Finished and Unfinished

There's only two and a half months to go until the end of the year and I can't believe how fast the time has gone. One of my goals for this year was to crochet 10 projects, ranging from quick and easy to hard and time-consuming. I'm happy to say that my completed messenger bag crossed off # 10 on that list. However, there are three other projects that have been pushed aside. I would like to finish them before the year is out. The unfortunate part is that all three of them are blankets. When Gram first let me sort through (and use) all of her yarn stashes, the goal was to come up with projects that didn't require buying more yarn. Unfortunately, most of her yarn doesn't match in color, texture, or size.

Ripple Afgan

I wanted to make a more complicated pattern with this blanket, and therefore chose the ripple style. Most of the yarn being used (so far, six colors in all) came from different stashes around my gram's house.

Baby Blanket #1

I got this idea from a pattern I saw online almost a year ago. The top strip still needs to be sewed together, and then all four strips can be sewed to finish the project. The picture doesn't do the colors of this blanket justice.

Baby Blanket #2

This is a blanket I started to make during the spring. It's longer than planned and it might not turn out to be a real blanket. There's only one skein of that yarn, which is halfway depleted, but I'm not about to pull out stitches and start over.



PEAR JAM

I finally caved and made pear jam. I was quite disappointed by the outcome because it looked nothing like what I had pictured in my mind. And it didn't taste like what I was expecting either. But I let it cool in the fridge overnight and put some on my toast this morning. It tastes FANTASTIC, though it doesn't surpass what I had last year. I went to a monastery last summer and they made this pear jam/pear butter concoction from their own pear trees. Friends and family will say that I've been obsessed with making my own ever since. Unfortunately, I didn't take into account as to how much I was making, so we have a giant tub of it if anybody wants to come try some.

Wish me luck,

~Staci~

Update

It's been a couple of weeks since my last post. I haven't been terribly busy, but there also hasn't been much to write about. Both Gram and I have been under the weather a little bit, thankfully not at the same time and for different reasons. When I get sick, I do my best to isolate myself (and my germs) so Gram doesn't catch whatever it is I have. Her immunity is not as strong as it used to be. The weather tends to mess with my allergies when there's a major fluctuation in temperature day to day.

I didn't quite get through September completely unscathed, but nothing happened on the same scale as the last couple of years. The Lord is merciful on His completely unworthy child.

My summer garden is finished and I recently planted lettuce, radishes, and spinach. There are sprouts coming up but it will be a miracle if anything survives. I decided to plant the fall garden on a whim, even though it was a bit late in the season. The radishes are supposed to only take about 30 days to fully harvest. The picture to the right is of the Icon of the Mother of God, the "Multiplier of Wheat". Today is actually the feast day when Orthodox Christians commemorate this icon. Two miracles involving this icon were witnessed by the faithful. It is a powerful reminded that the Lord, His Mother, and His Saints are always involved in our daily lives.


Gram's 85th birthday is Saturday. I believe my uncle is taking her out for dinner. I'll be taking her to my restaurant for a piece of pie. Our pies are quite famous. We threw her a surprise party for her 80th birthday. The first part of her surprise involved my cousins from New Mexico showing up on her doorstep. And then we had her party the next afternoon. One of her gifts was a flameless candle and she was angry because she thought it had already been used. Someone had to turn it on for her before she understood. I still tease her about it.

I've been reading and watching several disheartening books and shows on television. I read three books in a row on death and murder, all of them written by the same author. And I've just finished the new J.K. Rowling book. (Yes, I was a gigantic Harry Potter fan.) My history class is full of lectures about wars and death, and other generally unhappy topics. There is a new show on PBS that I love: Call the Midwife. Last night's episode had two different plot lines, one of which was quite tragic to me. It hurts to see the elderly not getting the care they need, especially elderly war veterans. So it's definitely time to watch and read something more lighthearted!

My goal for this week is to make pear jam. I was supposed to make them today but my pears aren't fully ripe yet. I've been craving pear jam for over a year now. I'm sure I can wait a little bit longer.

Until next time,

~Staci~