the popsicle blankie begins...

11.29.10

Hooking Diary

Here it is, I've finally started my Lucy-inspired (attic24) granny blankie (also posted under my page Crochet-Granny's). 

 

The Popsicle Blankie.  I couldn't come up with a better name than that.  The colors just make you smile and I think will be a good blankie to curl up in when we get sick or on one of those "blah" days.  It can't help but make you feel better...

The Popsicle Blankie
Pattern: Grannys-a-Square-Afghan

Hook: I

Terrible as it may be, there was no way I was going to pay the nearly $350 on Noro yarn to make the suggested blanket.  I went to check Noro out at my local yarn store (LYS) to find a sample.  It was incredibly dyed yarn, but it was about the scratchy-est yarn I ever felt.  Why on earth would anyone ever make a blankie out of something so hideous?!? 

So, instead, I'm going the frugal route.  Red Heart Yarn provides a vast array of color choices at an economical price.  I think I paid $2.88 per skein at our local Walmart.  When I get to Santa Fe on Wednesday, I plan on picking up a couple more colors at Michaels to round out the popsicle rainbow of colors.  So far, I have:

:: lavender

:: light blue

:: delft blue

:: carrot

:: Aruba sea

:: gold

:: cherry red

:: orchid

:: turqua

:: dark orchid

:: Aran (off white)

:: light raspberry

11.30.10

Hooked until 1am when J came home from the office.  As I've posted on Ravelry, I definitely need to rethink that gold and get to the Michaels in Santa Fe for some light/dark green/teal and pale orange and pink. 

Here's the progress:

Of course, there are lots of ends to weave in and blocking to be done on each square, but I'm happy about it so far.  The gold does look a little sickly on that large square in the upper right.  I may have to frog that and try something else. 

...see ya round the (hooker's) corner.



XOXO

weekend of crochet...

Well, after we got the water back on last week, the flu hit our household.  Each of us has had some variation of aches (head, stomach, muscle), stabbing pains (hips, back, stomach), and vomitting; much distress in general.  So, while all of this was going on, I got to thinking and hooking.

Here were the results:

Scarf #1, the Cascade Scarf  (Kittyboo Crochet, Rebecca Jackson), Blueberry tangle

 

Scarf #2:  Granny Scarf, Lion Brand Yarn, Chocolate Mint Mocha

And I spent some time staring at part of my stash.  I am missing a light yellow, light pink, light orange, light green, and a dark green, but it shall be called the "Popsicle Blankie."

I will update you all with progress photos as I go along as well as add the material details of all my projects under my Crochet, Granny's page.

Until then, see ya round the (less distressed) corner...

XOXO



simplify: chapter one

Well, I hadn't intended on this, but we sprang a leak in the guest bathroom this past Saturday night.  Before we realized what was going on, water had leaked into the spare bedroom where all of my saved photos and letters had been stored in cardboard boxes.  Note to self:  buy plastic storage boxes

So, I guess this is the first chapter of the long book

that is all about the simplifying of my life.

First, setting the scene:

every spare towel was used to mop up the flood,

cut a hole on the other side of the shower to find the leak,

...got the guys to come out after a couple of days

and put valves in to shut off the water at the leak.

 Resident MacGyver, husband J, was quick with a solution to dry out the carpet and wall:

a bungee cord, a portable fan and a space heater

got the stuff wet on the corner of the closet too,

So, I moved it all out into the guest bedroom,

mixed in with all of E's firefighting gear and clothes.

So, today will be spent sorting through all of my old letters,

and crinkled photographs.

and of course there is 6 loads of laundry that piled up with the water shut off,

 How appropriate that it is Thanksgiving week and right now I am incredibly thankful,

 as there is such thing as white chocolate Reese's peanut butter cups.

YUM-O.

See ya 'round the (dried and sorted out) corner...

 

XOXO



simplify...

This morning I sit and think ...

...why is it that everyone yearns for the simpler things in life? 

We get to feeling this way especially as we come in from the cold, looking to start our hibernation period that is winter.   We literally become surrounded by that which we classify as "must haves."  All of the impulse buys;  the things we thought would fix a sad day or at a minimum match that favorite sweater. 

I think of all that I have and all that I really need and see such excess.  Everywhere.  In the bathroom (will I ever use those hotel shampoos and conditioners?) and in the laundry room (3,576 plastic grocery bags). 

Really?!?  C'mon.

 I have set a date.  The end of the year.  I give myself until December 31.  That's a little more than a month.  I will go room by room, box by box and keep only what is necessary, what I (honestly and truly) wear and use (on a regular basis) and what I love and treasure, including what's in the white box (for another post, another day).

I will gather shampoos and baggies and say enough is enough, a little every day.

I guess J can stay.

See ya round the (simplified?!?) corner...

XOXO

first snow

We had our first snow yesterday evening and awakened to this beautiful landscape

and the big bird watches from an icy perch

the old feed bin dusted

 

 and the corral fence flocked 

the garden looking much different 

the garden angel in the morning sun

the rose garden nook is quiet

no birds at the bath

frosty grape vines yet to see the sun

and the old apricot tree stands watch...

...see ya round the corner

XOXO

2010 Season of Blessings

As the nights grow colder here in northern New Mexico, we are reminded that another growing season has come to pass.  We were blessed this year, indeed. 

First, with good health and a growing family. 

We welcomed the newest addition to our family, our sweet niece, AB on July 27th. 

As for the rest of us, we had a busy year growing our own babies,

out here west of the Mississippi.

For the first time in years, we had irrigation water come from the mountains in the acequia (a network of hand dug, earthen canals used to move water from the snow melt runoff from the mountains in the spring, to crops below in the valley)

Happy cows really do live in New Mexico, not California!

The Garden went in quite well with all of our Church Family

Countless hours were spent watering and weeding.

We were able to harvest a few things...

Lots of greens and cold weather crops...

The onions decided that they grew better on top of the soil instead of down under it!

You really can grow cantalopes at 7000 ft!

They may have been only the size of softballs,

but we sure did have a bunch of them... and oh, so SWEET!

What a wonderful season it was...

Oh, and let us not forget, we must show off our 2010 raspberry harvest:

Now it is time to rest,

and enjoy the last warm days of the year.

Even Itsy-cat isn't so ornery on warm days like these...

but, as we know, the cold can't be too far away.

Grandma, you would have been 110 years old today.  We will never forget the influence you had on our lives; the gardens you grew, the platz you made, and the afghans you crocheted.  Happy Birthday.

See ya 'round the corner,

XOXO