Playing with blocks

I used to love playing with blocks when I was a kid. My Grandparents had a collection of blocks from God knows where that they kept in a little, white, hard-sided case that I always thought looked like a me-sized suitcase. I loved to open it up and spill the alphabet blocks and brightly painted pieces of wood out onto the floor and build castles and bridges and houses with the motley assortment they'd somehow amassed over the years.

Nothing plugged in, nothing made noise, nothing talked, moved, giggled, walked or danced. And my sister (usually the foreman) and I loved everything about the whole shootin' match.

As new blocks were added to the collection, we were able to build bigger and better structures - each a little different than whatever magical thing we'd made the time before. And they were always, frankly, pretty spectacular if memory serves.

But looking back, I realize that the joy wasn't in the finished projects (which were, of course, torn down and packed back into the case when our visits were over), it was in the creation. The careful selection of each block. The placement of every little beam. The wonder as our wooden cities grew and grew right before our eyes.

Kids create for the sheer joy of it. They usually don't know what they're making or when it will be finished - they don't care about such trivialities. They have no rules. No restrictions. No patterns or demands. They just play. And lose themselves fully in the process, time slipping by without notice or care.

I want that back.

And so, there's this: 365 - A Crochet Odyssey. For no reason other than simply, "because I can", starting today I'm making one random crochet square a day. Every day. For the whole year.

I'm not working towards making something. There is no grand plan. In fact, I have no earthly idea what I'll do with 365 crochet squares, to be quite honest.

There is just yarn, a few pattern books, a little time set aside each day, and the unabashed luxury of creating whatever happens to tickle my fancy when I peek into my boxes of stashed yarn every morning.

Just. Because. I. Can.

I mean really, can you think of a better reason than that?

January 1, 2009



Soft, wintry white and blue stripes. Perfect for the very first day of the year when my world is wrapped in a blanket of white, and covered by dome of blue.