Of Touch and Visons and Joy

I have always loved the feel of things: The butterfly delicacy of a baby's skin, the velvet coolness of begonia flower petals and the velvet warmth of petunia blooms, the paper thinness of an onion skin, the cool dirt in a freshly worked up garden.  We take in so much about the world around us through touch.  

My mother in law used to have two cushions on sofa in her living room. They were plush grey minky type fabric and were something glorious to run your hands over. Stroking it was a compulsion.

Bernat Velvet is exactly that. A compulsion.  Once I picked up Carter Secret Blanket project, I could not put it down.  

I kept knitting and knitting.  The only thing I wanted to feel in my hands was this oh so very soft smooth stuff.  It was very very hard to put down.

It wasn't a bad thing.  The blanket is now a third complete.  I checked the width of the blanket and it is perfectly wide enough, so no worries there.  I will have lots of yarn to make it as long as I want and will no doubt have yarn leftover. In order to deal with the yarns slippery smooth characteristic, I switched over to bamboo needles.  Using grabbier needles has made the world of difference.  It doesn't ever feel like the stitches are going to slide off the needles every time I lay it down.

All that wonderful knitting meant that I did not weave in ends of Carter's other blanket.  That is going to be todays biggest task.  I am promising myself this.  

I really am looking forward to doing the edging and seeing how it all looks when it is done.  Sometimes, midway through big projects, I lose the vision I had of it.  I was so enthused when I found the Bento Box Quilt pattern.  When I did up that coloured square to see which kind of colour combinations I preferred to make, I just burned with the need to start it.  And then I lost it.  I had no confidence in my choices and I was filled with doubts and felt such huge pressure.  I know how much Carter's wants it and is waiting for it.  He understands that a blanket like this is a hug from me for all time.  Once I laid out the squares and felt the sureness of my choices again, felt the strength of my vision of this project surge through me...  it is such a wonderful feeling when the thrill of it comes back to me.  

Onward to the day, to visions of things that bring joy.  Not just the vision and feel of a pair of projects but my joy on seeing a smile on my special boys face.