Not Much Interesting...

I spent the weekend working on some crochet projects, basically more placemats. The original placemats were done in acrylic (using up stuff around the house) and I wasn't happy with them.

I was in AC Moore over the weekend and they had Sugar and Cream on sale, so I got two skeins of 3 different colors thinking I could get a placemant per skein.

Nope, need 2 skeins per placemat:
Sugar and Cream crochet placmat
click to enlarge
I'm using a simple crochet stitch: the seed stitch. That's a sc, ch1 across, then you sc in the ch1 space, ch1 across. The one above is done with a 51 starting chain and this one is done with a 61 starting chain:
Sugar and Cream crochet placmat
click to enlarge
So basically one is worked horizonally and the other vertically. I like the way the seed stitch looks and it's a fast and easy stitch.

My crochet skills are mediocre at best, and my cast on chains are very loose, so these are good practice for me.

However, some knitting has been done (did I mention the 2nd degree burn on my left forefinger? making crochet actually a little difficult?). I did get one repeat done on the Fall Back Caridgan's second sleeve. However, wool is definitely a challenge right now. Partly because of it sitting in my lap and partly because I know I can't wear it for 4 months...

So I've been plugging away on the Shoalwater Shawl:
Shoalwater Shawl
click to enlarge

If I had decided to make this in a DK weight yarn (rather than that beautiful lace weight yarn), I would be at the final border. That's 2.5 repeats done. Two more full repeats to go... if not more. I want this BIG, large enough that it wraps around me, so I might be adding an extra repeat to it. We'll see... I'm already knitting on A LOT of stitches... and each repeat adds almost an other 100 stitches.

Thanks for all the comments about the Split V pullover. I will say that I wore it on Saturday (it's a cotton/linen yarn, so it's perfect for this warm weather). I'm very pleased with it. However, I have to rethink my sizing a bit. I have to remember that "tee shirt" style sweaters are a closer fit than a sweater that I'll be using for layering. In other words, I should be using a 42" finished for my next to skin projects and stick with the 44" for things I'll be wearing over a turtleneck. The Split V is fine, but I definitely could've made it a size smaller for a closer fit.

So I need to get some more Sugar and Cream to make a second placemat of each colorway and I need a new blender (aaaah, summer smoothie weather!!!) so I have a few errands to run today.