stay going on that one. This is my absolute last one. I'll not be doing another one unless one of my little cousins decide to catch the Star Wars bug ;)

I can't take the Star Wars afghan squares to school to work on, because I really need to be uninterrupted when I'm working on the cross-stitch part. So, in order to achieve my scarf goal of one dozen for Dee's "60 Scarves in 60 Days", I'm going to dig out some scraps out of my scrap bag and work on scarves at school. I'm figuring that at 2 days a week that I have to wait almost 3 hours for DS to get out of class, I ought to get at least 2 scarves done each week. I should even have time to squeeze in some study time :D

I'm Back In The Saddle Again!

Well, not a saddle exactly, but I have successfully completed my first 2 semesters of college with a 3.7 GPA! I was a marshall at the Summer graduation and just a couple of days ago I got an invitation to join the Phi Theta Kappa. It's kind of the Beta club for 2-year colleges. I am so excited!

I have been away from crochet more than I've been able to indulge due to homework and studying for tests. My hooks have been feeling rather neglected :( My stress level has also told the tale of how little crocheting I've done. So, I decided that this semester I would start making a conscious effort to work in a little crochet in every day. It's been easier than I thought. Well, sort of. I took a request to do another Star Wars afghan (what was I thinking LOL) and then a friend of DH's was diagnosed with breast cancer and so I requested and was approved to make her a comfortghan. On top of all that, it's time for Dee's 60 Scarves in 60 Days! What a perfect solution to my wanting to find something extremely portable and quick to carry with me to school to work on in between classes.

This will be my 3rd year participating in this challenge. My first year, I only made one scarf. I used it to practiced my knitting with it. Last year, I made a whole rainbow of scarves. I literally had a scarf in each color of the rainbow. This year, I'm shooting for a dozen. Since we have 90 days this year, I'm thinking I'll be able to pull it off.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!

Yes, those are capitals and yes again, I am yelling :D One should yell when one is excited and wants to share one's excitement.

We all stayed up to see in the New Year and I spent a big part of that time journaling my recap of 2007. There was a lot that happened. I'm kind of glad that it is over, since most of it was life-or-death kind of stuff.

I'm looking forward to 2008. I am registered to start class in 2 weeks to finished my long-put-off accounting associates degree. It's my first step toward my goal of opening my very own yarn shop. I've got a rather full schedule for this semester and I am looking forward to getting into it. My baby boy, my oldest, is due to graduate this spring and I definitely have mixed feelings about that ;) I expect we'll be plunging headlong into his preparation for college in the near future.

So again: HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!! I wish everyone a happy, safe new year filled with peace, love and creativity.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

Ravelry Invite!!!!!! WOOHOO!!!!!

I got my Ravelry invite! Yeah!!!! I was very tickled to get it. I'm still trying to learn the ropes, though. My only completed projects, of course, I have no pictures of. One would think that as many times as that has happened to me, I would remember to take the confounded pictures before I let them go out the door. Oh, well. I'll do that next time :D

I can be found here: http://www.ravelry.com/people/beatacrochets

I need to gather all my hooks and needles together since Ravelry has that super hook and needle inventory all set up. I hope to do the same for my stash, too.

I'm off to get some stitching LOL

Light at the End of the Tunnel

I have now finished the body of the Gift Afghan. Whew!! I sure am glad I started this thing in May or I would have never finished this thing in time. As it is, it's still taking me forever. I had thought I would have it all done, washed and wrapped and just sitting around waiting by now. Anyhoo, as soon as I get the border done, I'll get pics, never fear. I'll get them posted shortly thereafter. I do love how it has turned out though. I am also sure, even if I do say so myself, that it is going to be a HUGE hit with the recipient. Hubby has confirmed it. He is such a sweetie. So, as I get ready for Thanksgiving dinner and the big birthday date with said hubby, I will be working away on the border for this big ole thing and hopefully get it done in time.

Changing My Mind

I have changed my mind about where the scarves I made for CrochetWithDee's scarf challenge are going to go. I had them all packed up and ready to go when I posted my last entry. Well, I forgot to drop them off and I have now decided to send them to the women's shelter to help those that are getting out of abusive situations. My mom was one of those women many years ago when I was very small, but she had someplace to go. I cannot imagine getting out of that kind of situation and having no where to go, especially with kids. I hope the scarves will help. I have been inspired (by Dee) to make up some hats to go with the scarves, too. Getting a scarf is nice, I guess, but a matched set always seems to make me feel even more special and I want to make sure that these women know that there are people who care about them and believe that they are really special.

