This Thursday started out as most Thursdays do: before sunrise, in the kitchen, with a cup of coffee. While much of my day went as Thursdays usually do, I did end up with several nice surprises before the day was done one of which was to hear the phrase “you’ve got mail!”

Determined to make progress on something — anything — I really didn’t care what, I decided that among the things that needed doing, grappling with the beach-blanket-to-be was a good place to start.

When I last worked on it, I had finished and joined eight of the eleven squares that comprise the central panel, but I was not convinced that the color I had chosen for the final round of Square D-2 (lower left corner, final round worked in Red Heart Super Saver pumpkin) was the best choice:

Unable to change my mind about the wrongness of that color in the place, I took out the final round of D-2, reworked it with Red Heart Super dark orchid (bottom left), and crocheted Square E-3 and joined it to the panel (bottom right):

By the time I was done with that, my son was home from school and we needed to go out for his recently rescheduled orthodontist appointment. Needing something small and relatively portable to work on, I grabbed my copy of Jean Leinhauser’s 101 Crochet Squares so that I could work on the most recently assigned square, Square 97.

Using a 5.0mm hook and Red Heart Super Saver orchid, medium purple, and dark orchid, I got to work. Here is the result:

By the time we got home from the orthodontist, I had to turn my attention to the matter of dinner, while my son turned his attention to walking the dog and getting the mail. I don’t normally have much interest in the things that land in our mail box. Mail addressed to me is, for the most part, limited to crochet magazines, a handful of bills, and flyers sent from various stores and merchants in the area encouraging me to purchase their products and services. Today, however was different — I received two items of interest: one a small package, the other, a handwritten note.

Last week while I was working on the cookieghan, I had left the 4.0m hook I was using somewhere that my dog, Clooney, could reach it. By the time I realized it was missing, my much used (and beloved) hook been transformed into this:

While it still worked, it was not as comfortable to use at it had been, and because the 4.0mm and 4.5mm hook are indispensable for the work I am doing on the cookieghan, I found another online and ordered it, and that is what had arrived into the package:

The other treat that awaited me was the envelope containing a handwritten note from my college roommate. I had, as some of you know, crocheted a plate along with green eggs and ham as a birthday gift for her:

It had been sitting in my crochet empire for far too long, but last week, I  got it packed up and mailed off to her, and today I received a note which read as follows:

Thank you for the best birthday present. Ever.

And this is part of what I think is the power of crochet. I could never have gone out and purchased the best gift ever for my former roommate, but crochet allowed me to create something that I loved making and that I knew would be the perfect gift for her, and it is that power of expression that makes crochet so very special.