First afghan of the year

Enough with the construction. Time for some serious needlework.

This is a picture of the 2 different squares I'm using for Blanket 1. A nice simple fully filled, warm granny. As basic as a double crochet.

This is Square 2, called a Russian Square in my pattern book.
You can see fairly clearly the 4-half double crochet groups. They leave a nice flat open effect that pairs well with the fully filled in square 1. I'm moving along quite nicely. I'm able to do 6 squares in an average hour, so I don't think it will take too long to complete.

Which is good. I've already found the thread for Blanket 2, and for 3 I only picked up some varigated yarn to give a break to the blue 3 will be. If I looked at the blanket yarn stash, there would also be enough to make blanket 4 and 5. If I admitted to the full truth, I could probably swing 6 too. I'm making myself feel better because I did put some yarn back on the shelf when I was out yesterday. Considering that I only planned 2 blankets this fall, I think I'm doing just fine in the accumulation of stash, not so well on the use thereof.

All this gratuitous yarn shopping was caused by the need for a needle case. Those little dpns are really hard on the corner of my workbag. I was really looking for a little zippered clear bag, but there don't seem to be any anywhere. I tried the comsetics area, crafts, school supplies. No luck. I had to stop at Canadian Tire on my way home, and was wondering around when this caught my eye.

A tall, skinny water bottle in a nice bright green. It's perfect. Now all I need is a little something to hold the other bits and peices, and my work bag will be completely organized.

I have made some really great progress on dad's socks. I'm working on the heel in a partridge stitch, which is interesting, but is taking a longer time than simple stocking stitch would. The Jaggerspun yarn has a small spool of thread to reinforce the heel, but with the partridge stitch, it might be just a wee bit much. I'll try and take some pictures for tommorrow. I wanted to wait till after the heel turn. I'm expecting a little trauma while doing it, I've only really done it once before. I have got to find time today to watch the heel turn video at Knitting Help's website. Maybe that will help.