Time to crochet again! Yippee!

Hi all! Well, after a restful week at the in-laws and the fair, I had 2 crazed back to school weeks and now it is time to crochet. You see, I do not crochet in the summer if I can help it at all. but it is recently my favorite past time. I love the feel of yarn between my fingers, and to watch the blanket or scarf growing as I watch it. I love picking out the colors and changing things in the middle. My new favorite yarn is TLC Baby Amor`e for the baby blankets, and TLC amore for the adult blankets! Soft to the touch and vibrant colors! I also have a soft spot for homespun yarns. They stir the creative side of my heart. Last year I started making "scrap yarn blankets" which are made with left over yarn- which crafters call scrap yarn because they do not have enough to make a full project out of it. My wonderful, ordered, faithful and supportive husband did not like this as much as the old way. He liked the colors, and was very encouraging about that, but not the lack of symmetry. It cracked me up! In some ways we are so opposite. His love of symmetry clashes with my love of the random look. And I am still making my regular blankets, so never fear symmetry and order will still exist, but I love scrap yarn blankets more.

Sometimes I feel like my life is a scrap yarn blanket. A little bit of this person, time spent in that town, a summer with this group of friends at camp, a brief friendship with this one and a lasting friendship with the other. A childhood fling with these, but a lifetime love of one. All of these events have come together to help create my perceptions of life, the universe and everything. I am greatful for each and everyone who has been on this journey with me- even if you were the college roommate who made life not the funnest, or the kid who picked on me as a child- you have helped me to become who I am.

Summertime things of the past...

OK, so a friend mentioned things from her youth and it got me to thinking....these are things from childhood so under the age of 12 I would say.



I think of playing frisbee in the street with my Dad after dinner in our Pajamas! You see we would be at the beach all day, and Mom would make us bathe before dinner and we'd put our PJ's on. Then after dinner, around 7:30- Dad would say,"You wanna play frisbee?" and the three of us would be out there trying to fling it to Dad! It was a strange and wonderful time being outside in our PJ's at a time when it should be getting dark, but wasn't.



Then there were the trips on the ice cream truck. Yes, you heard me right, trips. My closest friend's big brother drove the ice cream truck a couple of years and would let us hop on for half a block! That was a hoot!



Being at the beach all day long. You see, until I was 8 we shared a cabana at a beach club with very close friends. They were wonderful days filled with sand, pool, camp and the ocean. My Mom would take us down to the ocean every afternoon before we left and just let us run! The beach would be almost deserted so she could walk along the beach and know we were going to be tired out for the evening when we got home..That was when you were allowed to climb on the jetties with out the lifeguard whistling at you! Now realize I also feel I got beached out from this, and no longer love the beach, but I take the cuties to the beach whenever we see my Mom in the summer.



I also loved summer camp! The Rec Center ran a half day camp and many fond memories come from there. I was given my first nickname (Half-Pint) and was because of the nickname, I was not M's little sister or A's big sister but my own person.



I bought the only softball mitt ever with my own money one year. It was a lefty mitt and the only one sold at Wolf's Sporting Goods. I went with my Dad to purchase it and when we got there he asked me which one I wanted. I think he was surprised when I walked over to the exact spot at the counter and pointed up to it and told him it was the only one they carried. Please realise this was a major purchase and I think it was $12.99 which was a lot of money to me. I had scoped it out for weeks until I had the money to buy it.

There are many more, but these stand out in my mind as significant. What do you remember from your childhood? I'd love to hear about it!