Time to Retire

The joy of crochet is its simplicity: there is only ever one stitch in work & just a few variations of the basic stitches to master, but the possibilities of using & combining those stitches together are endless.
― Erika Knight

Crochet is such a wonderful craft! There are so many facets & variations to explore with a hook & some yarn. The creative possibilities are endless
― Margaret Hubert

Women today want to find ways to relax, but have limited time, and crocheting can be a mental health vitamin that provides that feel good place.
― Alyson Bell

Crochet is not a hobby. It's a post-apocalyptic survival skill.
— Unknown

When the hubby and I signed up for Amazon Prime, I started working on an afghan because I thought I’d be spending more time in front of the TV and a crochet project that isn’t too complicated is a great craft for that.

I found an easy pattern – a ripple crochet using the granny stitch – then I found some yarn at Walmart. It was a nice variegated one, and I figured I could alternate it with stripes of matching solid colours. There were only three problems with my plan.

First, I liked the variegated so much that I decided to do the whole afghan in it. Second, I ran out of yarn when I was about twenty inches along, and Walmart didn’t have any more. And third, I wasn’t glued to the TV nearly as much as I thought I’d be.

*sigh*

I was able to get more yarn online, and though it didn’t match 100%, it was good enough for me. And it took a while, but I did, eventually, finish the afghan, which will forever be known as my Amazon afghan.

A few weeks after that, my mother-in-law’s birthday was coming up. She was in a nursing home and I thought she might like a nice blanket for her bed, so I decided to crochet her one using the same pattern as my Amazon afghan. I checked my stash, and found two packages of yarn – 10 balls of 50 ounces each – one in a cream colour, and one in peach. This will be forever known as the Peaches and Cream afghan.

I’m not sure what happened to that afghan. It was given to her and from what I understand she liked it, but I have no idea if she ever used it. She passed away last year and I’m pretty sure it didn’t come back from the nursing home. It’s not that I want it back, I have plenty of afghans of my own. So it’s fine if it got left behind for someone else to enjoy, it just would have been nice to know where it went.

When I was recovering from my cancer surgery a few years ago, one of the nicest gifts I received was an afghan my sister in New Brunswick sent me. This was during the pandemic, so I wasn’t allowed visitors, but I could wrap myself up in this afghan and feel the love.

So when a friend was diagnosed with cancer and had to undergo chemotherapy, I decided to pay this random act of kindness forward and do an afghan for her. I picked colours I knew she’d like and away I went. It really made me feel good to know it made her feel good.

Then my brother-in-law’s wife was diagnosed with a rather aggressive cancer. Not only did she have to undergo surgery, but radiation and chemotherapy. So once again I got busy with my hook. I chose colours that made me think of her, and actually worked on it a lot during my stitchery meetings.

And a nod must go to the ladies of the Northumberland Hills Stitchery Guild for not letting me end it with the pinky/purple colour I was going to use. Even though it meant I had to leave in the middle of the meeting to go get a different colour. LOL They were right, I was wrong, and I’m very happy with the way it turned out. So was the recipient.

But I have to confess, after four afghans in a row, I was getting a little tired of this pattern. When I finished that last one I figured I’d give crocheting a rest altogether, but it’s still a good project to work on at the stitchery meetings, and it’s easier to do in front of the TV than stitching something.

So I’m probably going to keep on crocheting, but I’m going to find a new pattern. Time for this one to retire.

Machinule Monday

machinule ~ tool used by surveyors to obtain right angle

In many ways, last week was a very up and down kind of week.

First, there was the weather. We had a bad snow storm on Monday, sun on Tuesday, a worse snowstorm on Wednesday, sun on Thursday, and then a series of mediocre storms (that were supposed to be worse than they were) the rest of the week. I got an extra workout on Wednesday shovelling snow.

And of course because the weather was up and down, my head was too. I suffered from a series of bad to very bad headaches last week which sometimes led to taking pain killers, which led to being extra tired and not getting stuff done, like Wednesday's wildcard post.

I did finish the crocheting I was doing for the baby shower I went to on the weekend. No pictures I'm afraid, 'cause I didn't like the way the afghan turned out. I blame Walmart. I picked up a ball of this incredibly soft yarn in a variegated pink/blue/yellow/white and started a baby blanket - just a simple granny square pattern. For some reason I thought I'd be able to do the whole thing out of one ball, but alas, it was not meant to be. I ran out of yarn and the blanket wasn't even half done.

So back to Walmart I went and of course there wasn't a trace of that particular colour combo of yarn. So I picked up a ball of white and a different ball of variegated. And I get it home and realized the new ball of variegated did not in any way go with the colours in the first ball. So back I went yet again and exchanged it for a ball of green/pink/white. I actually liked it better than the pink/blue/yellow/white, but of course there was only one ball of it, too. And there was no more white.

The afghan ended up white in the center, a wide band of the green variegated, a narrow band of white, a wide band of the pink/blue variegated, a narrow band of white, a narrow band of the green variegated and I finished with a single row of white in a single crochet. What it lacked in elegance it made up for with softness.

Writing wise I spent a lot of time working on a Valentine's story, which is turning out to be longer than I expected. If I can find my focus this week I might even get it finished in time for Valentine's Day.

Cross your fingers for me. :-D

After weeks of healthy eating, Friday night the hubby and I were in the mood for something bad for us, so we decided on poutine . . . sort of. Poutine, for those of you out there who are barbarians, is a Canadian delicacy made from French fries with gravy and cheese curds on it.

I've done Italian poutine before, where you use spaghetti sauce instead of gravy, but this time I decided to try something different. I wanted to create a Mexican poutine. Now to do it right, I should have covered my fries with hamburger done up with taco seasonings, the cheese-like product you dip your nachos in, sour cream, and green pepper. But I didn't have the taco filling or nacho cheese on hand.

What I did have was cheddar cheese, chili, sour cream, green onion, and bacon. So I guess mine was more like fries with "the works" than anything else, but they tasted incredible.

Now here's the part where I'd intended to post a picture of them, because I did take a moment to take one, however I seem to have misplaced the cord I need that connects my camera to a computer. I left it on my desk and it's nowhere to be found. And it's a different cord than any of the others I have access to, including my husband's camera which is made by the same company.

Apparently the ghost isn't done with me yet!