Auspicious Starts

I wanted to begin this new year with a good start, something positive in a sea of negative happenings in the world.  So for several nights after Christmas and before New Years Eve I got busy and did a lot of crocheting.  I got the "Granny Blanket" done! 

To review - the yarn belonged to my 102 year old Grandma Nellie who passed in November.  She and my mom had been cleaning out her craft cupboards and sent me a pile of yarn and when I went to help my mom care for her in August we had found a few more balls that I crocheted together while sitting and visiting with her.  She liked the pattern of the 'granny squares' and the idea of the afghan.  As I crocheted the squares after I came home I would often think of her and say a little prayer for her and my mom and aunts as she approached the end of her life.  There was no rhyme or reason to the yarn, it was just 'ends and pieces' of stuff she had used for years.  I really thought it might be fairly ugly with all the disparate colors going on.  I am so pleased with this silly thing, the colors are not hideous, the pattern is attractive and there was enough left over to do a border and it turned out fairly good size.  (On a side note I pulled out all the delicate or thin or summery colored yarn and will find another project for that stuff)

The unveiling:

 It nearly covers the washer and dryer

There are only the four corner holes in each square so it will be warm!

I really am pleased with the look of the 'single crocheting' the squares together rather than stitching them, I think it has a 'blanket stitch' kind of look to it.







So I am off to a good start for my year,  I have a lovely memory and a completed project that will spend a lot of time in January spread across knees as the temps are staying pretty low here, it was 6 degrees (F) last night (about -14C) and a throw over the legs is going to be very welcome!  (The pattern is free on the Red Heart Yarn website under the name 'Monkey Around' baby blanket.  I just liked the solid squares!)

Happy New Year to all of you and prayers for a blessed 2015!

A Case of the "Myehs"

While there is a mystery title in there somewhere (the case of the....) what I am really suffering from is more along the lines of the blahs, but a little different, perhaps more like a fugue....Sigh!  See this is where I have been since getting home from Grandmas.

First there was the ankle; while I was taking photos of the cemeteries in Unionville and the surrounding area, I had a mishap.  I was not watching where I was going and stepped in a hole.  (not the big kind in a cemetery; the kind gophers and voles make!)  My ankle twisted, I heard a terrible popping sound and sat down immediately (because I couldn't stand up)!  Many things were running through my mind at this point - "I think I broke something, I can't call Mom to come get me as I have the car, I refuse to call emergency and try to convince  the ambulance to come to the graveyard."  Lucky for me when I did decide to stand up it was a little sore but ok to walk on.  So I did, and I got back to the house and it swelled up quite a bit and I soaked it in Epsom salts and then just went on doing what I was doing, a couple of days of limping and then it was just sore to the touch but ok to walk on, I figured I bruised it on the outside of my leg.  I walked

At least the brace goes with my slippers

through more cemeteries, ran the wheelchair up and down the hill to the house and went up and down the stairs several times a day.  Since it was still a little tender when I got home I decided to check it out and go to the doctor, she sent me for x-rays, I have a transverse distal fibula fracture!  This is not bad as it is half healed already and the doctor said to wear a brace for the next 3 weeks or so.  Somehow it seems worse now that I know what it is! (Sigh)






So I sat down and started to finish some of the crocheting that I had going and Hubby (bless his heart) decided that I needed to stay off of my ankle as much as possible so he started fixing meals and doing dishes, and I sat too long and started feeling 'myeh', like you do when you've been sick and not able to do stuff and..... I think I'm about over it!  I need to get going again and the weather is cooling down and I am feeling more energetic.

Look what I got done on the "granny squares out of grandma's yarn" though!  These are the yarns that grandma gave me and I thought I would use in my first granny square afghan.  I now have 31 done and will just keep making until I run out of yarn and then stitch them together!  Part of the fun is that only a few of the yarns match or coordinate so some are patterns and some are solids and it's been fun to figure out.



So I think my battle with the Myehs is about over and I need to dig out warmer clothes - Hurray!