Kate Finishes Something She's Started

Here's my little Nana blanket about a week from completion, and I am happy to say that last night I wove in the last end, and finished it off. I don't have enough yarn (or time) to do any sort of trim around the edges, but it will definitely keep my Nana warm and cozy!

I find this photograph hilarious. Whereas Minnow appears to be screaming at my finished blanket, my reaction was to cry. I cried because it was my first ever completed crochet project. I cried because it was for my Nana. I cried because back when I first started it, my Nana and I had a conversation about it and she even showed one of the nurses in her nursing home what I was making for her when she walked in... So much has changed since then. But she needs the warmth that this dense little blanket more now than ever, so I try to make that my "bright side" when I look at the whole situation.

One tricky thing about this blogging business is that, now that it's winter, I'm NEVER home during the well-lit hours of the day. I took the picture, above, on the weekend when I had the gift of natural light as my assistant photographer.

I haven't taken a nice shot of my new blanket yet because I haven't really seen the light of day (outside of my time at the office) since I finished it yesterday!

Here is a bird ornament that I fell in love with at the dollar store near my work. $2! I love birds. LOVE. So this little ornament, which doesn't hang all that well (hey, you get what you pay for), will transition into my year-round decor (sans hanging string) once I remove him/from the tree.

Speaking of birds, I received the LOVELIEST card from my friend Melanie today (and spent the loveliest evening with her too, ogling books and chatting over "coffee"):

Isn't it so simple and beautiful? My night-time, sun-less photography doesn't do it or it's sparkling boughs justice, but I am so in love with this wonderful little card.

This has been a great day. And what's more, I've fallen in love with a wonderful crochet project that is now consuming my thoughts (I go through bouts of crochet-love with various lovely projects.)

And it's true, I'm in crochet-love. Again.

Beginning to Feel

On Sunday night I surprised Trev with a Christmas tree. We weren't planning on getting one this year (not home for Christmas, lots of work, so on - maybe I was being scrooge-ish). Anyhoo, he was thrilled. We spent the night last night packing on the ornaments.

As of right now we've even got presents under the tree! It's exciting. 

Trev just dropped a bomb and said that he's not used to presents under the tree (I was bugging him about why NONE of the things he's wrapped for me are under there). All his presents were from Santa, he says. 

"Didn't you get anything from your mom and dad!??!" 

"They're ALL from mom and dad, Kate." 

"Well, when you're a kid you don't know that!"

A tree without presents under it... It's true, on Christmas morning at the in-laws' place, all of our presents are lined up in rows on the living room floor. Nothing under the tree.

And they don't do stockings either. I used to love my stocking because Santa left it on my bed while I was sleeping, and it gave me something to do between 5:30 am, when I'd wake up in my childhood excitement, and 8:00 am when everyone else would start to stir. (A strategic move on my parents' part, I see this now.)

Funny how different the traditions can be even within the same holiday season. I look forward to starting my own traditions both with Trevor now, and with our children (whenever they should happen to arrive).

Speaking of unfinished projects

I've got two biggies that I started, stopped, started something else, stopped that something else, then started the other again. If that doesn't make sense, weeeeellll neither does the way my brain works when starting projects. Very abstract random, not so much concrete sequential. It's funny though, because at work I have to be so very organized and manage my time so wisely. At play, it would seem, I am QUITE the opposite (no big secret there if you ever saw my bedroom before I was married... or even now that I'm married... It's not a STY, but it's not the image of organization either).


Where was I? Oh yes, THIS project. My beloved hexagons. I'm doing them in a so-so brand/quality of yarn because it was my first ever big project that I started and I didn't want to splurge on yarn just yet.

My only problem with these projects is my inability to find a decent yellow among these brands that I buy (bought from Zellers and the like). They're either super soft yellows, suitable for baby attire, or super bright yellows that out-shine the rest of the colours.

I love these hexagons though. LOVE. Inspired by Moonstitches' blanket, with pattern help from Attic24 (with one more double crochet per cluster around the outer edge than she did, to match Moonstitches' stitches). I was living, breathing, eating, sleeping, singing, speaking, LOVING hexagons when I started this one.

Then I saw Moonstitches' Nanny McPhee granny square afghan, as well as pictures of the afghan FROM the Nanny McPhee movie that inspired it, and I, too, was inspired. So I gave that one a try with the same yarn as the hexagon afghan and then some.

This is me wishing I'd thought to take care of all my ends as I went along - but what fun is there in that? (Kate with good foresight would have warned herself that a little lame end-weaving periodically along the way will save her from a WHOLE lot of tedium at the end, when she just wants that blanket to be done, for crying out loud.)

And THIS is me realizing how far yet I have to go if I want it to be the same size as this other blanket.

Taking a step back and giving myself perspective like this usually leads to my temporarily losing interest in a project. (And never-ending projects like the Nana Blanket usually lead to nostalgia re: previous projects such as the Nanny McPhee. Silly Kate. So wishy washy.)

Here's Trev watching some sort of fishing program while surrounded by my yarn and such. He doesn't get how I can have so many projects on the go, but he doesn't need to.

Here's where I left off on the Nanny McPhee sometime back in March of this year. I'll pick it up again. I know I will. But I've got SOOoooo many things to try before I cycle back to being interested in granny squares again.

I love all the colours in this post!

The cat's stocking was hung by the chimney, but I can't say as she cared

Christmas is but a few weeks away, which means my blanket for Nana (started back in the summer) is approaching its deadline! I have two balls of yarn yet to go - sounds like a lot, but it eats a lot and two balls only gains me about 5 inches of width or so. By the time I'm done that, it should be roughly square and ready for Nana's lap!

I'm so thrilled to give this blanket to her - and I'm secretly thrilled to be done with it! I haven't really done any other crochet since I started this one, and I'm ITCHING to start a new project.

What's that? Maybe I should try to make some progress on some of the projects I've already got going, you say? Meh, maybe you're right. I think half the fun of all of this crochet business is the dreaming, looking at patterns and starting something new. I'm sure finishing a project is a wonderful feeling too, but I wouldn't know, as I haven't made it to that point yet. I haven't been crocheting for a year yet, so maybe by the end of year one I'll have completed SOMEthing!... maybe...


Behold, my progress on 'The Nana Blanket', as it has come to be known. Okay, this was its progress as of a few weeks ago. I've luckily made more, as of yet unphotographed progress since this time, but it's hard to get a proper photo without a cat in the way.

Note to self - next time you start a project, get a feel for how yarn-and-time-consuming it might be.

On the bright side, though, this will be a wonderfully heavy, dense, and WARM blanket for my Nana. I'm super excited. She's loved it every time I've gone to see her (I always bring it with me, show it to her and demonstrate the stitches, and then make some progress as she naps).


Above is a scarf that I started back in May. It's a Catherine Wheel pattern, with two slightly different yarns - one is purple and blue with a bit of green, and one is green and blue with a bit of yellow-green. Both are gorgeous, in my opinion. I bought these yarns on a trip to Minneapolis (my first time ever in a specialty yarn shop!), and got started on the ride home thanks to a pattern I found on my iPod touch online at the hotel, and then wrote by hand onto a hotel note pad so I could reference it while crocheting on the drive home. I imagine it will look quite nice once I've finished, whenever that may be...

And here's our happy home this Christmas season. I hung the stockings by the chimney with care on the weekend. Trev was surprised to see three. Duh Trev, one's for the cat!

Now, off I go to do some searious Nana Blanket crochet. Double duty - work on the blanket AND keep my hands too busy to eat Christmas treats!