more turtles

One night, a few months ago I was tucking my little girl into bed, and she asked me why I'm always crocheting presents for other people, but never crocheting anything for her. (Now, keep in mind, at the time this girl had in her possession two blankets, three crochet pinafore-style dresses, a pair of slippers, two winter hats, and a few little clothing articles for her stuffed animals all courtesy of the flying fingers of yours truly. However, we can also keep in mind that she is only six, and when you are six, it can be hard to remember things that aren't right in front of you. And, to be fair, it had been a few months since she'd received anything crocheted from me.)

I pointed out that I had actually made her a few items, and asked her why she was so concerned abut it, to which she replied that the things I made for other people were really cool--like that turtle blanket--and the things that I made for her were more normal and not as special.

Since my crocheting is something I do just for fun, and since I waited for a loooooonnnnngggg time to even have a little girl that I could crochet for, we decided that she would design her own blanket, and then I would crochet it up for her.

She got her handy dandy sketch pad out and immediately went to work:



And then, I went to work as well.



She was pretty pleased, and so was I.

Possibly the Most Rewarding Afghan I've Made

So, I haven't been doing a whole lot of dishcloths, sunhats, hairbands, slippers, or anything else lately.  Wanna know why?

(I know you can hardly contain your curiosity.)

A dear friend of mine got married last month, and I was madly working on an afghan to give her.  I (perhaps foolishly) determined to give a new pattern a go, a pattern I bought many many years ago, but hadn't gotten around to making yet.

source

Sixty-three different patterns for one afghan?  Sounds like a lot of work, and it kind of was.  But, it was fun work, and it was really intriguing to see how the afghan started to take shape the more squares I got finished up.

Here's a picture I took after having worked on it for about two weeks:


My friend requested a green/tan/ecru color palette, versus the green/ecru/rose palette in the pattern.



It took me about a month and a half to complete.  Here are a few shots of the finished product:



I did a more simple edging than the one called for in the pattern.  That's because I ran very low on yarn and I was down to the wire time-wise.

(And, by "down to the wire", I mean, I finished this baby up the day before the wedding!)



I'm really pleased with how it turned out, and I just love the thought of it being in my friends new newlywed house.  Is that silly, or just sentimental?  Either way, it is what it is.

Makes me want to make one for myself.  Maybe someday . . .

wrapped up in love

Of all the things I've ever crocheted, this is my favorite.  

Here's the story:

When I was around ten years old, three of my best friends learned to knit as part of a learning activity in their religious youth group.  I was jealous.  I had my own religious youth group, and I asked my leader if she would teach me how to knit, but she didn't know how.  She did know how to do plastic canvas stitching, and so she taught me that instead.  I enjoyed it, and made tissue box covers (roughly like this one) for my mother and both my grandmothers.  I'm grateful now that the leader took the time to teach me, and for the time that we spent together, working on this project.

Still, I longed to knit.

My mom, seeing my sadness offered to teach me to crochet (her mother had taught her when she was around my age).  I was thrilled.  She gave me some different options as to what I might make, and I chose to make a poncho.  It took me four years to finish that particular poncho, but it started me on what I think will turn out to be a life-long love.

Years later, after I had graduated from college and was starting into my professional life, my grandmother picked up crocheting again.  She worked on hats mainly.  At the time LDS Humanitarian services (we're Mormons, my grandmother and I) were collecting and distributing ski hats throughout the world, particularly in the poorer countries.  So, grandma made hats--lots of them.  She still made time to work on an afghan from time to time though.

One weekend, when I was down visiting her, grandma pulled me aside, showed me the afghan she'd been working on, and asked me a question about the stitch that she was using.  The afghan had started to take on a different form, and we found that she had inadvertently switched stitches along the way and that was causing the problem.  Fortunately it hadn't been going on long, and so getting things straightened around was a pretty easy fix.

A few years after that, my grandmother contracted leukemia, and shortly after that (at age 84 I think) she passed away.  To say the least, it was a sad time for me, and for my cousins, aunts, uncles and parents.   I know most people feel this way, but my grandmother was an extraordinary woman, and to have her life end, even at a fairly advanced age was really rough on all of us.

Shortly after the funeral, my mother presented me with half of the afghan pictured above, along with a few skeins of matching yarn.  Turns out that as my aunts and uncles were cleaning out the house, they found this unfinished project and decided that I should be the one to finish it.  So, I did.

