Still working...

Taken with my Blackberry. Ahh, I love the contrast of technology and old-fashioned crochet.

Work on my grandmother's unfinished Marguerite bedspread continues. I had taken a break from it when Connor was born and worked on it a little bit at a time when he started walking. I recently rediscovered it and now find joy in following it's puzzle-like written directions. In my mind, it's like a crossword puzzle, or sudoku, only I have a small hook and very thin cotton yarn. It's complicated for sure, but very fun and satisfying.


I am nowhere near finished though. This bedspread may take a lifetime for me to do, but I'm not worried. I just hope that the person I will hand this down to (my son, a future daughter or a grandchild) will love it and look after it long after I'm gone. 

What I've been up to...

I had to quit my job a few months after I found out I was pregnant. My doctor told me that I have a heart-shaped uterus (also called bicornial... or something like that) and because of that little difference I am apparently more prone to miscarriage or early delivery. My job required me to stand up for long lengths of time and sometimes I would have eleven hour shifts. I would start spotting and cramping after the end of every work day. It was definitely scary during those few weeks of all that. My parents urged me to leave work and take it easy, so I am taking it easy and enjoying things I know I wouldn't be able to do or enjoy for a while after this baby is born. It sounds completely scary, but I am absolutely excited about having this little one.

Tea and crochet. (The infamous Marguerite pattern.)

The most basic baby jacket and hat ever. Done with two strands of number 10 crochet thread and US size 2 knitting needles. I mixed a variegated yellow with white and the color turned out to be a cute baby duck yellow. Thanks for sending the yellow thread from the Philippines, Mom!

Another variation of the super-duper-no-brainer basic baby jacket pattern, only I used acrylic baby yarn and US size 6 knitting needles (I think). I was also playing with some watercolors that day (if you notice my Sakura Koi paints on the upper right hand side of the picture), but that's another entry.

I'm currently working on Opptuna by Cornelia Tuttle Hamilton in her Noro Collection Book 2. I'm using Caron in Autumn Red and US Size 7 knitting needles. The pattern is also very very easy. I can't believe I had second thoughts about tackling this project.

I'm now five months along and I'm more than halfway done! The baby is very active, and from what we saw in the sonogram two days ago, very healthy. He gives me spin kicks a couple of times a day and absolutely wriggles in delight when I demolish Banana Cream Pie Blizzards. Hoh yeah. What more could I ask for?

Pfft.

Guess who just came out of the hospital? That's right. After two weeks of fainting, puking and generally feeling awful, I'm finally back to normal and looking forward to resuming my busy busy life. I want to go back to work, read, draw, crochet, knit and sew in my spare time (see, this is why I'm more tired during my off days than I am during my normal work week. I do more during the weekends, but it's a good kind of tired) My doctor did tell me to take it easy, take my meds and eat well. I don't ever want to go back to the hospital again. I don't think my nerves can take any more needle poking, blood letting, rather flavorless hospital food and middle-of-the-night nursing student rounds where nursing students think they have the right to shake you awake in the wee hours of the morning and ask you if you've pooped and peed today. Geh. That was the lesson, I'm not going to get sick, not if I can help it.

Anyway, this is what I was up to while I was waiting to get well. They fortunately did not have to stick me with an IV, so the left both my hands free to finish my friend's variegated green halter top. I unfortunately do not have pictures of the finished product because I already gave it to Ross. Perhaps she'll model it for me one day. It turned out great and it was the greatest feeling to see her really happy when she got it.

This is my first attempt at doing "Marguerite," my Grandmother's unfinished bedspread. The flower turned out pretty nice and I'm rather proud of it. I'm a real doofus when it comes to reading patterns, but I was able to figure it out and get it right the first time. Yahoo!

This is proof that I have the capability being innovative (heehee) I was having a hard time crocheting with a spool of thread in while I was laying down (reclined more like), so I used one of the hospital bed posts as a holder for my spool. No rolling around, no hard pulling, just a nice even feed when I need it. Lovely. The staff didn't mind that I did it and they were even nice enough to ask me questions about what I was doing. It was great to talk about it with nurses who also knew how to crochet, so that made my stay even more cheerful. Nevermind the cons I listed earlier.

My Current Work In Progress: The Pink Lace Halter

This is the diagram I based the lace pattern of the halter on. It was originally a pattern for a pillowcase, so I might do that project for real. The book is called Madonna Crochet Volume 6, published by Goodwill Bookstore, in 1968. I'm extremely lucky to have found copies of it. I remember Mom and Grandmama having magazines back in the day and I also remember leafing through it without having any idea what the diagrams meant or what it was for. I think I was about three or four years old (I'm twenty-six now...gah. How ancient.)

This is where I started. I was taking the babies out to the mall and I found mercerized cotton thread in the cutest hot pink. My sister and I adored it, so I bought two balls (enough for a bikini top) and started crocheting the first half of the bikini in Seattle's Best while waiting for Daddy to pick us up.

One half done! Have I mentioned how much I adore this color? I'm not a pink person. In fact, my closet is just a huge blob of black. This pink is too cute to pass up, though. This is perhaps the first (and maybe the last) pink project I'm going to be working on. I might change my mind about working with pink again, who knows?

The lace pattern is showing up quite nicely. I thought it would be a complete bore to do. I don't really like repetitive patterns, but this one changes often and it's not too confusing, so I like it. I can do it while watching TV and my hands would be on autopilot. I would look down on what I've done and I would see that I would have made a four inch progress. Coolness. It is to me anyway. :D

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Reminder: go dig up your old spools of Cannon Crochet Cotton. The Marguerite Project will take about (gulp) 25 spools to finish.

OMG! OMG! OMG!

I was in Megamall the other day with the two babies and I found a small craft store (it's called Craft World, I think) next to Megamall's large toystore. Being one to never ever pass up an opportunity to browse a craft store, I looked through their stuff and I found a crochet booklet with this pattern:

It's a pattern for my late-grandmother's Marguerite Bedspread!

The one my grandmother had originally is gone forever and I resigned myself to trying to decipher the stitches in the only hexagon motif I inherited. My two aunts (her two daughters) have one finished bedspread each, but she was working on my Daddy's blanket when Grandmama died. I can finally finish Grandmama's bedspread for Daddy.

Damn, I'm so happy.