LazyDay Expressions

The Year Long Crochet Project

Actually, it's going to be longer than a year for this project because it's already been a year and I still have a lot more to do. It may end up being the 2-year project. We'll see. But I digress.

It all started with Erika Knight's fabulous book Simple Crocheting: A Complete How-to-Crochet Workshop with 20 Projects over at KnitPicks. I had ordered this when KnitPicks was having a 40% off sale on some of their books and I was stuck with not much to do in Hyder, AK, besides play in mud and watch bears (see previous post). The very first thing I wanted to make was the blanket near the back of the book. Of course I don't have the book with me here in Juneau so I can't show you a picture, but let me just say that the color choices were not the best. However, I really liked the pattern. I thought, "Oooo, I can make that really cute in two colors (light pink and grey) and it would make an awesome baby blanket." Ya, that was a year ago. I think I'm about half way there. Ugh!

I'm using the Comfy Fingering Yarn from KnitPicks for this project, so the squares end up only being about 2.75 inches. That results in the need for A LOT of squares. I calculated it out to about 200 squares (100 pink, 100 grey) for the size of blanket I'm wanting. I figured it out, and it's going to take me about 67 hours (not counting the border) to get this thing made. Sometimes I'll sit down and do a bunch of them at one time, and then I'll go weeks without doing anything. It's one of those kinds of projects :).

Today was one of those days where I sat down for a little bit while the girls did some schoolwork and I crocheted up a couple and added them to my stack. It felt good to get back at it. One of the best parts is that I get to use my favorite hook. If you hop on over to Polka Dot Cottage, you'll meet Lisa Clarke and find yourself mesmerized by all the beautiful polymer clay work that she does. Her crochet hooks are seriously my favorite. I refuse to use anything else (and NO she is not paying me to say that - it's just the truth). I happen to be partial to blues so my "F" hook is my very favorite :). She even makes a little indent where your thumb goes that makes it so comfortable to use.

We'll see how far I get on this thing by the time we get back to Washington (which should be some time in September). I foresee a post where I lay out all the squares I have by the end of September so you can all see where I'm at. Who knows, maybe it will give me a spur to get the thing done before the end of the year. Then again, I just may be talking about it again next summer :)

Trip to Mendenhall Glacier

Where we're staying here in Juneau, we're just a few miles away from the Mendenhall Glacier attraction. It's a great place to visit on a nice sunny day, so that's exactly what we did. Along the trail, there are lots of rock walls and boulders to climb, lots of babbling creeks to explore, etc. The girls had a blast climbing everything they could find.

And, there were a ton of these flowers all along the trail. I had to restrain the girls from picking them all. So, instead, they decided to try and smell them all. They're so funny.

It was a REALLY warm day so Kaitlyn decided to tie her jacket around her. She tried to get me to carry it for her, but I've gotten to the point where I'm making the girls carry their own stuff. Otherwise, I'm always loaded down....not fun.

"Where's the glacier, girls?"

With all the "detours" and rock climbing the girls did, it took us about an hour to actually get to the spot we were headed for. But, once we got there, it was totally worth the wait.

And, here's a close-up:

One of the best parts was at the end of our trail there was a gorgeous waterfall.

It was a great day. The girls played in the water, which in quite a few areas wasn't totally freezing. We also met up with Anthony's sister and her kids. We're definitely going back there soon.

Don't forget to click on a picture to get a good look at all of them.

A Work of Love

It was a beautiful evening last night where we live. I had the doors open and the kids stayed out playing a "bit" after their bedtimes. I usually like to get them down and snuggled in no later than 8:30, but they were engrossed in a little project and playing so well together that I just watched them through the window and didn't go out to get them until a little after 9:00. By then, they had construction the site that you see here:

Previously, it had just been dirt. Yes, they transplanted weeds, flowers, and all - along with making the cross.
I asked them if they had buried a bug or something and Alexis replied, "No Mommy. We were thinking about Jesus and how He died for us, so we made this for Him." It was very touching. We talked about how He's no longer dead and that He's with us all the time. Alexis said, "I know that. I just wanted to build something for Him and I didn't have big enough rocks to build the open tomb." So sweet.