Crafty Crafty

I'll dedicate this post to crafting as a way to "get the creative juices flowing."

I have always been a creative, crafty person. However, when people ask me what my medium is, I can get a little tongue-tied. My most straightforward medium is crochet. I like to crochet, and I am pretty good at it. But otherwise, I am just crafty. My mom and dad both have creative skills (mom - sews, paints; dad - woodworking), which means I have just a random assortment of skills. For instance, I recent cleaned out my spices/cooking materials cupboard and made a spice rack out of balsam wood (which, hilariously I could not get to fit into my cupboard without taking in apart and reassembling inside). I am also trying to walk outside more, so I sewed this fleece wrap skirt (which is very warm!).

But I do crochet quite a bit. I am taking on a sabbatical temperature blanket. Unlike the disastrous temperature blanket of 2017, I actually made ~gasp~ a swatch! This one will only be 6 months (because my sabbatical is 6 months) and will be about 45" x 55" (unlike its predecessor, which was approximately 9 feet long). Each month is a strip that is about 7.5" wide, and then I will crochet the months together. I am also not using a rainbow of colors but a lot of bold colors. I am also doing the high temperature of where I am that day (so if I travel, that is the temperature I use). So far it is going MUCH QUICKER than the blanket-that-shall-not-be-named. Here is through the first ten days or so of January:

Other projects - I finished this cat couch that my ungrateful cats have yet to actually use:

And just today, this wreath for my door (I don't knit, but it is impossible to jab a crochet hook through a styrofoam ball that has been wrapped in yarn).

A friend/colleague of mine said that one of the residents at clinic asked her how I am doing on my 'vacation.' She corrected them, but if you look at this blog, you would think it's nothing but a vacation. Despite appearances, I am working on 'sabbatical things', just don't really have much to write about yet. The manuscript I worked really hard to get submitted before the winter break was rejected, so I have been working on getting that ready for re-submission to another journal. I am working to get a blood pressure project at clinic up and running. And I have been in talks to get pharmacy services established for the Afghan refugees arriving in Minnesota. All things I hope to share in more details as time progresses. But alas, I will keep crafting.