Time for simple things...

Well, I knew it would happen at some point, and last week I broke my record for continuous weekly YOP posts since I began in June of 2015.  Not that I need a reason to miss a YOP post, but we were busy last weekend helping middle son move into his new digs in a city 3 hours away.  He's been out on his own for the last three years, but this is the furthest he's lived from us.  I know he's just fine with the arrangement, but this momma is missing him (what I really miss is that he's no longer just a phone call and a 25-minute drive away for lunch or supper).

I know it's all good, though.  He recently graduated from college, and now it appears he's got a great job (that begins tomorrow) and we know he's settled into an apartment that will work very nicely for him.  It's milestone for him.  For all of us.

And I guess it's been a busy week since because all I've really managed to accomplish with yarn since last Sunday was to block four squares crocheted sometime the week before.  These are the Week 2 squares for the Last Dance Blanket.    The stitch used is a new one for me.  It's called the Star Stitch.

I didn't have enough of the light pink color (which was my first choice for making this square), but I think mixing it up a bit with the pale lavender color will work well with the whole color combination I'm hoping to be able to finish.  I say hoping because I keep finding out that colors I planned to use are discontinued, so I'm having to substitute colors when I run out of what's in my stash.

And, as if that wasn't disappointing enough, I'm finding out that it's really hard to mix brands of yarns with the different square designs, as even a slightly thicker yarn will, of course, change the gauge a square crochets up in (and one can only go down so far in hook size when working with worsted weight yarn).  Sigh.

Just between you and me, I'm starting to not love this project like I thought I did when I first started.  Hopefully, I won't spend the next two months being forced to rethink my color and yarn choices, but after spending some time recalibrating this week, hopefully it will go smoothly from here on out.

I also knitted up a washcloth on the return trip from moving son.  I almost finished it in three hours.  Actually, I would have finished it on the return trip, but I was enjoying the countryside in a new-to-me part of the state.  And then it got dark...

I love this simple non-pattern for a dishcloth.  And I love the no-thinking involved in making one.  I also love that wooden spoon.  It was in a simple set of wooden utensils sent to us as a wedding gift 37 years ago from Poland, from a grad school friend of my husband's.  I'm not sure whatever happened to the holder for the set of stirrers (and there was a pestle, too, at one time) -- it hung on the wall for a while and for the longest time I just treated these as something to display.  Probably, something happened to the holder and I decided the spoons and stirrers were perfectly fine to actually use - and there you have it.  A nearly 40 year-old wooden spoon that is worn from 15 or so years of wear, and makes me smile inside every time I use it. Or snap a picture of it.  Truly a simple pleasure.

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And lastly, Friday night, feeling the need to crochet something other than squares, I decided to start another child's blanket.  

A few weeks ago, I bought this Caron One Pound yarn (in the colorway, Country Basket):

What is it about a skein of variegated yarn that is so appealing?   Especially knowing that variegateds rarely crochet up well.  Sigh.  Well, it was on sale and I had a 20% discount on top of that, and it was so soft and just begging to be made into something for a child.  I had to have it.  Or so I told myself.  And when I got home I remembered why I've repeatedly berated myself for being pulled into the lure of variegated yarns... 

And then I remembered the Leaping Stripes and Blocks Blanket.  It's a fun design that actually works fairly well with variegated yarns and coordinating colors, so I started another one:

A few rows in, I've decided to re-do the above and make the blue rows wider than the white and variegated rows.  Otherwise it seems the solid blue is pretty much lost as a solid.  Once this gets going, this is another mindless project.  Perfect for relaxing.  It's supposed to rain and be cloudy and chilly most of this week.  Except for working a few hours on Monday morning, it appears I have few commitments this week.  Sounds like a perfect week for crocheting.  ;^)

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I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that I had an interesting project I would share.  Well...  while my pictures below are seriously lacking, I'm excited to show what I've been doing with some friends.  We are making "Pillowcase Dresses" to send to countries (or even here in America) where poverty means a young girl without clean and appropriate clothing may be vulnerable to a variety of ills and evils.  To go to the heart of the matter, putting a pretty, but simple, dress on a girl may communicate to others that this is a child who is cared for.  Who is wanted.  Who is protected.  Hopefully, a pretty dress communicates to the one wearing it that she is worthy.  That she is loved.

Again, my pictures are really lacking  -  the lighting was all wrong, and they just don't do justice to how cute some of these dresses have turned out.  And frankly, I can't take much credit for the dresses as I've mostly cut, ironed and sewn simple hems and casings while others did the finishing work.

I'm just beginning to understand the reasons and purposes behind the various ministries that sew, collect, and distribute these dresses to children in need of clothing, but for now we have given some dresses to a church that is putting them in Operation Christmas Child boxes.  The next batch of dresses will be going to a ministry that will distribute the dresses to missionaries (short and long term missionaries) who will encounter children who will benefit from them.

Our next sewing session is in November.  My personal goal is to help us get set up in a bit more organized manner so each of us always has something we can be working on while we're together.  We're pretty hard working, but some organization will only benefit our work.

yep, that's yours truly...

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To see what other YOPpers are up to, visit our group on Ravelry.