Seamin' Demon

Thank you all for your concern about Molly. She may be just a dog, but she is an important part of our family and her illness is distressing to all of us. She is doing somewhat better. The aggression has gone away, but she is quite wobbly and tends to lose her balance without warning. We think she has been having small seizures, because she has brief periods where she shakes or twitches or stares vacantly. She also has periods of puppy-like playfulness and energy, but they are infrequent, and mostly she seems very tired. She is eleven, and we think this may be the beginning of the end for her, but she doesn't seem to be in any pain and her family is here.

On the knitting front--or perhaps I should say the "crafting" front, the afghan for my seven-year-old's room has a name. Allow me to present "Blue Skies":

It's obviously not done yet, but I realized, looking at the growing pile of squares on my side table, that if I waited until I had finished 35 squares to start the assembly process, my well-documented dislike of seaming might well get the better of this project. So I took a break from crocheting and started sewing like a maniac. As you can see, there are 15 squares here. I need 20 more for this afghan. It sounds like a lot, but since I've only been working on this for less than a week, it's really not that much work. Once it's all put together, I'm planning on crocheting a wide border around the whole thing in a cream colored wool, also from the stash. My son's room is painted sky blue, with cream and brown furniture and a grass green rug and bedding, so I think the blue-brown-cream combination will coordinate really well with his room.

I'm almost embarrassed to admit that I'm having a great time making this blanket. I haven't crocheted in years and years, and it's really fun. Compared to knitting, it's so simple and quick, and the squares are the perfect take-along project. And of course, there's no pattern to follow, no shaping or fancy stitches. It should be incredibly boring, but it's not at all--just very relaxing. All of which is a really good thing, since the instant my ten-year-old son learned that I was making an afghan for his little brother, his face took on the unmistakable expression that means a sibling rivalry outbreak is imminent. Being the experienced mom that I am, I didn't miss a beat before telling him that the moment I am done with this one, I will be starting one for him.

Actually, the thought had never crossed my mind before that moment. After the kids went to bed, I searched the stash for yarn appropriate for his room and finally came to the obvious conclusion: his room needs redecorating. None of my yarn matches it. The next day we sat down together in his room and worked out a plan. After two days of shopping, I now have a garage full of paint, molding, electrical parts, furniture, and bedding. When the kids go back to school on Tuesday, I will be taking apart his room (a daunting task in itself) and beginning the process of reinventing it to match my stash. Just think of the savings!