June! Already?

 I hate to say this but it's so true. Time really does fly by as you get older. Also, when you're having fun, and also when there's a lot going on in one's little patch of Earth.It's been all tears and laughter and excitement around here. My eldest son, who might I say I am absolutely unashamed to brag about, was offered an amazing opportunity right out of the blue. Which has resulted in him Skyping me from NEW YORK CITY! This fab opportunity could not have happened to a more deserving young man. I'm absolutely over the moon for him. What an adventure!

 Yes, this is a big thing in our neck of the woods! I mean one moment you're in a rather parochial seaside town poised on the most southern tip of Africa and next, you're in an apartment in Brooklyn! Skyping your Ma! Of course, the more nervous I become the more I crochet. In fact, it's the first tonic I reach for. Also, the reason I always have several projects going on at once. Much like books.When you have five at your bedside and read parts of each as you feel the urge. For me, it's cookbooks, crochet books and my favourite crafty mag, Ideas. Not that I don't already have a brain inbox simply crammed with IDEAS! :D Still, I may have missed something, and that just won't do, will it!? Ooh, where was I? Oh, right....my nerves! Of course, I worry about everything, worry he'll get ill, worry about flying, worry he'll be worried! Lol! The worst part and all Ma's understand this part. We. Do. Not. Ever. Let. On! So while I'm all " oh, brilliant, what a fantastic opportunity, you'll have so much fun, how exciting, yay, yippee, whoo oho OOO". Inside my shoe, my sock is slipping. You know what I mean, right?

Enter, CROCHET! Without fail crochet comes to the rescue! These past two months have been like a crochet production line. The Elle Yarn CAL is flying off the hook.

In between waiting for patterns to drop into my inbox, I've started tackling Jane Crowfoots "Frida's Flowers" afghan ( squeeeee, isn't it lovely!? ). There have been those smaller projects, which I find breaks up the intensity of larger ones, and gives your fingers and hands a different direction. If you know what I mean? I've been collecting pretty granny square patterns and storing them in a folder on my PC. Then when I feel my hands itching to try a different direction, I open this folder and select something eye-catching. If I'm crocheting in a bright and breezy colour-recipe, then I choose more intense, moody or darker shades, opposite to my current WIP. For me, this seems necessary to maintain balance in my Crochetland. If it's a serious piece of work then I'll opt for side-projects that lighten the mood. I crocheted up "Kissing Mice" after seeing them at Lucy's Attic24. I followed the pattern designed by Lucy Ravenscar.They were just what Dr Crochet ordered.

And then there's this totally un-planned, un-colour co-ordinated WIP. A large ball of yarn, which is all my bits and pieces, joined to form a Stash Buster Ball. The Stash Buster blanket is quite a challenge for me mostly because there is no colour order to it, dammit! But it does provide a sort of freedom and as long as I keep an eye on the edges and corners ( no ripples, crisp corners ), then it can stay. And grow. :D

In May, I designed two desktop Calendars for June 2016, for my PC. You're absolutely welcome to use them if you like? Of course, it's Winter here...for us the season of citrus fruits, avo's, nasturtiums and lemon blossoms. Especially in the Cape of Storms. It's a world apart from the rest of South Africa! Temperate, more Mediterranean-like, weather-wise. So, while the rest of the country experiences their dry spell, here it's all grey-blue and mauve moody clouds over turquoise-emerald-regal-blue stormy seas, and the most divine Winter flora colours, like Spring...just a lot colder.

I really do believe contentment and peace is an inside job. I hope, wherever you are in the world, that you're making this your top priority, in whichever way works for YOU.

Love, always! And happy hooking!