Busy As A Bee

For a change, I've been rather busy in the past 2 or 3 weeks. The beginning of the month was horrid. I was sick for almost 2 weeks, being misdiagnosed as having the flu when I really needed an antibiotic. So, I didn't get a whole lot of stitching done then because the wrapping of the yarn and the way the fibers twisted made me queasy (who'd a thunk it). Anywho, I did get more scarves done before I got sick. I was able to get 6 whole scarves done, see:

They were wonderful to make. As I think I said before, I never have really much cared for making scarves in the past because I would make them about 40 or 50 stitches wide and it would take forever to get them long enough to suit me because I have always wrapped my scarf around my head and neck. So, I have never believed the people on the various groups I belong to when they said that scarves were so easy and fast to make. Well, this time I decided I was going to try making a scarf lengthwise instead of widthwise. Each of my scarves for this year's challenge is 200 stitches long. I also opted for more open patterns. They are each very warm and cozy and I still can't believe I was able to whip them up so quickly. I only did one with fringe as you can see. I'm not a big fan of fringe. It looks nice at first, but the washer tends to end that pretty fast. I did do a picot edging around the yellow one and a border around the purple one.

I really enjoyed making those scarves and they are now at our local Christian ministry awaiting new homes.

My other project has been ghosts for each of the girls in my daughter's Girl Scout troop. We are actually 2 sister troops, 1 Brownie troop (my daughter's troop) and 1 Junior troop. I designed a little ghost that I have dubbed a "Ghoul Scout". I made one for each girl and leader, and as you can see, the Brownies have brown sashes and the Juniors have dark green sashes. The leaders have light green sashes because I seem to remember leader shirts with pale green pin stripes on them from years ago, but that may have been Boy Scouts. Anywho, what do you think?

We're helping with the Halloween carnival at the community center where we have our meetings. We'll be decorating the different rooms where the games and such will be held and we will also be helping man the stations during the actual event.

Each girl that shows will receive a ghost and be able to proudly wear their "ghoul scouts" to show their participation in our service project. I do hope they like them. I also hope like everything that I made enough. I know we have about thirty girls, so I divided up the green and brown sashes and made equal numbers of those. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

I'm still plugging away at the gift afghan. I now have 4 complete strips joined together and I have 2 blocks completed on a fifth. I started the third block yesterday which I will be finishing today. I hope to get another one done later this evening.

I have dicovered scarves!

I recently decided to participate in the CrochetWithDee's "60 Scarves in 60 Days" challenge, as you may have noticed from my big ole button. Anyway, last year I made one to practice my newly aquired knitting skill. It took forever! I had been hearing how fast and easy scarves were to make and I was so not convinced last year. I made it wide enough and long enough to wrap around your head and use as a hood as well as a scarf. I realized this year, that that was my problem. I had all this yarn left over from the baby afghan I just finished and decided to use all those skeins to make scarves for the challenge. So far I have made a red one, an orange one and a purple one. The red one is a simple V-stitch, the orange one is a kind of net stitch and the purple one is a lacy shell pattern that I saw online and thought I remembered it correctly, but I didn't and so it is just a little bit different. Here they are:I'm planning on making more. Hopefully one of each color I used for the baby afghan.

Fresh off my hook :-)

I just finished the baby afghan I have been working on for my sons' martial arts teacher.

I chose the "Adoring Hearts" pattern for 2 reasons. One, because hearts are the universal symbol for love and every baby should be surrounded by love. Two, because the Boljacks' have decided to wait until the blessed event to find out if they are having a boy or a girl. This way, I've covered all the bases. I chose to use a rainbow theme for much the same reason as Number 2 of the pattern choice. And, finally, I chose primary colors because I believe that babies, especially first borns, are surrounded with pastels and while that may be to promote calm or whatever, I feel that there ought to be a touch of bright colors somewhere along the way.

It turned out to be a little bit bigger than I had anticipated. It is 39x43 inches. I had originally envisioned a bassinet-sized version, but it kind of expanded on me. That's okay though. Kids need plenty of room to grow :-D

I used Red Heart Super Saver throughout. The colors I used are: Cherry Red, Pumpkin, Bright Yellow, Paddy Green, Royal Blue (I think), and Amethyst. I used (for the first time) a Clover bamboo hook, size H for the squares and a Boye hook, size G for the border. I whipstitched the squares together as I went and I used a back-loop only single crochet for the border. I separated the colors in the border with white because I didn't want the border to take away from the design of the body of the afghan. I am rather proud of it.

