Hello, September!

Happy Friday, Lovelies!🌼

I hope you are all keeping well in your corner of crochetland? It's been a very wild and unsettling six months, hasn't it? For one thing, I am exhausted! We've been bombarded with new information and a different crisis, daily! I don't know about you but I'm struggling to absorb it all. At the moment my brain feels as if all tabs are open. I am bookmarking ( in my mind ) like crazy so that at some point ( when life takes on some semblance of normality again ) I can attempt to properly process 2020. This might take years and sometimes I think that the best way forward would be to forget 2020 altogether. But your body doesn't lie, does it? We will all need to find some way to make sense of it all. I know many of my American friends are on tenterhooks for other reasons too, and to you, I send massive hugs and buckets of courage. To all of you who may have lost beloved family or friends, I am lost for words but my heart is with you. A beautifully written article HERE landed in my email this week. It's heart-wrenchingly poignant, profound, yet gently empowering too.

On my side of the world, hibernating in my little craft room while it's stormed and blustered outside seems the sanest thing to do. Although I do love Winter so much...at some point, it does get a BIT MUCH, right? 😊

Even so, every day I've pulled on boots around noon and with two VERY excited doggies in tow, headed out for our daily walk. Princess Laie is now an experienced water baby ( thanks to Roxy's encouraging example ). Everything is green and lush and as we head closer to Spring, wildflowers, especially the wild arum lily are popping up. For some reason, they remind me of ballerinas! This still delights me so much because where I grew up, much further north, you'd only ever see these in suburban gardens or florists! 

With record rainfall this season there is water, water everywhere! I could happily sit here all day watching Roxy and Leia play. I'd need my iPad though because I've recently become addicted to Pinterest. For years I resisted going down that glorious wormhole. Why, Jen, I ask myself? It's a tonic! If you feel like it, you can follow my addiction HERE. My boards are not crochet related, but they are crochet related if you know what I mean?

The greenbelt where I walk is part of a very long trail that begins at Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens HERE, wending its way through incredibly diverse Flora, linking the Brommersvlei Trail and Alphen Trail, along the Diep River which widens into Zandvlei in Muizenberg HERE and flows out into False Bay which of course is on the Indian Ocean side of Cape Town. You're probably wondering why I've turned Tourist Guide but really, all of this beauty on my doorstep, is what fills me with brimming crochet inspiration. I never get tired of or jaded by glorious Nature. And for this, I am eternally grateful. If you ever visit Cape Town, don't forget to look me up so that I can show you all the best spots off the beaten touristy track. 😊

I've been literally under the weather  ( storm clouds, buckets of rain, and snow! ) for a few weeks now. Nothing serious but I'm in my PJ's at 6pm and fast asleep by 8pm! I think I'm an expert hibernator now. When I lived in the Netherlands people there called it " voorjaarsmoeheid ". I'm sure I have the spelling wrong but it's the same words in Afrikaans and means roughly " before the new year tiredness " which I understand as; that the "new year" begins in Spring after a long cold and dark Winter? My Dutch friends will set me right on this. But anyway... it perfectly describes my aches and pains, tiredness, and low enthusiasm. Nothing a few days in the warming Sun can't fix. HOWEVER, there is a new design on my hook which I will share soon! Let me add; I'm absolutely LOVING all the gorgeous Moonflowers popping up in our lovely Hooks 'n Tales Pattern Workshop Group HERE. Keep 'em coming, Lovelies, your adventurous colourways warm me to the bone!

Made by Turkan Usta Turgut

Made by Rebekah Kingston

Now that I've cheered myself up it's time for our Friday GIVEAWAY and this week it's Noelene's adorable Tea Time Tassel! Don't forget to add your Ravelry name if you do comment. I'll pick 3 winners randomly from the Lucky Winners Hat! Best of luck!

Lovelies, as always, stay safe, stay calm, seek joy, and peace and only the best coffee ( or tea ).

May your yarn basket remain full and your hook warm!

💗 Jen