Grandmother and I had different crochet grips and tensions, and if I turn the afghan over on the backside, I can still tell where she left off and I began.

I love that.  

My Stuff has NEVER made it to Alaska before!

I love to make crochet items for people I know. 

And, let's be honest,

I'm also quite fond of making crochet items that then sell for cold hard cash.

So, when those two loves intersected recently, it was a lovely late Christmas present for me.


Monday night, I received an e-mail from a friend of mine.  I met her through my husband, (she and her husband had been friends with my Eric for years and years) and liked her immediately.  The limited interaction that I had with her convinced me that she was "my kind of person", but it took awhile for us to get around to lining up our schedules to actually spend some time together.  (Interestingly enough, the catalyst for all that was when we found each other's respective blogs and started commenting there.) Over the summer, we were able to get to know each other more, and I found that I enjoyed her company every bit as much as I had thought I would. 

And then, as things go sometimes, she moved across the country, from Utah to Michigan, and now we interact mostly through our blogs again.

So, when I got an e-mail from her regarding this scarf, which she wished to purchase for her sister-in-law (in Alaska!), it was a real treat for me. 

Then, when I woke up the next morning to find that she had written about the scarf on her "write-about-one-good-thing-about-every-day" blog, it was like Christmas morning all over again. 

Yet another example of how crocheting brings good things to my life. 

(Thanks, Heather.)

just one of the perks

Last Sunday, I got a little treat.  

A little over a year ago, I gave one of my neighbors a sweater and hat set just like this for her soon to be born baby girl.

.

Remembering how quickly infants grow, and how they spend most of their time covered up with blankets anyway, I purposely made the set in the 12-18 month size, figuring that it would fit the baby perfectly the next time winter came around.

(That would be now.)

So, you can imagine my joy when last Sunday, as I was sitting in church waiting for our services to start, I looked back and saw this mother carrying her almost one-year-old baby who just happened to be wearing "my" hat and sweater.  It was the first time I'd seen it on her, and I'm not exaggerating in the least when I say that she looked absolutely adorable.

Yet another reason I love to crochet.  

Why I Crochet

BACKGROUND

(This doesn't have anything to do with crocheting, but it's kind of important so that the part that does have to do with crocheting makes sense.)  


So, I have this friend.  Her name is Lee and she's about 45 years older than I am.  I met her when I was going to college.  I was an 18-year old freshman, and she was a sixty-two year old woman who was taking as many music classes as she could.  We were in choir together.

We kept in touch over the years as I moved from state to state and city to city.  And then, one year, we lost touch with one another.  I didn't know where she was, or whether she was even still living.  For about two years I thought of her, tried to track her down, and wondered how she was. 

And then one day, about a year ago, a mutual friend called me, and in the course of our conversation, she told me what was up with Lee.  Specifically, she told me where she was living, what she was up to, and how I could get in touch with her.

The next time I was home, we met up.  What a treat that was!  She was 83 years old, and still as good-natured and courageous as ever.  We had a really nice chat before I left, and we determined to start up our mail correspondence once again.

And now we come to the crochet part:

About four months ago, in one of my letters, I mentioned that I had opened an etsy shop, and that I was making quite a few hats as well as other items, and that I was enjoying it.  Lee wrote me back, asking what kind of hats I had, and how much I was charging for them. In my next letter to her, I sent her a sheet with pictures of some of my more popular hats (but no prices).


She then wrote me back (you might think it would be more efficient to use the phone, but we're letter people), asking if I could send her one of my newsboy caps.  She had found that as she was getting older, her hair was starting to break off on the ends.  The fact that she put her hair in rollers every evening was compounding the problem, but she isn't the kind of person who feels comfortable not having her hair done, regardless of pretty much anything else.  


So, her plan was to wear one of my newsboy caps on weekdays and Saturdays, and only roll her hair up for Sundays.  She was hoping that by doing this, she could still feel pretty on the weekdays, AND slow the damage of her hair.  


Naturally, I sent her two caps, one in blue and one in creme.  (You would have done the same, I'm pretty sure.)

Well, from the next letter I received her, you would have thought I had sent her the moon on a string with a side of mozzarella cheese sticks.  She was thrilled, and as I read her effusive letter, so was I.

I like to think of her, hanging out in a creation that came out of my own fingers, feeling stylish and pretty.

In fact, thinking of that scene in my head sometimes just makes my day.