Granny2 Loves You (Sheepish Heartbomb 2014)

Valentine's Day is...not my favorite. 

Lately my life has been good - pretty smooth sailing, even though there are bumps and I still grumble about things, when I reflect back I know I've been having some really good years in terms of where I am with my health, my family, and my friends. I still remember the bad years, and I still remember how Valentine's Day could feel so particularly horrible, even though I knew that it was this artificial, commercial, marketed phenomenon pushed heavily by an advertising industry that makes a lot of money off of making people feel bad about themselves. 

There were the years I tried to do an anti-Valentine Day, and somehow that just made it worse.

Last year, when Meredith Crawford/One Sheepish Girl announced the Sheepish Heartbomb, it really clicked with me. Instead of trying to outright reject today, or try to pretend it doesn't exist, I could celebrate in a way that rejects some of the aspects that really rub me the wrong way, specifically the consumerism and the messages that we are somehow undeserving of love unless we buy our way into being someone else. 

For projects like these, I think about my matriarchs a lot. My devoutly Catholic grandmother took "love one another" (John 13:34) very seriously. My seamstress grandmother showed me that you can take scraps and turn them into something whole and beautiful, literally and figuratively. My great-aunt Mary demonstrated that you could do all of that in fabulous, loud, attention-grabbing color. Mom told me this week that she'd thought for a long time that teaching me to knit and crochet at such a young age was a rookie mother mistake, but it looks like it worked out in the long run - she'd just crocheted 23 hearts after I showed her how (she doesn't use patterns). 

So I made a rainbow of sorts, thinking of "no rain, no rainbows" and thinking of what it takes sometimes to get out of the bad times, using only yarn I already had on hand, leftover from other projects. The results are eye-searing, heavy on the hot pink (I had a lot of hot pink - still do, actually). Great-aunt Mary would have loved that. 

If you are in the downtown/Chinatown area this weekend and there are still hearts here, please take one and share the love! 

p.s. members of TheFUZZ have been busy lately!

Fresh off the hook

Stash-busting, gift-making, and pattern testing all at once!

Link to Ravelry project page: Granny Brick Scarf

For a small collection I'm working on (easy, wearable, retro-modern accessories), this was a good pattern test that used up yarn I'd had sitting in my stash for a few years. I don't think this yarn is in production anymore, so after taking measurements and photos, I'm sending this on to a friend as a gift. Another sample in a readily available yarn will be made and used for the final pattern. 

This stitch pattern is a variation on the classic granny square. Sometimes called "Brick Granny" or "Candy Box Granny," I've seen it used for square motifs worked in the round as well as worked flat as an overall fabric. In this case, it's worked in one piece as a rectangle in the round. 

PSA: White yarn comes in dyelots too

Here's an object lesson in dyelots:

Yarn: Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece

There are two different dyelots of Cotton Ball in this baby blanket, and since I was using up small squares and making new squares, the different dyelots aren't evenly distributed throughout the blanket. I just keep telling myself the baby won't care. A few washes and some baby grime may even it all out in the end, and it will be a project finished! 

Mug Jackets and Cup Cozies

It's that time of year again - that time of year when I get emails from shoppers who are looking to buy a ready to use mug cozy. I don't sell finished cozies; if I did, the retail price would be at least $50, and I don't think that's reasonable to ask. There are, however, other people who sell cozies, and I've been adding links to a Pinterest board: Mug Jackets and Cup Cozies.