A CAL, a KAL, and a Birthday

Hey all! I have a small Chicago update: I'm still on the job hunt, so if you could keep praying for that it would be great. Also, it's my sister's birthday today! She is turning 22. I love her so much and I hope she enjoys her special day even though I can't be there to celebrate with her.

Speaking of my sister, remember how I said that she and I were doing both a CAL, a KAL, and a Read-Along (henceforth referred to as the RAL) this summer as a way to keep in touch? And remember how I said that I would post telling you all about it? Well, that time is now!

First, the CAL.
The CAL we are doing is Star Blanket #734 from Bernat Design Studio. We chose this pattern against the advice of our younger cousin Ashley, who completed the blanket for her cousin and hated the pattern. With as much as I have done (through round six I believe) I love the pattern. It is super cute! The only problem is the yarn. The recommended yarn is super fuzy so it is sometimes hard to tell whether or not I am going into the right stitch. Here is a picture of what I have done so far. It's not perfect, but I already cut the yarn so I'm just going to keep going.

Now, the KAL.
We will be creating the Seed Stitch Baby Blanket from Lion Brand Yarn. Charlotte has already made this blanket for one of her friends from high school and found the pattern very agreeable, which is part of the reason we chose it for the yarn along. We are using stash yarn we bought on sale from JoAnn Fabrics; mine is green variegated and her's is blue variegated. All I have done is the cast on, and not even that completely, but here is a picture so you can see the yarn.

As for the RAL, we will both be rereading Homer's the Odyssey. We both read it for our freshmen English class in high school, but it's such a good story that we wanted to read it again!

Well, that's all for now! Have a great Monday and thanks for all your prayers!
Jenn