Road Trip and New Patterns – June, 2016
Last month was busy, very busy; both in crochet and personally. My family and I took a 13 day road trip. My husband’s goal is to have my boys see the US. So far, we have been to 46 states! Last month we drove from Georgia to as far west as Las Vegas. The trip consisted of sites of such extremes, from the massive natural beauty of The Grand Canyon, to the engineering marvel of the Hoover Dam, to the paleontological with preserved prehistoric dinosaur footprints, to the astronomical with the Meteor Crater in Winslow, AZ. (I can’t read, “Winslow, AZ” without singing “The Eagles, Take it Easy” in my head!) The trip was amazing and exhausting. We drove 5,291 miles. My husband drove the entire time and because the driver is in charge of the radio, we listen to RUSH, the entire time. That’s OK, the boys and I are fans too.
The trip was exhausting. It. Was. Exhausting. We got up early to avoid the heat and pushed ourselves with many hikes. We hiked The Narrows at Zion national park, hiked for hours at Bryce Canyon national park, hiked at 6am to avoid the 110 degree weather at Arches national park. Even that early it was hot. And we spent a few hours in the heat exploring the slot canyons in Escalante, UT. This was probably my favorite hike of the entire trip. It’s hard to compete with Zion and Bryce. But my husband and I had been to Zion and Bryce 17 years earlier so the slot canyons were a new experience for us. And the boys loved it too. And every muscle in my body hurt after. Even muscles I didn’t know I had hurt.
Because this trip was exhausting, extremely enjoyable, but exhausting-did I mention that?-I didn’t crochet too much. I had big plans. I brought yarn to make a number of hats for donation. I brought yarn to work on a new design for a fall decoration and I brought yarn to finish up a sample for another design that was 99% ready to go. I did finish up the sample and was excited to publish Arnie and Annie, Baby Alien Loveys when we returned home. The rest of the yarn just went on a very long road trip and returned back home unused.
In addition to Arnie and Annie, Baby Alien Loveys, last month I was able to self-publish The Littlest Ladybug, Bib and Rattle set, #familyfun, Tic-Tac-Toe travel game and Blue Rivers Hat.
PHEW! I need to spend July resting.
My youngest son loves going to thrift stores with me. We have purchased some silly stuff and some useful stuff and some fun stuff at thrift stores. We both love the adventure of looking around and finding something unique. So much of what we see in retail stores is the same. I guess this is why I, like many others, enjoy crocheting. We are making a one of a kind item, something you won’t see at Target or Kohl’s or the outlet mall. Much of my house is decorated with thrift store treasures.
Crochet By Darleen Hopkins 