A Month at the Beach

2025 did not get off to a great start for us; I had to right away contend with some family drama in my own home, and then our brother-in-law fell gravely ill, was moved to hospice and passed away in Tampa. Other issues I'd rather avoid talking about did not contribute anything positive.

Stress causes my arthritis to flare up, as does having to travel long distances, and my hands quickly bore the brunt of that. Since crochet is the one fiber art I can do even when my hands hurt, I looked for and found a free pattern online and decided to make a throw for myself.

I have tons of thrifted yarn, of course, so I didn't buy any new for the project, but instead shopped my stash for the colors I wanted. I imagined a throw like sitting on beach sand and watching the tide come in.

The pattern seems challenging but is actually pretty simple, and soon I was able to work on the throw without having to think about it.

Every night I spent a couple of hours working on it, which helped me deal with the stress and find my calm again.

The colorblock palette may seem a bit weird, but it is how I see the beach when I'm sitting on the sand. I loved every minute I spent on this project.

The end result. Couldn't be happier with it, and by making it I saved fourteen skeins of thrifted yarn from the landfills.

Comments

Love Triangle

The Inheritors (also known as The Heirs ) is an older k-drama that is more like an American soap opera, and yet has one of the best high-school love triangles I've ever seen. As the illegitimate son of a wealthy conglomerate chairman, Kim Tan (Lee Min-ho) was exiled to study in California so that his older half-brother could be groomed to step into their father's shoes. Instead he mostly surfs and goofs off. He meets Cha Eun-sang (Park Shin-hye), who comes to LA in order to escape her dismal life in Korea while bringing wedding money to her older sister, only to find out her sister has lied about her marriage, and is living in squalor. After the sister takes the money and runs off, leaving Eun-sang with no place to stay, Tan ends up alternately taking care of her and making her situation worse. He also falls for her, but she finally connects with a friend and returns to Korea. The money her sister took ends up forcing Eun-sang and her speech-impaired mom to mov...

Pretties

While at the antique mall where my donated throws were being sold I saw this pretty portait of a frog made out of beads, brooches, necklaces and other bling, and had to take a photo of it. This artist is so clever with how they recycle vintage jewelry and findings into new art. That day this little guy came home with me. He was cheap, made from a very old crazy quilt, very shabby, and has a serene quality that primitives sometimes possess. He'll be hanging out with me in the sewing room. Was it necessary to buy this? Nope. Do I regret the purchase? Nope. I also bought this apothecary jar filled with buttons, threads and other wonders. If you want to sort through it with me, check out more pics here .

Glorious. Kinda

Writing up my thoughts on the Chinese drama You are my Glory is going to be one of those head-scratchers; I liked it, it got annoying, I liked it anyway, it got more annoying. In the end I was left feeling like most of the last third of the series was smacking me on the nose for being a romantic and wishing, not for the first time, I was a screenwriter who could get hired to fix this script. Anyway, okay. The premise for this series is actually pretty good: poor but brilliant aerospace engineer Yu Tu (played by the fabulously handsome Yang Yang) crosses paths with fabulously wealth but not-too-bright actress Qiao Jingjing (portrayed by the genuinely pretty Dilraba Dilmurat) who was his high school classmate. He's looking for a new job that pays better; she's in hot water due to an inappropriate product endorsement snafu, and they end up spending a lot of time together. It's a cross between Notting Hill and Apollo Thirteen, sorta kinda. Yu Tu is in a life crisis ...

Rayen

Search This Blog