Crochet Apache Tears Swatch + Scrap Yarn Blanket Project

I am obsessed with this stitch! The moment I saw Sarah London's apache tears crochet tutorial I knew I had to give it a try. This stitch has it all. The complete crochet stitch package, if that is a thing. Haha. I mean....let's go through the list of awesome things this stitch has to offer. Stash busting abilities....check! Crazy awesome colors...check! A geometric pattern that makes me a little dizzy when I look at it too long...check!! I used the 8dc spacing pattern for my swatch and love the results!
I haven't had much time for personal knitting or crochet projects lately so it was nice to work on something just for fun and learn a new stitch at the same time. I also love any opportunity to put my scrap yarn pile to good use. 

My apache tears crochet swatch combined with two recent discoveries inspired my latest project idea.

First, I spotted this beautiful crochet square patchwork blanket on Pinterest. A few days after falling in love with the blanket I found this book on Amazon. Even though I can't really work on big projects at the moment, I always manage to find a lot of joy in a little crochet swatch. So, I am going to work my way through all 50 stitch patterns in this book and make a patchwork blanket of my own! I can't wait to learn new stitches, use up my scrap yarn stash, and hopefully have a pretty blanket to enjoy. I thought about working on a new swatch a week for the 52 weeks in a year and just find two other stitch patterns to fill it out. I will definitely share my progress as my square collection gets a little bigger.

For me, staying inspired always comes from trying new things.

What projects are you working on at the moment? Have you tried the apache tears stitch yet?

blanket, books, Crochet, scrap yarn, swatchmeredith