The Delft, Part 1

by Lee Louise

This story is a year late in the writing of it.

I chose not to post the 2016 holiday gift stories last year, in 2016, because — well — because I was making gifts! Gifts should be surprises. And so, stories and pictures about gifts have no place on the internet until after they have been gifted. One never knows who might be furtively peeking.

The Delft, in particular, was a stealth project of the highest order, because it was to be my son’s afghan that should have been made and gifted about 15 years ago, according to the Epic Afghan Timeline.

It was October 5 when I first read about the upcoming MCAL by Margaret MacInnis. “Inspired by Dutch Delft Polychrome pottery” — I am a fan of Dutch Delft pottery, at least I was, once I had seen some pictures! “Please join in the creation of this unique afghan, which features ovals and odd shapes” — creativity, uniqueness, ovals and odd shapes all spoke to me, and I realized that this would make a wonderful afghan for my son. The time table looked doable, with the first clue arriving on October 15 and the seventh clue on November 26. Finish up the borders by the beginning of December, and ship it off in time for Christmas. Piece of cake! I thought, I can do this!

Join me as I reminisce. Indulge in enjoyable recollection of past events with me. Read along. Watch as my journey encountered rocky spots that made me question my wisdom in tackling this wondrous project. Here we go, starting a little more than a year ago:

18 October 2016.
I want to play too!

Everyone is choosing such lovely colors. The blocks are interesting in construction (not your everyday granny square or double crochet square), and quite lovely. So, I’ve bought in. A little late, perhaps, but, from now, I am with you all till the end. Having gotten the pattern, I ordered Brava 100% acrylic yarn from KnitPicks last night. I am surprised at myself for choosing to use Brava. You see, I stopped using 100% acrylic yarn about 25 years ago when I bought some [brand deleted to protect the guilty] acrylic yarn in burgundy red to make an afghan, and my hands were getting paper cuts! Seriously, it was like crocheting with cardboard. But I have great hopes for Brava.

With input from my daughters, I chose clarity, denim, red, dublin, and almond for my colors and will start crocheting when the yarn arrives. (I wanted to use a white, sky, cotton candy, alfalfa and custard yellow colorway – all pastels! — and I probably will someday for a different design and a different recipient. But, for this project I was outvoted.)

22 October 2016.
I am still waiting for my yarn to arrive from KnitPicks. According to FedEx tracking, it should arrive late today, and then I will start to play. The game? Catch up!!

22 October continued.
Box of yarn arrives a little after noon!

25 October 2016.
1 square and 1 oval done. Slow but steady wins the race.

But already, with just 2 months till Christmas, I was wondering what I had done to myself. The pieces were, indeed, odd and oval. But I was committed, and ready to move forward.

To be continued…

 

 

 

 

I am glad for many things

As Thanksgiving approaches, I find that I am mindful of many things that make me happy. Some things are related to the holiday, the time of year, the songs we sing. Family, church, and nation.

But today, I am especially happy for my 5 1/2 day weekend, which started Tuesday at noon!

I intend to make the most of my holiday weekend, which has been carefully augmented with annual leave to stretch to a total of 140 hours. Family will visit, and the design for a bolero for an upcoming wedding will be chosen. Thanksgiving dinner will be created and eaten. Savored, even. Stores will be visited this weekend, small local businesses that enjoy my patronage, none of them in the mall.

Today I am also glad that my size 8 24-inch circular needle is no long being held hostage by a hibernating project:

16 years ago, I took a mitered squares class at Yarn to Go in Memphis, and started this little sweater as my class project. This Rambling Rows Jacket has been in hibernation for 16 years, but today I have finished it, as a holiday gift for one of my grandsons. I am glad that the circular needle, barely visible but in evidence in that picture, is available again… I have missed it.

16 years ago, I stopped on the buttonhole row since I didn’t know whether to put the buttonholes on the boy-side or the girl-side. A Yarn to Go bag (including the receipt and all the ball bands! imagine that!), the partially finished (so close to completion!!) sweater, the pattern, and a perfectly serviceable size 8 24-inch circular needle went into my closet. Many times over the years, I have remembered the needle, and regretted it.

Today, I finally took this project out of the closet to finish it. The buttonholes are now on the boy side, and I will buy buttons when I go shopping Friday (or Saturday).

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Finished. Or close enough to call it finished.

I had forgotten the other reason I put this project aside. The center back join was a disappointment, to put it mildly. In actuality, it was NOT a join — there was a hole the size of a nickel where those four squares were supposed to come together. So tonight, I darned that hole closed, and only I will know it was ever there.