Many great minds (and no doubt tons of lesser ones, like mine) have tried to solve the mystery of why time flies when you’re busy, and seems to stop only when we get thrown a curveball that literally makes us come to a screeching halt. It passes quickly when you’re reading a compelling book, and a few minutes can take an eternity when you’re in a dentist’s chair.
Why I’ve thought about this is how I could possibly let 3 months pass by and not even notice I wasn’t writing anything here. Instagram obviously helped, as I was posting my snapshots there and wasn’t all gone from cyberspace; those who follow me there will probably recognize a few of the photos in this post. But the other reason was, not even remotely originally, work.
So I haven’t been a very good blogger by any stretch this year, right? Blogging isn’t part of my business, but a little corner I retire to whenever something’s bothering me, or making me happy, and I’d rather ruminate on it in written form than calling a friend to share. Of course, I choose to bother everyone kind enough to read this instead. But since this is the Internet, and no-one is forcing you to come read, I guess you must be here by your own free will.
So, time. I wasn’t writing on the blog because I was busy. Since June, I’ve finished 2 book translations (romance novel! yikes! and cookbook, yum!), and have written my fair share of consumer-relevant info for one of the huuge search engines. It all sounds reasonable enough if you don’t take into account the fact that we had (in theory) 6 weeks of summer vacation, which I spent working whenever I wasn’t a) playing with kids, b) cooking for said kids, or c) hosting the cuter than buttons friends of said kids. I did get more sleep over the summer than I usually do … 6:25 is my grim alarm time when the kids have school. And my working environment did not suck:
Looking up from my work I saw this
I was also lucky enough to be able to join an open yoga group. I’d never done open air yoga before – and it really was wonderful. I cannot thank sweet C. enough for her quiet determination to make it happen. Sun salutations, way to start the day!
On the crafts front, I was alternating between projects. There was The Poncho to finish, which I’m proud to say is almost done now, check it out:
The Poncho actually deserves a post of its own. We’ll get there soon enough I hope.
Then I threw myself into an adventure I’ve wanted to have ever since I saw this beautiful post from an Australian crafts blogger: http://littlewoollie.blogspot.de/p/mixed-stitch-stripey-blanket-crochet.html
And the fact that my friend A. honest to Christ turned 50 this summer gave me the idea that nothing but the most awesome, wondrous, magically colorful, fantabulously Funky Blanket would meet the occasion. A Funky Blanket that was so cool that not even once would I be repeating a single pattern. Challenging, huh? It is, but I’ve loved every single stitch so far!!!
The gift will be a bit late, but she said it would be worth the wait. So I ordered 50 roses for that day, and started out humbly:
Only to soon I realize I wouldn’t be able to get far without relying heavily on the big fat crochet bible by the great Margaret Hubert I was fortunate enough to translate a few years back…
I got bolder as I went, using stitches I’d never dared try my hand at before…
I took that blanket with me, much as I had done the year before with my girl M.’s blanket – remember?
So far, this one’s been to:
Berlin, Brandenburg, Poland, The Baltic Sea, Lübeck and Hamburg… of course, it gets carried around in a blue IKEA bag, because some things don’t change, and besides, now I actually need the crochet book, and it’s gettin‘ heavy.
This is what The Funky Blanket looks like now, modeled by my little rock star.
I’m all but done now, maybe 5 more patterns to go. And then it will need some serious blocking because of course the rows aren’t even at all, with all those different patterns and whatnot. I haven’t done a lot of blocking before, but my knowledgeable friend M. said it would take care of those wonky edges nicely. Maybe I’ll give it some sort of wavy edge to camouflage it some more…
So I may have been absent from the blog, but I did have a full and fulfilled summer. Sometimes it’s good to take time to think about time for a bit, even if you don’t feel you have any. Looking at these pictures makes me think the summer has been glorious – if maybe a bit overwhelming at times.
Ah, this one never gets old, does it? One of my favorite pastimes ever, staring into flames. I’ll write up the Poncho Post soon as I’m finished with it. It’s a joint effort between my fellow crocheter N., Chefesse de la Couleur, and myself.
In the meantime, will you tell me about your summer, now it’s slowly but surely stepping out of its strappy sandals, and slipping into something more comfortable – like, a blanket? Or woolen socks maybe? Like these…?
What do you love about the fall?
CU soon 🙂
A Stitch is a stitch 