Crochet Day

Yesterday I pulled out my box of crochet hooks where I keep a current small project going and worked on it in the van during our long drive to Castle Rock. We had to drive there for a visit with Snow White and Brother's little half-sister. She is 19 months old, chubby, and adorable. Her dad and his family are great. They had prepared a Christmas cookie coloring project for all the kids. We hadn't planned on bringing all seven of our crew in, but he was prepared for them and welcomed everyone. I was very impressed with him and his whole family.

Apparently, seeing my little crocheted blanket forming made Miss Lady curious. So she asked if I'd teach her to crochet on the way home. She struggled a bit but had the basics mastered by the time we got back to our house. She finished her first official "Granny Square" this morning. She was so proud of herself. Then the other four girls wanted to learn, too. Daniel pulled out my great big plastic tub full of all different colors and kinds of yarn. I gave each of the kids a big hook, even Kevin and Brother, and let them pick out some yarn to work with.

The little guys just played with theirs. Snow White had to stick to figuring out how to make a long chain of loops since she's really too young to understand the process. But the other three girls did well and were getting good at the single crochet stitch. I told Miss Lady that she should recruit the three of them to make Granny Squares for her so that she could get her blanket finished faster. I'm not sure any of them have the patience to make an entire blanket, but they'd be happy to feel like their work was a small part of the whole.

Even Daniel got in on the act and whipped out a quick square. He's always been very fast at that ever since his mom taught us how to crochet the first winter after we were married. The kids also were inspired by seeing our very first blanket that Daniel and I made together that winter and hearing the story of how we huddled under it for warmth as we crocheted it in front of the fire place in our tiny little apartment because it was so cold that year and the management wouldn't turn up the heat. It was a good story considering how cold it was outside today. Daniel took the kids to the park across the street to go sledding but they all came in fairly soon. Every time the door would open a gust of powdery snow-filled air would rush in. The kids' faces were almost completely pale except for their bright red cheeks. We wrapped them up in blankets and gave them Oreos and milk while we watched the Matthew movie. Having a day of actual rest for once was so nice!