Almost a Shoop Shoop Capelet

Thank you for your well wishes to my mom. Everything went well yesterday, and now we just need to wait for the results of the biopsy, which we should get a week from tomorrow.

I kept busy yesterday while I waited, and I have 9 rows done on the Shoop Shoop Capelet:
It still feels a little small to me, so I think I will follow the pattern for the larger size and do 2 more rows. If it still feels small to me, I will probably keep going until I am happy with the size and then add the edging. Following the pattern, I bought 4 skeins of TLC Cotton Plus, and so far I haven't finished 1 skein yet. So I think I have enough yarn to make this as big as I want. And the edge pattern isn't dependent on having a certain number of stitches, so the pattern is very flexible. All in all, I am very pleased with the pattern and this project.

On an unrelated note, over at the CrochetMe blog, Kim mentioned something yesterday that I have been thinking about myself (and yes, this is going to involve grannies and ripples). It has been amazing to me how many of the grannies and the ripplers have mentioned in their introductions that they have either learned or relearned how to crochet in order to participate. Many have knitted for years but only now are picking up crochet. I agree with Kim that the color play going on in the afghans, and the long tradition that both kinds of afghans represent, is contributing to this crochet renaissance. But I also know from talking with people at the library, including some of the people who came to our crochet program earlier in the month, that there is a growing interest in crochet, particularly among knitters. I'm not sure what exactly is driving this phenomenon, but I think it is one of the most exciting trends I've encountered in years.