CAL: A Walk In My Shoes

I have always wanted to do a CAL.  I am so thrilled to finally participate in one, but I think, this may be the best one ever.  Of course I have nothing to compare it to, but this has been quite the exciting adventure.  I started late, and am currently playing catch up! 

Here we go!  It may be cheesy, it may be ridiculous, it may be a hot sweaty mess, but they are MY shoes, connected to my soul which is being ripped out of my heart thanks to Dada Neon Crochet, and the amazing CAL. This is my first CAL I have EVER participated in, and so far THIS IS AWESOME! :)  Here is the link if you want to join along!   Please post your projects on Ravelry, because I am having a fun time stalking everyone's progress there! :) 

Week 1:  Just a little fun piece to get started

Week 2 My hand has a black line around it because when I was little I was always looking for the black lines around people. I did not know that cartoons were drawings, and I always wondered why some people had black lines around them. :P The design on the heart is a merging of my initial and my hubby’s initial (s and a j) along with a wedding ring. :)

Week 3: Week 3: My garden-The Confession: I cheated. A while back, I was learning how to brookstick stitch. I made a really ugly fingerless glove and never made another for it to have a mate. Sooooo I used THAT as a base for my garden-instead of stitching it closed, I left it open and used it as a bunny hole…so….of course I needed a bunny so it could pop in and out

Week 4: A Starry Night-my yarn interpretation. I didn’t try to embellish this one too much. The reason being it is one of my favorite pieces of art-and a print hangs on my daughter’s wall because even at her young age, she appreciates the beauty in it. Her name means heavenly as well, so there is special meaning in stars and whatnot in our house.

Week 5: My pet…I tried to incorporate her psycho yet cute side all in one little piece…I think I accomplished that. because this thing looks psycho….but it has a bow just like her! I also put a rainbow bridge above her to show my first fur pet that has already crossed the bridge….She’ll always hold a piece of my heart and I vowed to never had another dog….it was too tragic losing her…But this silly sweet psycho dog came into our life and taught us that although our hearts may be torn up and sad, they are capable of healing themselves and finding more room for more love.

Week

6 part A: Tree-a tree that represents me….Well…technically this one represents my daughter because it reminds me of karate kid, said in my best Mr. Miagi voice, “BONSAIIII!!!” My daughter is learning karate and kobudo from a wonderful sensei who was trained in Okinowa, Japan. She is the Sempi, senior student, of all of his dojos and I am very very proud of her. She has been doing this for almost five years now and everyone knows to steer clear!

Week 6 part B: Stained glass: this was only a ‘suggestion’ but I took it to heart. I LOVE stained glass, and have even taken a few classes in it…I wanted to make a dragonbird encircling a flower because I AM dragonbird and I never leave home without a flower (or something holiday related) in my hair.  And a yellow ring...one ring to rule them all.  ;)

Week 7: Your Dream Home-this is MY dream home….it is the home where I already reside. My hubby spent all his free time during his last deployment searching for homes online when the internet was working…When he came back we looked at this place and it was love at first site. It is a magical world we live in filled with magical trees, magical people and magical animals. I call it my death house, because I plan on living here until my death.

Week 8: My “AYEEEE Tharrr Mateyyyyy” Eye…I guess we’ll just call it “Aye Eye.” My dad always said my eyes were brown pools of mud. I tried to capture that…Well, and of course that sometimes I like to talk like a pirate. So this piece is an interactive one, you can flip the patch up and reveal the eyeball.

Week 9: My favorite song. It is hard to just nail down ONE favorite song…I have loads of them…BUT I chose two songs that best describe my taste in music…One is a very obscure song that probably no one knows which is depicted by the cow with the Don’t Tread On Me flag…the other is depicted by the sucker and the sun..  Cows With Guns and Sunshine and Lollipops.

Week 10 +11: make a piece in memory of someone…..So, after thinking and thinking about it I realized I’ve lost far too many people that are dear to me to only make one piece. So rather than making specific memory pieces I made one piece that symbolizes my love…some that I am blessed to still contain in my heart and some that have been stolen from me. My favorite book, The Clan of the Cave Bear (the movie does not do it justice) explains how when someone crosses into the spirit world, they take a piece of your spirit with them…eventually, you have enough pieces of your spirit in the spirit world and you will join them. I thought it quite fitting that Week 11 was to make a piece about our favorite book or author….as I was already combining those two thoughts together. I hope this piece depicts my full heart with little pieces being taken to the spirit world…. I've also incorporated HOlly Hobby-my grammy made me a blanket with these squares when I was little, and she was the one to teach me to crochet! 

