The new blanket is under way.  We dropped into Michael’s a while ago (just in time for a sale on the yarn I wanted for this!) and Myria picked out the colors she liked.  I then started on the squares. 

The main body of the blanket will be composed of this square:

The accent squares will look like this:

And they will go together in this pattern:

I’ve finished the second row of squares and started on the third, but just recently my hands have been being difficult when it comes to crochet so I’m probably going to give it a time out for a while.

I also owe Myria a shawl and have been mulling over yarns, colors and patterns.  Color isn’t a tough one - she wants pink,  Quel surprise :)  I had thought that I would use Knitpick’s Palette (fingering weight) for this as they have a lovely, very pale pink but have decided that their Gloss (70% merino, 30% silk) would be much nicer.  Only problem with that is I will have to get the Bare version and dye it and the only problem with that is that I won’t be able to dye all of the yarn needed in one batch.  I also need to figure out how to get a very light pink - like one step away from white - without overdoing it.

As for the pattern, my eye and mind keep zooming in on the Multnomah which has been hugely popular this last year. 

I keep looking at it and thinking that border could be any lace pattern - you’d just have to adjust the number of stitches in the garter section above it.  And if the lace were knitted out a lot further than the original shawl (probably the garter section should be bigger too, to balance things) you could wind up with something seriously luxurious.

The planning process continues :)