January 2015 update

I decided to try something new this year, so I have joined a CAL (Crochet along) on Ravelry - https://www.ravelry.com.  The idea is to crochet one main square and one filler square per month. The finished square can be shared on their website alongside others taking part.  At the end of the year I should have enough squares to make a throw or blanket.  I thought it was a really good idea, It would help to keep me motivated and there is an opportunity to interact with other crochet lovers.  It will also push me to try new more complicated designs.  

The first hurdle I encountered was that the instructions were in US terms, so I had to keep referring to a book of UK/US conversion stitches.  This got a bit confusing as I kept getting them muddled up. It would have helped if I had printed off the pattern first, instead of reading from the computer - I could then have marked off each row as I finished it.  If I had followed my own advice I wouldn't now find myself on row 13 with too many stitches! AAARGH!

Another thing - which I hadn't factored in - I should have checked my wool supply.   If I intend completing the twelve months' squares and joining them into a blanket or throw, I need enough wool in my chosen colours to complete it.

Here is my first effort so far.

I struggled a bit with the last two rows of this pattern, but with perseverance and bit of tweaking, here is the finished square.

I am now off to try the filler square.