CAL Week 12: Your favorite childhood toy. This is Barney. I remember asking my Grandpa B. what I should call him. He looked at the tag that was still in tact at the time and said his name is Bernard (the tag had said, “St. Bernard” so we’ll call him Barney.

I loved Barney my entire childhood. He had the most lifelike eyes and nose-I can still remember all the little creases in them-and staring at them wondering why, when he looked so real why he wasn’t real.

His legs and feet were filled with sand, which made him feel heavier than just a regular stuffed toy. I loved him I loved him so much. I had loads and loads of stuffed animals but this was BARNEY. My favorite.

One day, playing with stuffed toys with my sister, I had a bit of an accident which involved the ceiling light (yes kids, throwing stuffed animals indoors is DANGEROUS) and I wound up cutting my artery. Blood sprayed everywhere and a LOT of my stuffed toys had to be thrown away. Barney was a survivor of this blood bath.

Barney grew up with me and when I had my own kids he became friends with them as well, I’m almost certain my little sister had use of him for many years during her youth too.

I haven’t seen Barney in many years now. I am not sure if he got lost in our move or if he was accidentally thrown away. I am glad I still have pictures, but even if I didn’t, I’d always remember his beloved little face and sweet lovable paws. There is a pic below the crocheted Barney of myself (and my awesome Spiderman shirt) and Barney and then an insert with my son sleeping with Barney many many years later.

Week 13: My favorite movie(s)-I had it narrowed down to three…then four…now five. First one is done, but I’m not giving it away until someone guesses what movie I have yarn painted! :P Okie doke, they’ve all been guessed…So we have a tauntaun from Star Wars, FREEEDOMMMMM!!!! Mel Gibson in Braveheart, a TETONKA from Dances With Wolves and the 'love of this land' scene from Gone with the Wind! :) 

Week 14: My foot….Can you tell that my foot is actually being inserted into my mouth? I tend to say things…I’ve been diagnosed with CDOTMS (chronic diarrhea of the mouth syndrome) and my kids like to tell me that ‘things just fall right out of your mouth.”

Week 15: Zodiac Sign. I always knew I was a Sagittarius but never really paid much attention to it. I knew I wanted to show the constellation of my sign because in my house we LOVE the stars….I googled an image and this came up. An archer? Cool! I have no idea what it means to be Sagittarious but I know what it means to be me! Side note: I hate embroidery. That is all

Week 16 (WIP) part 1 of 4We are to crochet our family-I just started on the part that will represent my daughter-I tried to recreate her Kobudo Gi patch. She lives and breaths karate and also kobudo (which is with weapons) and I am so proud that she has stuck with it for so long. She does many other things I am so very very proud of, but I cannot fit them all into one blanket-especially one that has so many ideas!

9-10-14: Week 16 Part 2 of 4: This is my husband’s Army patch. On 9-11 he came home and announced he was joining the Army Reserves. I was pregnant with my youngest and my oldest was 3 at the time. Of course I was against this idea and we bantered back and forth for a few years. He finally joined (ignoring my protests) when my youngest was about to turn 2. I have to say, I am so very very proud of that man for doing what he thought was the right thing not for himself and his family, but for his country. Two deployments to Iraq later, he is home for good safe and sound and looking back I am not only proud of him, but of myself and our family for being able to get through that really dark time in our lives-and being so much stronger for it.
I suppose it is fitting that I made this piece today, on the 200th birthday of The Star Spangled Banner and the eve of 9-11.  I also included a firetruck in the blanket to commemorate all those heroes we lost that day...

9-12-14: Week 16 part 3 of 4: This piece represents my son. He is on the Angling Team at his High School and he just loves to fish. I am so glad we moved to the house we are at because we are near a creek and he loves going down there and catching crayfish and other critters.

1-6-16:  So my New Year's Resolution is to freeform more! I have missed it-this blanket sat unfinished for months...and now, it is high time I finish it! 

Much has happened in the time I've been away from the blanket...I've added chickens to my little family so here is Oopster the Rooster to commemorate that! I started with five hens last spring and I'll be getting at least 11 more in March.  Four of them I ordered straight run so I'm hoping at least one is a boy so we can have a roo and I can start hatching out my own chicks! 

And we are making progress...here it is all together so far:

Week 17:  Favorite Environment or Place

Mine is my road...at sunset....love how it peeks out amongst the trees...I always thought this was a magical place to live...it surely is-the more I live here the more I love it.  Sometimes, when I go for a walk, I just cry....because I am overwhelmed by the beauty.