February...Project 365

February:

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 



Graduation is coming...ready or not!  24 years, first ever attempt at baking bread...was actually good
finally started a very anticipated project,

An Infinity scarf...and a poncho?

Joining in with Chrissie, Nicole, Tami, Crochetaddictuk and Ginny for their link-ups. 
So much inspiration out there.  Every week my "to-do" list grows!

My niece asked me to make her an infinity scarf...why have I not made these before?
So simple!!  I think it took MAYBE 2 hours.

Just simple DC, chain 1, round and round and round!

 (The only problem I had was joining my starting chain without twisting the stitches. 

I finally wrapped the starting chain around my rocking chair and joined it from there.)

The pattern for the flower was found here.   I am soo impatient with patterns!  

I got frustrated and just improvised.   

 Easy to make, easy to wear, pretty hanging on a coat hook.  

What more could I ask for?

The yarn is Red Heart Boutique in Tidal. 
 It is a surprisingly soft yarn and drapes perfectly!

I can see MANY, like way too many of these in the near future! 

Just like the book “If you give a moose a muffin“: If a crocheter makes a scarf, 

she will want a shawl to go with it and probably some wrist warmers and maybe a hat.  

Definitely a shawl!

I love the "openness" the pattern created.  
Wrapped around twice it is so thick and nice and soft and warm.  

Wrapped around once, it hangs down to my waist and I forget I even have it on.

All the sudden I have turned into a poncho wearin' person! 

I don't know when it happened, but how did I ever NOT wear them?  

My first poncho is of course inspired totally by Lucy  I always love her finished projects.  

Choosing colors and stitches completely random on mine.

I like being able to wear it on cold mornings, even though it is not anywhere near done. 

Something about slipping something handmade on, it just seems to keep you warmer.

Sideways view of the stitches...I love crochet! 

Chloe decided she liked it and asked for one.  So of course, I quit working on mine, 

 I let her pick all her favorite colors and got to work. 

I love that she loves the things I make her.  I know that wont always be the case...

but for now, I couldn't be happier!

I hope to have her's finished for their weekend visit.  

Gratitude Sunday

 

Joining in with Taryn for Gratitude Sunday

A time to slow down, to reflect, to be grateful...

This week I am grateful for...

Grateful for 24 years...

      “When you live with another person for 50 years, all of your memories are invested in that person, like a bank account of shared memories. It’s not that you refer to them constantly. In fact, for people who do not live in the past, you almost never say, “Do you remember that night we…?” But you don’t have to. That is the best of all. You know that the other person does remember. Thus, the past is part of the present as long as the other person lives. It is better than any scrapbook, because you are both living scrapbooks.” 

Federico Fellini

Daffodils blooming 

An afternoon at the park

Our friend who had a heart attack last week getting a good report from his doctor

Nature trails with the grandkids

Her excitement...it is contagious!

Vanilla ice cream with a cherry on top

Sunshine with blue skies and puffy white clouds

Sunrises

Longer days

Kaleidoscope

Joining in with Ginny and Chrissie  Tami and Crochet Addict UK

I finally finished up my Kaleidoscope blanket.
 This was another project I started around Christmas,

 my go to when I needed simple stitching.
I love working on granny stripes, they work up so fast 

and satisfy my need for lots of color with out all the tedious weaving in!

11 repeats of 9 colors...these bright, sunshiney colors.
They are always in my basket of yarn.

  I randomly grabbed a few and got started.

Random border:  hdc, single, double, single, hdc, picot edging.

Spread out...love all the happy, stripey stripes!

Love it!!

I started on a Spring picnic blanket.

(The first one i made ended up being used for her baby dolls.)

very simple squares, repeated over and over and over.
I love the simplicity.

I love seeing neat little stacks of such pretty colors.
Spring has just got to be on its way!

Reading:

  "Untying the Knot" by Linda Gillard:

"Mistakes once made are rarely reversible. The holes they leave in the fabric of life aren’t tiny and they can’t be scratched away. You have to live with them as best you can. Work round them. That’s why you have to come to terms with memory. You can’t obliterate the past or eradicate it from the mind, even when, for our own good, memory enfolds us in a blanket of forgetfulness. There are always traces left, marks where time gripped us and left its telltale fingerprint."

Grandma...

October 27, 1925-February 11, 2013

“I believe you did not have a happy life.  I believe you were cheated.  I believe your best friends were loneliness and misery.  I believe your busiest enemies were anger and depression.  I believe joy was a game you could never play without stumbling. I believe comfort, though you craved it, was forever a stranger. I believe music had to be melancholy or not at all. I believe no trinket, no precious metal, shone so bright as your bitterness. I believe you lay down at last in your coffin none the wiser and unassuaged.

Oh, cold and dreamless under the wild, amoral, reckless, peaceful flowers of the hillsides.” 

― Mary Oliver

Even though I never got to spend any time with you, I have learned from what I believe to be true about you.  Through no fault of your own, illness deprived you.  I live differently because of your suffering.  My life is full, I refuse to be cheated.  I see joy and happiness. I am grateful everyday for small joys, small victories and even defeats.  My children and grandchildren will know me...my thoughts, my dreams, my hopes. I will allow all to come in and stay, for as long as they need to. No judgments, no guilt, only allowances and grace.  

Gratitude Sunday

Joining in with Taryn for Gratitude Sunday

Sunday's heartfelt tradition. A time to slow down, to reflect, to be grateful. A list of gratitudes.

Thinking I am just too busy to write down my gratitudes this week...realizing how silly that is!

Constant change...we have several new situations popping up..opening up new conversations, building more trust in one another.  It is good and scary and usually ends with me in tears and him standing right beside me, as always.

Safety for family when we were hit with a freak snow/ice storm on Tuesday.

We got 2 days off due to the storm.  We filled it with snow walks, snowmen building, watching the birds attack the feeders we made for them.  Laughing at the crazy dogs of ours who DID.NOT.UNDERSTAND. what all the white cold stuff was.

Seeing rabbit tracks in the snow.

Calls, texts and lots of pics from my daughter of the grandkids playing in the snow.  So glad the difficult years are behind us and we are able to be friends.

A sweet "thank you" where no thanks was needed.

Being able to take them to the park on Saturday.

Bulbs that had started poking through last week, still growing strong!

Noticing longer days