good morning

This morning feels good. It's a gray and cold winter day outside, but snug and warm inside. I woke up to the most beautiful song on the radio. I'd never heard it before, but it was perfect to listen to in the early morning hours because it is both sweet and sad. It captured that place between waking and dreaming for me, that time when in my mind contradictions are possible. Everything is possible. The song is called Rest and it's by Cheyenne Marie Mize. You can hear it in the video at the bottom of this post.

I woke up with a picture of this crochet project in my head. I was counting imaginary stitches in my sleep. You see, I finished my big Christmas project last night. All I have to do is weave in the ends! I am so excited to give my mom her present and to show all of you after Christmas. 

I ended up with a partial skein of yarn leftover to play with. I'm really into interesting textures lately; I can't get enough bobbles and cables. And so first thing this morning I grabbed a cup of coffee that the Coffee Fairy left for me and picked up my hook and yarn. The star-spangled quilt kept me warm and cozy. 

I've been so torn lately about what to crochet. On one hand, there are so many amazing patterns out there that I want to try. I've got a hat, scarf, mittens, cardigan, and hood on my list of things I'm itching to make. On the other hand, if I spend all of my time crocheting from patterns I'm never going to get any design practice, and I really want to design. I think one of my new year's resolutions will be to spend more time on my own designs. 

I'd like to share the pattern I'm making for this bobble-y project. I'll get back to work and see if I can't get it posted here before the new year. Look at me, setting deadlines for myself. I work best under pressure!

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How is your morning/afternoon/evening going?