Finding Deborahrah: Crochet

Sunday, July 01, 2012

You Want a Piece of Me?

Will we crochet in Heaven?
I like to think so... forever creating soft, lovely things
without the worry of arthritis taking over our delicate knuckles...
or running out of yarn!
Another Heavenly blessing will surely be
ALWAYS finding that elusive beginning piece!

Maybe we will just close our eyes and create whatever delicious color we imagine!
Oh think of the yarn we could weave...
the patterns and colors... the endless possibilities!

In the meantime, we have Michael's... Joann's... Hobby Lobby...

and my closet... full of yarn for future projects I dream of...

A little bit of this... A little bit of that...

and I forgot about these...

I always have ten projects going at once... I admit it...

I am a Project Polygamist!
Projects in my head... projects on my bed... projects in the car...

projects for today... projects for tomorrow...

and unfinished projects from yesterday.

I love them all!
The unfinished ones give me a sense of purpose,
and I rejoice when I complete one,

yet feel a sense of loss as I say good-bye to my "friend of the month"

- for each project is much more than just yarn and a hook.

Each has its own story.

As the metal dances between my fingers,

my mind wanders to the reaction of the recipient... the use of the project.

I imagine the baby wrapped in the softness I feel around my fingers...

the darling photographs they can capture in that beanie, even if it is tooooo big!

the afghan lovingly folded on the back of their couch...

my daughter actually wearing that neck shrug thing...
oh wow... she did!

I wonder if it will bring them happiness?

Will they think I'm silly?
Will they use it?
It doesn't really matter... the joy is in the journey...

***

I recently discovered a book by Mac Barnett called EXTRA YARN -
a magical tale of a little girl and the ability to change the world around her.
She finds a box of yarn, and makes herself and Mars (her furry companion) a sweater.
And so it begins.
Her kindness and generosity spreads and pretty soon the whole town is warm and cozy,
covered in her creations.
Just a box of yarn... which never ends.

I don't profess to be "changing the world" -
but there is something magical about transforming a simple ball of yarn
into a handmade gift... and it brings me JOY.

I can give my friends and family (and even strangers on occasion)

A PIECE OF ME...

a little bit of Debbie to carry with them...

to wear on their head... or tuck in a drawer...
to shield their hand while baking...

to snuggle up with at night...

It's my way of paying it forward...
like a big Cat's Cradle connection between us all!

http://www.bailagoldenthal.com/painting/cats_cradle/cats_cradle.html

You want a piece of me?
All you need to do is ask...

Sunday, March 25, 2012

Three Silly Monkeys!

A dear friend of mine has Glioblastoma - an extremely aggressive form of the "C" word...

He also has a beautiful wife and cute little daughter... he waited a long time for both of them!

Now his time may be cut short.

I feel helpless...

When in doubt, I crochet... but what?

They made it easy for me - their family nickname is:

Perfect!

I hate to turn such a serious subject into a crochet blog post, but it is therapy for us all, right?

First - brown beanies.

I love the half-double crochet stitch - and my new love-hook-size is an H.

I can whip one up in an hour if I watch a scary movie!

"The Collector" (don't watch it - it is appalling) worked for me...

Papa Beanie... Momma Beanie... and Baby Girl Beanie!

Now... how to turn these into monkeys... hmmm...

First I suppose they need ears... so I made a bunch of them by guess and by golly (literally).

Not sure exactly what monkey ears should look like, but this might be close.

Each turned out somewhat different, but I found three pairs that seemed to match up... kind of.

What else... oh yea... I need some yarn needles.

"Quick run" (three hours) to Michael's...

thankfully they are only 99 cents (so I could buy more yarn)!

At the risk of sounding like my Junior High, Home Ec teacher,

I have one word of advice: B A S T E

I ever-so carefully sewed the ear on, perfectly weaving in and clipping the ends before trying it on. Big mistake. As I painstakingly tried to remove it, I clipped the wrong yarn!

Oops.

"Spirit of Grammy Mim"... what do I do?

After tying and weaving, you can hardly tell - and the ear covers is nicely...

Whew - thanks Grammy! Note to self: buy a Styrofoam head

I thought about adding pink to the middle -

but it looked even more like a mouse than it already did.

OK, I'm ready to make the flowers for mommy and Elly.

As I finished the chain (3-doubles in each hole) I paused...

Maybe I should make little Elly's into little hair extensions? Naaaah...

I love making these... they just roll right into a perfect flower... it is easier if you stitch them together before adding them to the hat - found that out the hard way.

Roll...