This Saturday began as most days do: with a cup of coffee.

By mid-morning, the household was fed, the dog was walked, and my car was packed with stuff I was taking to my mom’s, not the least of which was the textured squares afghan I finished yesterday.

After I had gotten the photos I wanted, I had taken the blanket upstairs to the crochet empire/guest room.

As the piece was quite dense and heavily textured, I had decided that I would not block it with a full warm water and vinegar soak as it would be too heavy for me to manage when wet, and if the weather report was to be believed:

Some of the coldest temperatures of the season will make their way to North Carolina this weekend behind an arctic front that will move through after lunchtime Saturday.

I would be lucky if it dried before it froze.

Instead, I carefully spread out the newly finished blanket on the recently cleared guest bed and sprayed it with a light mist of water. By this morning, it was sufficiently presentable to be taken out of the house:

With the textured squares afghan now part of my crochet past, my mother and I went out for coffee, and I turned my attention to my crochet future: Alice Merlino’s crochet heart scarf.

I began work on this scarf Thursday. I want to have it done in time for Valentine’s Day, so with my 3.75 mm hook in hand and a cup of coffee nearby, I got to work. In short order, I had completed the first half of the scarf and was able to get nearly half way through the second half of the scarf.

However, early in the late afternoon, winter blew into my corner of the world and the arctic wind it rode in on made it difficult to photograph my project, but here is what I was able to capture, however imperfectly:

I had, for the most part, been enjoying the recent weather, and it was my sincere hope that Punxsutawney Phil’s prediction this past February 2 that there were 12 weeks left to winter, would be proved wrong. But if today is any indication, the ground hog might just be right.