Bittersweetness

Yesterday was the third anniversary of someone leaving this world way too soon. Someone I loved and still love immensely.

For the past three years, his family and myself have gathered on the day, not so much to commemorate the tragic occasion but rather to find comfort in each other's presence.

I am always amazed by how much of an emotional roller coaster the build-up to the anniversary generally is, and this year was no exception. I set off for the weekend away with a knot in my stomach and tears repeatedly brimming in my eyes.

Strangely, though, and despite the sadness, the longing and the dull pain, the weekend has been rather enjoyable.

I went for a lovely morning walk/run in the countryside, which had a tremendous calming effect on me.

Cheeky Zoe put a smile on my face...

I carried on working on my new WIP, a lacy summer scarf which reminds me of indulgent raspberry and cream. I just love the contrasting pinkish red against the cream background. I simply can't wait to see it grow.

I bought new yarn, which I totally didn't need, but my mental state required a little bit of retail therapy. As a result I brought back home five balls of Stylecraft Special DK, all new shades for my Blanket, and two balls of variegated Wendy Roam Fusion 4 ply (sock yarn) in Cairn shade. Lately, I have developed a bit of an obsession with shawls, stoles and scarves, and I absolutely adored this one, which is made of sock yarn. I didn't need any further excuse to buy some. Hopefully, I'll get to make something stunning out of this one.

Emotions took centre place again when we went to see the tree we planted in memory of S on what would have been his 33rd birthday nearly 3 years ago. The tree is called October Glory and turns a vivid red in autumn, usually - and very suitably - around S's birthday.

His mum had laid some beautiful gerberas by it, and I was quite literally blown away by the vibrancy of their colours. Aren't they simply breath-taking?

This morning was on the lighter side, as I went to picturesque Berkhamsted to meet up with friends for brunch. Whilst waiting for them, I enjoyed the scenic view...

...and after we all had brunch, I treated myself with a slightly naughty chocolate milkshake.

Coming home later in the afternoon, I did some therapeutic yarn winding.

And that was it. So I "survived" yet another anniversary. The build-ups are harsh, but every year I have this feeling that I get just a little bit stronger with each sad reminder of what I have lost. And, I suppose, with every sad reminder, there are dozens of happy ones.

You are very much missed, S.

Weekly Grannies

Are you ready for a your weekly dose of granny squares? Only one squared off granny this week, and 9 circles, so a total of 14 circles still to square off, on my upcoming holiday. Let's have a look!

There you have it. See you next week for more! I am now going back to watching France-Ecuador. Allez les Bleus !!!! ;) And do go have a look at what the others have hooked up at Jijihook's

Sneak Peeks

Exciting times, these days are. I am in between holidays, back from a long weekend in Bath and a week away from a 10-day break in France. In this summer holiday mood, I find it hard to concentrate on work, but a breeze to think about crochet projects. For I have a few in progress. Well, the poncho is done now (pics coming soon, I promise) but I have embarked on new ones and I am not a little thrilled. I can't say much about them for now, but I do have some sneak peeks for you. How does that sound? Take a look, and see if you can guess what it is all about!

Have a happy summer, everyone! :)

Motifs and Graphs

Like most crocheters, I have my quirks. For example, just like some hate mercerised cotton, I am not a big fan of single-coloured projects. And just like some love working ripples, I simply adore working motifs from graphs. I suspect I like the element of surprise involved in it, since most of the time, I don't bother making the motif if the graph has a picture of the finished product along with it. Unless, of course, I find it breathtakingly beautiful. I have a Pinterest board entirely dedicated to crochet motifs, and especially graphs, and a personal photo folder on my computer with the same purpose.

What I also love with motifs and graphs, is that when you hit a creativity snag, you can just pick one up and create something beautiful without much effort. If the graph had no picture to start with, this is actually a bonus for me, as there is nothing to compare my "creation" to, and that way, I almost always avoid being disappointed.

So, here's a closer look at what this is all about:

This one I had to start making immediately. I absolutely loved the way the graph looked, especially with all those different colours for each row.

Here's the real thing in progress...

...and finished.

Note the pink flower to the left, which was also the result of a graph found online:

Now, the following one was also one of those that I was itching to hook up as soon as I saw it.

I first did it in one colour, just to get the feel of it...

...and loved it so much I immediately moved on to a multi-coloured version.

This next one was actually my first attempt at mandalas before I knew how to make mandalas. So the only way I could think of was to get an old-fashioned doily pattern and to update it, using DK cotton rather than lace as well as various colours.

Pretty nifty, eh? I really love how this one turned out. I have plans for this one...

...but not that kind of plan ;)

The so-called Maybelle square is actually one of the rare ones that I made even though I had seen the finished product on this blog. I think this is such a pretty design, and the white square just brings it out perfectly.

Sometimes, you love how a graph looks, but the result is actually disappointing. That's what happened with this next one, which I intended to turn into a shawl, as per the photo. But the motif just didn't work...

...so I adapted it and made a mandala out of it.

Some other times, you start with a design, which you end up turning into a graph. This next one was meant to be a giant mandala, which is still in its early stages.

I then wrote a graph, in case I wanted to start it again with different colours.

And there are so many more that I haven't even tried yet...

Oh, the possibilities. :)

Wednesday!

It's Grannies Day! Last week was very busy, and so I haven't made as many squares as I would have liked to. I squared off the circles from the week before and made five more circles. So that makes it a total of 125, kind of.

I will soon be going on holiday, so am thinking of making loads of sunburst circles and taking them and a couple of balls of Cream to finish them all off, at which point I will have to find another container, since the current one is now threatening to overflow.

In other granny square news, I have made two more "baby" grannies from the ones I introduced you to last week.

That's it for this week. As always, go have a gander at what the others have made for Jijihook's weekly challenge!