I'm Totally Hooked

I told you all last week that there has been much crafting around here but not that much knitting, and that's a trend that is continuing this week. Spinning is still big, as it always is during Tour de Fleece time, but lately I've been all about the crochet. I just haven't been able to stop working on the C2C blanket for my nephew, and it's now past the halfway point:

I haven't been wanting to play yarn chicken, so I've been cutting each color when it just looks like I don't have enough for another row. That means I'll have some significant leftovers to deal with, but I took this photo with my feet in it so that you can get a sense of the size of this thing -- plenty big for a toddler! As you can see, I've started decreasing, and last night I was ready to join a new color but decided to pause to weave in ends. That's a task that's relatively easy with this crochet technique and with the nubby texture of the yarn, but I am doing it pretty thoroughly because I know this blanket will be treated roughly and washed frequently. I've got about five more ends to weave in and then I'll start crocheting again.

And the blanket is not the only crocheting I've been doing, either. Rainbow has wanted to learn to make amigurumi figures for a while, and we thought we'd get started this week so that we could conceivably do some in the car this weekend. She wants to make some animals for my nephew, and I have some books with some really cute patterns, but she needs to learn some basics first. Conveniently, I heard that Craftsy was running a special where you can get a year's premium membership (meaning access to all their classes) for $3, so I signed up, figuring that at the very least Rainbow could get some use out of some of the classes. We have started taking a class on crocheting amigurumi animals and are working on a bird:

We are doing this project mainly as practice, so Rainbow is focused on the technique more than the product, but I feel like this photo would make an excellent "got gauge?"-type meme. Granted, my yarn is a tad thinner than hers (DK versus worsted) and I'm using a slightly smaller hook, but both of these pieces are done to the same point in the pattern. She's definitely getting it, though, and that's what matters; we can make adjustments to get her gauge to tighten up a bit when we make some animals for real.

I am going to see if she'll consent to letting me go for my walk before it gets too much hotter (it's already 82F!), but I will be back tomorrow with a reading update. Stay cool out there, my friends!