thank you

Thanks so much, yea it's so sad and she is devastated. I don't know what to do for her so I'm hoping this at least gives her a little thought of ...her not being alone and that she is loved.  Grief is so hard.  She was very close with my mom and was there while my mom was very sick with brain cancer in 2016 and I had to leave Florida and move back to NC after my mom passed because work forced me to.. so I no longer live close to this cousin either.  I may make her a pretty crochet Christmas cactus plant to go with both shawls since she loves flowers so much.

I am so sorry to hear you haven't been feeling well.  Thanks for the compliment and no worries on watching the videos, take as long as you need... they aren't going anywhere.  I understand sometimes we have rough times and don't feel well.  I haven't been feeling well and haven't made too many videos recently, a few yarn haul unboxing and I made a short less than 5min slideshow showing many of the blankets I've made over the years.  I hope you feel better soon.  Gentle hugs.

Joanne Hiller thanks yea, I finished my physical therapy session today and I hate having arthritis as well... it sucks.  The doctor's keep changing their minds as to what I have but I still don't feel well.

Here is a link using that block stitch to make a baby blanket but using it in motifs, very pretty and less gaps: https://thecrochetcrowd.com/crochet-modern-baby-granny-blanket-pattern/

Joanne Hiller I forgot to mention...I have made 2 blankets with that stitch I first used a Mary Maxim kit but I modified it a bit.  I gave that one away as a present (used Bernat Pop! yarn) and the other one I gave to a friend as their wedding present (green one using Caron Ombre jumbo yarn).  The third one I'm working on is that modern granny pattern but I want to try to figure out or try a pattern for it that has less gaps.

https://youtu.be/cIsIcPgkLEo?si=D4K9yaBE9zCYT1ao

Joanne Hiller You're welcome.  I hope your aquatic aerobics class went well. I hope to feel better and have more energy so I can start going to classes like those.  I saw a very nice post today on my YouTube feed with this stitch, theirs looks like it has less gaps than the pattern below from the Crochet crowd and they also used it to make a hexi cardi which I thought looked sooo pretty!! I haven't watched the videos yet but here are the links below.  These YouTube channels are new to me too so not sure about the quality of their videos.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=051xIu800AA&t=11s

Hexi cardi in modern granny stitch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKoT45NXxrY&t=2s

hexagon style blanket with this stitch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGcIaM9nKzU

The Crochet crowd has a free ebook all filled with different Modern granny square blanket stitch patterns. https://thecrochetcrowd.com/crochet-mg-modern-granny-patterns-ebook-jeanne-steinhilber/

I have a pencil grip and my hand doesn't touch the metal tip it's lower on the plastic handle.  The metal Susan bate hooks I have are very old and I haven't used them in more than 15 years and I never had that happen to me.  With the handle I have had a bit of peel and the Susan Bates name on the plastic rub off a bit.  Also my hands tend to be very very dry too so I've never had issues of any hook colors rubbing off on me. I did have that happen with the blue yarn from an O-go Peacock colorway.

Joanne Hiller You're welcome. This one is made in a rectangle and center out...but I'm sure you can make it row by row instead.  Here is the link to the video tutorial of the blanket I was talking about above: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glhZISlucTU&t=1s