Rainbows and a Grandaughter

 These are colors that seven-year-old DGD would like in her requested blanket. She was thinking of rainbows, she said. When asked if she wanted a blanket with rainbows on it, she told me she wanted the colors all swirly. Swirly colors with her name in quite large letters and a dolphin and...ummm...one other thing. I can't remember now. So, armed with many colors and this pretty pattern, I tried using all of them in the lovely cascading effect. My eyes were in shock, so I just had to do something different!

 Since a different pattern might help, I searched through Ravelry , through my favorites lists, my notebooks, my files, my books and magazines finding some "maybes", a few "possibilities", yet still searching. Then, as I sleepily browsed my email one morning, lighting struck!! And blew my computer! No, not really, sorry. I did see an email from Caron yarns with the perfect pattern for this blanket. It uses several colors. There are patches were I can add her name and the dolphin and the other thing I can't remember. And I was moved to scale down the color palette according to an approach I learned from Laura Bryant in a class at Stitches West.

 With my charts and yarns and other necessities, I repaired to the deck to enjoy the summer day and crochet this cutie-cute blanket. Nothing could stop me now!

 Nothing...except...

 Tangled yarn!! Having come this far after my trial-and-error, my searches, my color sorting, my prepared table on the deck--one word came to mind:

 BOBBINS!!!!

 As I sat plumping the bare bobbins with each color of yarn, I looked around at the beauty the Lord has made: right petunias to cheer the day,

 Clumps of greenery to bring color to a dark spot,

 Even a cute ladybug to give me a smile. See her there, right by the lantana bud? Yes, to me, all ladybugs are "she". Certainly there are some manly guybugs around, aren't there? Bring on the entomologists!

And my sweet Lailah to ward off all the squirrels. All is well. The plan is set. The crocheting has begun and a day on the deck is just as uplifting as it can be.

Happy knitting and crocheting to you!