Rejuvenated by completing my first stash bag made from two skeins of vintage Red Heart yarn, and having made good progress on the second bag that will be used to house more of my yarn collection, this afternoon I gathered the tools and instructions I needed to continue work on my second Crochet By Numbers training swatch.

The first day I worked on it, I completed the first 14 rows. Today, I finished five more rows and then tied and trimmed many of the ends that had accumulated. With 35 rows left to complete, the picture for this swatch is beginning to emerge more clearly:

What is also emerging more clearly is that this is a different kind of crochet that requires a somewhat different skill set. Having spent a fair amount of time tying square knots and trimming ends, I am seeing that I need to take care with how tightly I pull the yarn ends that I am tying, and I have yet to achieve the level of skill and consistency I would like.

I can see gaps in the fabric where I have pulled the yarn too tightly and inadvertently altered the stitch. I can also see that when I work on a larger, more complicated project, I will need to have a system in place that will accommodate more than the four colors I am currently working with.

But I am looking forward to finishing this swatch and have my fingers crossed that by the time I finish it, I will have the skills needed to tackle that larger, more complicated project that is calling my name.