This throw was the first project I added to my Tortoise Project list. And now it's finished.
Because I think that this throw is actually prettier than this picture shows, I took a close up as well. Just a quick review, I chose to use the wave variation of the pattern, which you can find here. As far as I can tell, I started this afghan in the summer of 2021. I used 13 different variegated yarns. My goal had been to crochet 15 repeats of the 13 rows to make a throw approximately 60 inches square. But I started to run out of yarn. And some of the yarns were no longer available. I did purchase one similar yarn to replace one that ran out, but buying a whole skein of yarn for one or two rows seemed like rather a waste of money. And storage space, because I would then have to store the leftovers somewhere. So, I started replacing some yarns with similar yarns that were already being used in the throw. And I even finished one row with a solid yarn when I only had a few inches of row to complete when the yarn ran out. And I stopped at 14 repeats, because the throw was already about 60" square, and I was just going to keep running out of yarn if I continued.The moss stitch is quite dense, so the throw is quite heavy. I could probably use it as a weighted blanket. 😄 It actually weighs around 4 pounds.
Tortoise Project #2 is the Shannon Afghan. I haven't worked on it at all since the last update, so I'm stagnant at 24 squares completed. That's still quite an accomplishment because I started the year with only 6 squares completed. And this is a complicated pattern.
Tortoise Project #3 was The Poet Shawl, which is completed. I'll be honest and say that, if I had to do it over again, I would not have used black and cream as the main colours. The black edging looks rather sloppy against the cream pockets. But it's done.
Tortoise Project #4 was the latch hook project, also finished. I still have to decide where to hang it.
So, that's 3 of my original 4 projects that are completed. And I have made significant progress on the remaining project.
My goal was to work on no more than 4 projects at a time (not including quilting), so I added another project as I completed one.
Tortoise Project #5 is the needlepoint wallhanging. No progress there to report. I haven't touched this project in months.
Tortoise Project #6 is the quilt block with no name, Brackman 3806.5. I started this block in 2021. I had been doing a quilt along meant to teach people how to use the software, BlockBase+, but it only had 8 blocks. So I decided to add more blocks, choosing to use some of the most complicated blocks I could find in Brackman's Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Patterns (also in Blockbase+). But the encyclopedia has over 1,000 blocks in it. So to help find them, I asked in a quilt group on Facebook for recommendations on the most challenging 12" quilt blocks from this book/software. And I only got one recommendation: 3806.5. Yup, definitely challenging. Those smaller star sections are less than 2" square. And I had to figure out how to actually make the block. The inidividual pieces are much too small to fit under a sewing machine foot without disappearing. Foundation paper piecing wouldn't work. Straight hand stitching was not my forte, and I couldn't see being able to keep the seams together with my awkward hand sewing. I finally settled on English paper piecing, and I completed 2 of these smaller stars back in 2021. Then didn't touch this project again until this year.
While my tortoise projects started out being yarn projects, I decided to include this quilt block because it is handwork.
Honestly, I hadn't been working on any of my tortoise projects in months, but just recently figured I'd better get back to them. As you can see, I've made some serious progress on the quilt block, and, of course, finished the moss stitch afghan. I just have to find the motivation to work on the needlepoint and the shannon afghan as well.
Now that the moss stitch afghan is finished, it was time to add another project to the queue. I'm trying to stick with UFOs, projects that I've actually started and not ones that I have the materials for, but haven't started. Unless a project becomes a priority, in which case, it may jump the queue.
Tortoise Project #7 is A Blanket of Roses Afghan.
And speaking of goals, here's a great Bible verse worth sharing:
Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:13,14 NKJV
Now I have to figure out what to do with this.
I think I originally drilled the holes in it when making my temperature change afghan (which I still want to add corners to). And then used it for Sophie's Universe, and finally for the Moss Stitch afghan. But I don't have any multi-yarn projects in my current or future queue. It might just have to hold a quilting project...