I am grateful for this world that we live in. I think I live in a particularly beautiful part of it, full of mountains and trees and lakes, surrounded by the sea.
I've been privileged to live in other beautiful places, to have visited forty-nine of the United States, two of their territories, and five other countries. I've found lovely scenery, intriguing history, and kind people in all of them.
England
Germany
Japan
Puerto Rico
Canada
And that isn't enough. My wanderlust frequently manifests itself in dreams about rushing to catch airplanes, road trips that turn into hikes, or odd things happening with boats. Someday I'll explore more, but I am truly grateful for the places I have been. This is a beautiful world, in an amazing universe, and I'm glad to be part of it.
2020 has been quite a year, hasn't it? Who expected a pandemic to swoop in and plague the world? Because, you know, this definitely fits my definition of a Biblical plague: something unpleasant and attention-getting that affects everyone.
As far as the effects go, we're pretty well off. We've stayed healthy. Dandelionslayer and the Caterpillar have kept their jobs and worked all this time. Scoot is still happily serving as a missionary in the Netherlands. Remote school is not ideal for the younger boys, but it is possible, and the technology works pretty well. Church discussions at home have been good. Most of us are introverts, and don't mind quiet time and family entertainment.
Which is not to say that we're immune to disappointment, discouragement, or feeling boxed in. But it feels so much better to focus on the good things.
That's what Russell M. Nelson says so much more eloquently in the above video. A man of long experience with faith, science, and family, he encourages us to seek out the healing power of gratitude, and to share it with others.
So, today I'd like to tell you that I am grateful for my family. My parents, who brought me up with love, faith, curiosity, humor, skills, encouragement, and adventure. My sisters, who were silly and busy and active with me. My loving, fun, faithful, creative husband. Our talented, capable, hilarious sons.
I can't tell you how grateful I am for them, but I can tell you that I am, and that my life has meaning because of them. Thank you!
And thank you to you who are reading this. I know I haven't provided much for you to read lately, but thanks for stopping by. I'll share a few more things I'm grateful for in the next few days.
Spring
of 2020 has been an odd time for all of us. I'm happy to report that
my family is safe and healthy. My husband and the Caterpillar are still
working, Scoot is doing creative missionary work in Belgium, Rollo
completed his AP tests at home, and D2 sometimes does some remote
schoolwork.
I, being an introverted homemaker, am usually
happy to spend most of my time at home, but things are different now. I
wasn't used to having most of the family at home with me most of the
time. I don't get to go to the gym or the library, and I'm not sure
about the status of the fabric store. But I still need books to read
and things to create. Luckily, we have a pretty good home library, and I
have a pretty good stash of craft supplies.
So I crocheted this blanket for a friend's expected baby. The stitch pattern is from a Leisure Arts leaflet, More Crochet Stitches & Easy Projects,
and has the unimaginative name of "Cluster Stripes." It looked sort of
floral to me, so I used cheerful spring colors for the clusters, and
white for the stripes. I had some difficulty with keeping the edges
straight, but otherwise it was an easy, enjoyable project.
I
also joined the army of mask-makers to provide some supplemental face
coverings for local health-care workers. Since I didn't jump on the
bandwagon until the elastic and bias tape shortage was in full swing, I
bought a neat gadget
(just the maker, though--the finisher would have made it even easier!),
and made my own tape. The fabric had been donated by local church
members for a different charitable purpose, but was made available for
this project.
And I sewed Rollo a new dragon shirt for his seventeenth birthday. He likes the shirt more than he likes to smile for pictures!
It's that time again--not Christmas time, but getting-ready-for-Christmas time. We're practicing the music in band and in choir, taking note of gift ideas, maybe thinking about greetings to send to loved ones.
One of Dandelionslayer's colleagues recently became a father, so I had to whip something up for the new baby. While the men have a running joke about Gollum from The Hobbit, I just didn't think that would be a comforting image for a blanket. Instead, in keeping with the new father's outdoorsy personality and Alaskan background, we picked out some squares from The Crochet Crowd's Alaskan Inspired C2C Character collection. There are 19 large squares in the free downloadable pattern book, and it was hard to narrow down the choices. So Dandelionslayer selected six, and I crocheted them using 3 hdc per square, instead of dc, to keep them smaller. It's still a big blanket, but he's already a big baby.
We did make some adjustments to a couple of the patterns. Dandelionslayer redrew the caribou to have a more natural looking nose.
And I thought the moose ought to fill more of the square and have a more impressive rack. (It has eyes, too. You can see them up close.)
Still trying to keep it small, I only used the first round of the border described with each square, then joined the squares with one row of sc. I then outlined the whole with one more round of sc.
This was a fun project for the summer, since the squares didn't get too big on my lap. While most took longer, I did complete half of the moose square in one morning, waiting for Scoot to pack. As soon as he finished, we dropped him off at the Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah, where he's preparing to be a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He'll be serving in Belgium and the Netherlands for the next two years. It's exciting, but I'm glad I had the moose to keep me calm that morning.
Dandelionslayer is pretty pleased with the baby blanket, and keeps using it as a cushion. I hope it will still be in good shape when his friend returns from paternity leave!
I haven't been to a bridal shower for a long time. I just didn't know many eligible young people for a while. But a year or so ago, I realized that some of my sons' friends were entering that stage, and figured I'd better prepare. The Waterfall Throw pattern seemed like a good place to start. It went quickly, using thick chenille Bernat Blanket yarn. I'm not sure it turned out to be a "throw" size--that's one of my nearly 6-foot boys holding it up. But I like big afghans. I finally gave it to a bride who's not that tall, but is marrying a much taller young man. It should keep him covered--if she'll let it go!
My friend asked me to crochet an afghan for her sister's baby, and sent me a picture she'd found on Pinterest. I haven't been able to find that particular shot, so I won't share it with you, but it was a ripple afghan in rainbow colors, with white ripples in between. It looked like a fun project.
To make sure I got the ripples right, I followed the Easy Ripple Afghan by SusanB. I used my favorite I hook, and (mostly) Red Heart Super Saver yarn. I stitched two rows in each color, alternating Soft White with these colors:
Dark Orchid
Medium Purple
Royal
Turqua
Paddy Green
Tea Leaf
Cornmeal
Lemon
Carrot
Red Heart With Love Tigerlily
Burgundy
Cherry Red
Light Raspberry
Baby Pink
I followed the pattern for a 40 inch wide afghan, envisioning a standard 40"x60" size. By the time I'd gone through all the colors once, the blanket was more of a square. My friend thought 40"x40" was a good size, so I finished it off with three rounds of single crochet in Soft White. If you want a longer afghan, I'd recommend stitching three rows in each color, or starting the colors over again until you reach the size you like.
I used about 12 ounces of Soft White yarn, and about half an ounce of each color. So I have plenty of colors left for more Rainbow Ripple baby blankets, or other vibrant projects!
