Reflections on 2023

 In 2023 we went on two long road trips - to the Northern Territory and the Barossa Valley and the east coast. My Multiple Myeloma remains in dormancy and I've been crocheting legacy gifts for friends and family.

In April - May we traveled north east along the Great Central Road to Yulara and counted over 250 abandoned vehicles along the way. We then went to Alice Springs and the Macdonnell Ranges, into Queensland and Birdsville. In Alice Springs I woke up with a pinched nerve in my neck and pain in my neck, shoulder and arm which lasted weeks. By Ceduna I had a cold and tummy troubles. Well, the cold turned out to be Covid and the tummy troubles were lactose intolerance.

In September we traveled to South Australia, then through Victoria onto Nowra on the east coast of New South Wales. Then south along the coast into Victoria then we headed home. Kevin planned the trip so we went past silo and water tank art. Kevin had fun competing in the Observed Trials motorcycle riding events and I caught up with friends. I also enjoyed the sunrises over the water and the sunsets too.

Kevin and I celebrated our 36th Wedding Anniversary this month too. Here are some selfies from our trips.

Here are some of the items I crocheted this year....

All the best for 2024, stay safe, strong, healthy and happy.

Crochet Temperature Blanket 2022

 At the beginning of 2022 I decided to crochet a temperature blanket. I love it as I can look at this blanket and read the squares - this is the week it was hot or when we were interstate and the temperature was -3 celsius,  and births and deaths too....

The temperature decides which colour yarn you use.

 I chose granny squares - one row per day, one week in each square plus a border colour of cream or multi coloured for when we traveled. I used the daily maximum temperature for Perth, Western Australia and added 4 ply grey wool on days that it rained. I decided on 8 rows of 7 squares and had to include 4 extra squares - 8 x7 = 56, so the first square I started on 25th December, 2021 as we had 4 very hot days.... the other extra squares are those with circle centres.  I used 4 Seasons Marvel 8 ply acrylic yarn from Spotlight stores as this had a wide range of colours to choose from. The blanket isn't too heavy and fits nicely on a queen size bed.

I also made one for my grandson based on his first year of life, basically 2021. 

There are many different ways to crochet a temperature blanket, very individual with colour choices and many people add extra colours or rows for special events.

Tips if you are planning to make one:

- Do lots of research using google, Pinterest or Facebook groups

- use a yarn in a range with lots of colours and is readily available

- you may want to do a sample row or square to work out how large it is going to be. 

I crocheted a border of half double/treble crochet using the colours in temperature order so it has an in-built colour gauge.

Well, I'm off to choose my colours for 2023 and have found a flower square which I may use as a weekly square or I may do a monthly square using linen stitch. I still haven't made a firm decision 11 days in to the year.....