Lessons I've Learned

In a recent post on the Crochet Partners group, we were asked what we had learned from our fellow CP'ers. I thought about this for a little while and I remembered where I was when I first joined. I was in a very not very light place at the time and crochet was all I had to keep me going (well, not entirely. My kids went a long way toward that end too.) I had signed up for a crochet newsletter and at the bottom of the newsletter was a link to the Crochet Partners as a place to go for questions and advice. So, I checked it out, signed up and introduced myself.

Since joining Crochet Partners I have learned the magic adjustable ring for granny squares and the like, a chainless foundation (which I used to make my mama's sweater) and I learned how to appreciate not only others' work but also my own. I've always had self-esteem issues and at this particular time in my life, those issues were even more pronounced. I found that I was able to pick up on patterns fairly easily and those that were confusing I could make sense of them with a little time. My mother-in-law was a wiz with ripple afghans, but had trouble following a pattern. I finally realized that I could do stuff way more complex than my mother-in-law and even my mama. It was a lightbulb moment, or rather a lightning moment. I realized that I was good at what I did. I started taking pictures of my finished projects (thanks for the digital camera Aunt Kay!) and started sharing those pictures with the folks at CP. I cannot even begin to tell you the lift I got the first time I posted my pictures and started getting responses. I smiled for the first time in months and when I got "Great work" from a lady whose books I own, and other professional designers that I had patterns from in various magazines, well, I again am at a loss for words. It was really a huge turning point for me. Two years ago was when I made my mama her sweater. It was the same pattern I used for my sweater and one I made for my mother-in-law. My mama showed it off at the next family gathering (Christmas Eve, I wasn't there) and the next day when I showed up with kids in tow, I was met with a quickly hushed conversation. I jokingly asked what I had done and my aunt Wanda told me that they were just talking about my mama's sweater. I was wearing my mother-in-law's sweater since it was our first Christmas without her and so I really got to show off my work first hand.

The following month I made my cousin a baby afghan for his first baby. The mother of said cousin took a fit over it and asked me to do one for a friend of her's for a baby shower. I said of course and then that following September at the family reunion I got another "order" from another aunt. It was so cool! I made some business cards and attached them to the afghans with the care instructions written on the back. Being business women themselves, they were rather impressed that I had taken the thought to add that little touch. They are still suitably impressed with my work and I am more than happy to make stuff for them when they ask.

The encouragement that I got and the tips I received for making my pics a little more professional looking were so awesome. Couple that with the fact that these things were said by total strangers, people that never even new I existed before I joined the Crochet Partners and my spirits were taking a major 180 turn.

I joined Crochet Partners in 2002 (I think). It all started with my rainbow sweater, moved on to a Star Wars afghan for my husband and the rest is history. My depression is mostly gone and I no longer sit and think about how I can't do anything. I stitched through the depression that followed on the heels of the fall of the twin towers and the death of my dearly loved mother-in-law. I now carry my needlework with me everywhere. I learned to knit last year and am getting into trying patterns. I usually keep one crochet project and one knitting project with me at all times. I've crocheted in doctors' offices, the dentist office, my daughter's play dates, girl scout meetings, my family reunion, and even in the theater parking lot when I went to pick up my husband and older son from a horror movie that I didn't want to see. Church is kind of hard for me since I don't stitch during the service LOL. I look forward to finding new and interesting places to do my stitching. I even made a crocheted yo-yo for a lady at my doctor's office so she could take it home to duplicate it. That was super fun, there!!

So, I have learned and grown so much in the last 5 years. I no longer bite my lip in public when I'm petting yarn in the store or describing my stitching passion. I know now that I am not alone in my excitement and I will proudly talk about the pros and cons of different hooks, yarns and kinds of patterns or projects. I am a crochetier and I am proud of my obsession ;D

New Button!!!

Wow! Thanks so much to fibersbytracie for helping me to add this wonderful new button to my blog. I participated in the scarf challenge last year for the first time and I'm going to do it again this year. I'm really looking forward to it. Last year I was just learning to knit and I practiced my knitting by making a scarf in stockinette stitch. This year I'm going to try out a new crochet pattern and I might even do another knitted one.

The gift afghan drags on. I still cannot get past that one square. I think I'm going to just sit down today and get it done. I'm sure that once I get that square done that I'll be able to go faster. I'm going to try to get it done by the end of October. So, until then here's a preview:

I'm rather proud of it so far.

The past several days I've been working on the baby afghan for the karate teacher's wife. It's turning out really good and I'm really looking forward to getting it finished. I still haven't decided what kind of border to do. Maybe I'll do a matching border and do each heart in a different color all the way around. I've been thinking about doing the back loop double crochet border that is used in the pattern book for this square pattern. I'm going to have to give it some more thought.