Cozy

My mom started a tumbling blocks afghan late last winter, finishing it up a month or so ago. It's absolutely gorgeous and so well worth the hours and hours of knitting, changing colours, and sewing in ends.

That's what I think, anyway. At 69 with pretty severe arthritis, she may have regretted the undertaking once she discovered what a mammoth job it was going to be, but I still think it was worth her blood, sweat and tears. It looks beautiful in their living room, and with the chilly weather slowly creeping in, it was completed just in time for cuddling under snowy skies.

As she always does, she passed along the leftover yarn to me, much to my delight. Expected delights are delights nonetheless.

I used some of that yarn to make this pretty motif, which was designed for an afghan pattern from the fall 2009 issue of Interweave Crochet magazine.

The colours are so deeply saturated, and the yarn is thick and soft. And it came from my mommy, which makes it as cozy as can be.

November 3, 2009

I might get additional yarn and pick at this afghan over the winter, just like my mom did.

Bullseye!

This is an appropriate motif for today, since at the moment it feels like someone has shot an arrow into my head just above my left eye.

Stupid barometric pressure headache.

November 2, 2009



And now me and my aching noggin are heading to bed.

The end.

Boo!!

I know it's incredibly morbid, but every year I get a little kick out of saying that Thomas is going out for Halloween as a ghost.

Really, this is probably only genuinely funny to My Beloved and I - everyone else just laughs nervously when I whip out this annual joke - but in addition to the fact that I really do somehow find it amusing, it makes me feel closer to Thomas.

On a day when people are parading their more-adorable-than-usual children in an unending stream up to my front door in costumes so precious they make my busted uterus ache, it's nice to feel extra close to Thomas.

And so, I make the joke.

And a little cotton ghost washcloth too.

And all's right with my slightly warped world.

October 31, 2009

And now I'm off to bed, which is the only way I can guarantee I'm going to stop eating the leftover chocolate. For at least the next 7 or so hours anyway...

Hat's off. And on. And on. And on.

This is the first few rounds of a hat pattern, with the addition of a quick little single crochet border to finish it off.

I've been working on a couple of special order kids hats using this pattern, and thought the initial couple of rows would make a pretty motif perfectly suited for a certain little crochet odyssey.

Plus, once you get into the swing of an addictive pattern it's kind of hard to get out.

October 28, 2009

Somebody help me! I'm trapped in a hat!

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

But let the real stuff fall somewhere else for at least another month or so, m'k?

Thanks.

October 27, 2009

With apologies to my friends in Colorado who were dealing with blizzard conditions on Sunday...

Lest We Forget

Every year about this time, little red poppies start appearing on the lapels of Canadians and Britains. This 90-year old tradition started as a way of remembering the end of World War I on November 11, 1918.

Along with a moment of silence at 11:00am on November 11th, we wear the poppies to remind us of the sacrifices of the soldiers who fought and died for the freedoms we enjoy today.

And usually someone, somewhere, recites these lines...

In Flanders' fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place: and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders' fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe;
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high,
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders' Fields.

John McCrae, 1915.

October 26, 2009

For those who never came home, we remember.

One BIG square...

...which also serves as proof that I WAS preoccupied with blankie squares the past few weeks.

This, after much sewing, is the finished afghan. If you look closely, you'll see it's half knitted and half crocheted. It was a Mom and me collaboration - a gift of yarny love for my sister who turned 42 this weekend.

October 25, 2009


Happy Birthday Kathy!