The Color Block Square, and The Gift
As you all will know, things have been (up until quite recently) very bad for me. I was living in my own personal hell, which I have gone into great detail discussing in previous posts. It wasn’t until really a few days ago, that I was able to tell myself “enough is enough” and begin to DRAG myself back into the light. I would be lying if I said that finding happiness, after spending so long in such great depths of depression, was easy. The truth of the matter is that I have to begin each day now, FORCING myself to take a moment, before even climbing out of bed, to smile. It used to be that this smile came naturally…easily. There was no effort needed, to wake up happy. And, maybe, some day, I will be there again. But for now, I am at the point where I have to convince myself that the day is going to be good.
Hey…whatever gets the job done. This forced smile, at the beginning of each morning, seems to be doing the trick just fine. Because, while not as chipper as I once was, not too long ago, I am finding that I am able to, at least, keep happiness in my days. And, that is a good thing.
Yesterday afternoon, the mail came. The friendly lady stopped her truck right outside our house, then walked all of our mail to our front door, because there were two packages, too big to fit in the mailbox. My husband went to grab the packages off of the porch, yelling out a friendly “thank you” to the lady, as she got in her truck. She looked back, smiled and waved, and then, she was off.
“It’s here,” he said, smiling, as he held one of the packages in his hand. It was a smile that went ear to ear. “I got you something,” he said, as he walked over to the couch, where I was sitting. “It was supposed to be for Valentine’s Day. But, with everything that has been going on, I don’t want to wait, to give it to you. I want you to have it now.” He handed me the package.
Inside of the white plastic envelope, there was a light blue box. I took the lid off of it, and saw something that, to me, was the most precious thing in the world.
My husband got me a necklace. A sterling silver necklace, with a heart pendant hanging from it. And, on this heart pendant, there is an etching of a picture of him and I. On the reverse side of this heart, he had “I love you forever” engraved, along with our initials.
I looked at it, and I felt more joy than I have felt, at any point that I can remember. My smile matched his, as he took the necklace from my hands, and wrapped it around my neck. I looked down at it, and smiled, as I saw the heart. All of yesterday, and even this morning, I keep running my hand along the pendant, feeling the delicate grooves of the etching.
Today, as I woke up, I found that I did not have to force a smile on my face, as I have had to do for the past few days. I opened my eyes, at just before four in the morning–thanks for making noise and waking me up, stupid Cupid–and reached for the heart pendant. As soon as my fingers felt the surface of it, a smile came to me…natural, and unforced. I looked over at my husband, sleeping beside me, and I gave him a gentle hug–careful not to wake him–before climbing out of bed, and making my way downstairs to start my morning.
He gave me this gift early, because he thought it would make me feel better. And, he was right!
Now then, on to the square made yesterday…
I decided to work a square, using leftover scraps of yarn, that I knew I would not have enough of, to work an entire round. The start of this square was worked in a lavender yarn, that I worked with for two rounds. The first round is just a bunch of double crochet stitches, worked into your beginning ring. Round two is made by working single crochet stitches into certain stitches from round one, and skipping other stitches, creating chain spaces.
Rounds three and four are where this square really got fun for me. I had neon green yarn, and a rich chocolate brown yarn. I knew, however, that I did not have enough of either to really work the entirety of round three, which included several double treble stitches. So, I decided to work half of the round in the neon green, then switch yarns to the brown, and work the other half. For round four, still having just a small amount of each yarn left, I decided to do a kind of color-block effect. Working over the brown section of round three, I used the neon green yarn. And, over the neon part of round three, I worked brown. This gives the square kind of a neat, reflective and negative look. I really like it.
Round five you make this granny onto the square shape, through a combination of every stitch, from single to double treble. This round, on my square, is worked in white. And then, for the last round, which I worked in a different shade of brown, you simply work a round of double crochet stitches, worked into every stitch of the previous round.
This square, when finished, came out kind of artsy looking, I think. It has this almost abstract quality to it, that I find to be very fascinating. And, it just goes to show that sometimes, you don’t need to work an entire round in one yarn, for the piece to look completely amazing, when it is finished. You just have to have a plan!
So…Another square has been worked. And now, I am off to go snuggle with my doggies on the couch, and watch some good old TV.
I hope all of my readers have a truly amazing day.
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