Something to show you

Oh, I do have something to show you after all, and this post is long overdue. A couple of months ago, my Aunt Betty, who taught me to crochet when I was about 7, made me a giant crochet blanket. Here it is on my queen-size bed.


She describes it as a "history blanket," using yarns from many other afghans she has made over the years. And there were many.
When I was a kid, my family would all travel to Michigan together in the fall. My parents, my grandparents, and my aunt and uncle would all go to the same hotel and explore southwestern Michigan. We would do all those fall-like things, picking apples, getting pumpkins, shopping hobby stores (okay, maybe that's just my family), and generally spending a weekend together in a mini family reunion. Sometimes we would even get adjoining rooms, and we could go into their rooms without even going out in the to the hall! When you're 6, this is amazing.
In the evening, after making great use of the hotel's indoor pool, we would all gather in one room and drink sparkling cider, eat apple donuts, and watch old movies on TV. I would crawl up on the bed next to Aunt Betty, who would always be crocheting some interesting new afghan, and pepper her with questions about it. Eventually she taught me (maybe to shut me up?), and I made a few little purses. I'm afraid I let it go for many years after that, but I picked it back up in college and haven't been able to stop since. Even though I knit more, I always have at least one of two crochet projects going.
And I can even make blankets just like Aunt Betty. The stitch is the afghan stitch, which is very fun to do, but I admit I haven't practiced much, and it's bordered by shells.


It's an incredibly warm blanket, and I love it, of course. The cats, on the other hand, simply adore it, and I can barely pry it away from them. If I leave it on the couch, there's always a cat on it. When I try to hang it up on the quilt rack (which I got for $5 at a garage sale) in the living room, Worfy will actually pull it down so he can sleep on it.


You can also see my crocheting in this picture as well. I'll show you that soon.

Bad Blogger

Oh man, I haven't blogged in forever. But if I really think about it, I haven't finished anything since I blogged last. Pretty sad. I have to admit, I'm getting closer on quite a few things.
I have a giant crochet blanket I've been working on, that I might just call done soon. I meant to make it for my queen-sized bed, so it turned out quite big. But then it turns out I nap with it on the couch an awful lot, and it's probably likely to stay there.
I started some dress socks in May, with the hopes of finishing them in time for my lobbying trip to DC, but that didn't happen. I was most of the way through the foot, cuff down, but my heart really wasn't it in. But I've picked them back up again, and the nice thing about waiting so long to make the second sock, you don't really have second sock syndrome. I'm nearing the heel, so hopefully that will be done soon.
The other thing that I picked back up was the Icarus shawl I was working on in white mohair. It's really incredibly beautiful. I had finished the body and had about 4 charts of edging to do, when I thought I made a major mistake and would have to rip back. I had gotten too cocky to put in a lifeline at this point, of course. But it turned out to be a very small mistake that I fudged, and I'm nearing the last chart. The trouble with this kind of shawl is that it starts out all small and gratifying, you just fly through the rows. Now, I'm getting to something that has nearly my wingspan in a triangular shape, meaning each row is about 5 feet long. In lace weight. Think about that. I don't even want to count the stitches, because I think that would make me cry.
Sadly, the reason I picked the lace back up was because I knew a man on ravelry that was an amazing lace knitter, and he recently passed away. I hope he would appreciate that he inspired me to take my lace back up.
I've also spun a little bit lately, and it had been a while. I spun up about 4 oz of an 80/20 wool/silk blend. I'm very nearly done plying. I seriously need more bobbins though. I have three. I spun the yarn about half and half on each bobbin, which got quite full. This will not fit on a third bobbin on the same size. I know this. This is obvious. This did not stop me from plying and hoping anyway. So I just need to wind some yarn off the bobbin, and finish already.
Anyway, sorry about the no blogging.
As usual, I'll try to distract you with cats.