Thirteen is one of my favorite numbers.

My two older sons were each born on the thirteenth day of the month, one of my father’s grandfathers was born on June 13, and my father’s mother, had she lived to see this day, would have been celebrating her 113th birthday.

Here is a doll I made based on how she appeared a group photo taken of her on the occasion of her confirmation in the spring of 1915 at what was then the Eden Evangelical Church in Edwardsville, Illionis:

She was the only young woman in the group photo wearing black stockings and shoes with her white confirmation dress.

And here is a photo of her as she appeared in life, probably in her early twenties:

So if a number could be part of one’s DNA, it would seem that 13 is a part of mine.

In keeping with the day’s theme of “thirteen”, I worked on the cookieghan. As I intend to make it it 13 cookies wide by 13 cookies long (a baker’s dozen of a baker’s dozen), I thought it was the perfect project for this particular Friday.

I had, as usual, grand/overly ambitious plans, and (again as usual) I fell measurably shy of my goals, but I did make progress, and while I still need iron out some problems with one design, and work out all of the particulars of another, I am just one cookie shy of my stated goal of 13 specific types of crochet cookies.

Today I spent most of my crochet time working on a cookie with a jam-filled center.

One reason I was so determined to crochet this cookie was that the jam center could be made of brightly colored yarns to complement the array neutrals that dominate this piece.

Using this photo of cookies for inspiration:

a 4.5 mm hook, and an assortment of jam colored yarns and Red Heart Super Saver cornmeal, I got to work.

My first efforts were not, to my mind satisfactory. The more I tried to fix it, the fussier and more overwrought my cookie got.

Then I experienced a much needed crochet epiphany and realized that I needed to make the design simpler, not more complicated; here is the result of that epiphany:

and here is the new cookie design pictured with all of the other crochet cookies whose designs I have figured out:

With these twelve cookie designs done, I can now move onto the thirteenth, and as I do I will  marvel at  how greatly the world has changed since my grandmother was born, and I intend to take full advantage of the opportunities available to me that she never had, and each stitch brings me closer to that goal.