My Granny

There really have been things going on in our lives. Things like birthdays, trips, lessons, school . . . but frankly, I don't feel like writing about them - just living them. Maybe someday.

In the meantime, here are some things that I've been working on.

I'm not really sure what's going on with me that I'm feeling this overwhelming need to throw myself into projects. I think there's a part of me that has spent so much time over the past many years painting, tiling, tilling, planting, moving, unpacking, moving, unpacking, moving . . . you get the idea . . . that now that we're actually staying put for the foreseeable future I have some free energy for something else. Then there's the fact we're renting what Nels refers to as our Hobbit Home (basement duplex) with somewhat dim lighting and white walls and I have a huge desire to fill it all the way up with COLOR!

But I'd like to think that it also has something to do with the following:

My cousin asked me on my birthday what I've learned this year. I hemmed and hawed around the question - there have been a lot of things that I've been learning this year, most of which are not fully formed for an impromptu 'happy birthday!' conversation. So I slept on it. I've since realized that one thing I've been working really, really hard to learn is to follow things through to completion. If I start a project, finish it. I have a plethora of projects that fit one of two scenarios:

A - Started strong then got hit with a bad case of ADD and left it 70% done.
or
B - Spent days or weeks daydreaming and planning the particulars, spent a lot of money to buy all the supplies, and then never even started.

This makes me crazy. I've spent years with ideas and plans rattling around and hanging over me and I never let them out. Maybe because I'm too busy, but mostly because I have a problem. I'll waste time doing all sorts of things that have little-to-no outcome, but hesitate for years to complete something that feels truly exciting? That doesn't make any sense.

So regardless of the whys and the "I'm so stupids" I've been working really hard this year to make things happen. Especially the things I love, the things that make me feel alive.

I'm slowly working through the piles of fabric and yarn (read: money), sifting through the ideas swirling around in my head, to free up some space inside and beautify the space around me.

My Granny: a yarn-buster project that I decided to do on the fly. I'd been working diligently on a sweater when, on my last row - so close to being done that I could taste it! - I (thought I) ran out of yarn. I was so mad about it that I rolled it all up in a wad, threw it in the cupboard, and started this project instead.

I've never made granny squares before and these were so much fun! With each square I would beam with pleasure at the different color combinations. The excitement would come busting out and spray onto whoever was closest.

The girls were always happy to join in the fun and many squares were made with their wacky choices in colors. Nels would laugh and then tell me that it was pretty. Then when I'd keep talking and talking he'd say something like, "You know, I think you may see colors different than I do. I think it looks good, but it doesn't make me excited like it makes you." :) It's true. Color is intensely stimulating to me. Maybe that's part of the reason I love sunshine - makes everything more vibrant.

The second thing I loved about this project was that I could take it with me almost anywhere. Just a few balls of yarn and a hook. I worked on this project at the pool, at the park, nearly every night after the girls went to bed, and for 1500 miles to and from Utah. It got a little unwieldy at the end as I put all 77 of those squares together, but then it just kept me really warm while watching the girls play at the playground. :)

Today the sun is shining and I couldn't help myself - I had to take my big granny outside and take some pictures with my girls. Sorry for the photo-dump, they make me happy.

I'm really excited that within a month, those brown dirt hills behind our house will be covered in velvety green wheat sprouts.

This afghan has been one of my favorite projects of all time. The colors make me so happy. When I showed my mom, she said that my great-grandma used to make black-framed granny blankets just like this one.

It's currently living on my little love seat (another project to be started/completed this summer) and it brightens my spirit every time I walk into the room!

Knit & Hooky

When I was a little girl, my mom taught me how to crochet. When she was a little girl, her step-grandmother Violet taught her how to crochet. It's a skill that I haven't really used much until the last few years. A baby blanket for Hazel, a hat here and there, an afghan for a friend.

 This last fall I finally decided to pick up a project that I've worked on sporadically for the past, oh, 5 years or so.

I love this cushion. It makes me so, so happy.



I've been trying to focus more on completing things that bring me joy.

I really love this book.

And as I've mentioned once or twice, I've been working on learning how to knit as well. - It's slow going. I get so hung up on trying to decide what to make, that I don't move forward very fast.