Sometimes it's just one of those lives.......

Believe it or not, I used to be a really optimistic person. I KNEW I'd be able to figure out a solution to any problem that had the nerve to cross my path, that I'd soon have life running smoothly again. I had bumps along the way, just like anyone else, but the bumps didn't really shake my faith in my ability to fix whatever came my way. But, following the divorce, the ex trying to get custody of my boys, and most of all my disability that left me unable to work, and effectively took away a large part of my identity, and I'd be the first to admit that my outlook on life just isn't as cheerful as it used to be.

But every now and then, out of the blue, someone reaches past this newly formed pessimistic shield of mine and makes me feel genuinely happy. Brings a real smile when one is needed the most. And usually it probably seems like a small thing to the giver, but believe me when I say it's huge from where I sit.

A friend of mine from Rav, a swap partner, sent me a package that has made my day and probably the best smile I'll find for several weeks. Part of the swap was to be a "softie" , a small stuffed item, either bought or made. And I don't know what hand of divine providence put the wheels in motion, but she made for me the very softie I would have chosen if given a choice, and out of yarn that I really love! Meet my alpaca. There were lots of other goodies included in the package (which made it's way to me from Belgium!). There was a skein of lovely robin's egg blue yarn, some super cool pens, several nifty notepads and cards and candy. Yeah for candy! The candy didn't make it into the pix, but then, it seldom does, lol! I'll be sending my package to my very thoughtful partner this weekend, and can only hope she likes it half as much as I love mine. If she does, it will be a great success.

May Swap for Group Eddy

And here is the May swap for group Eddy. This square is of a wool bought on Ebay. I like this pattern, it wasn't so hard to do once I did a few rows. I may just use it again.

April Swap for Group Eddy

Wow! Talk about busy! I was invited to join a Ravelry group that was doing a year long swap of 12"x12" squares, either knitted or crocheted. Eddy is the first group I joined. There are 13 of us in the group and every month we all send a square to the member of the month (MoM) based on her preferences of yarn wt, color, etc. So far it's been a lot of fun. One of the reasons I joined is that I think it will encourage me to learn some new stitches, and to practice and improve my knitting skills. I think it's working! The hardest part is picking the yarn and pattern. I'm trying to use yarn from my stash (thought this would be a good stash reducer, also!). These are pictures of the square I made and sent to the May MoM.