Florals and Wildflowers

A recent trip to Southern California reminded me of how much flowers can brighten life. In Las Vegas, this is easy to forget sometimes. Flowers, like many other things in the Mojave, are spare- things that must either be cultivated or noticed.

But even here in the desert, our little backyard garden is beginning to bloom (I can't wait for the jasmine buds to open!) and little purple and yellow wildflowers are growing along the highways back into the canyon.

And everywhere I look are florals. Clothes, accessories, everything is floral. This clutch, which I love, and which went everywhere with me around L.A., is actually from Target.

Flowers inspire, relax, color our world. So I've been driving more, noticing more, and shopping more, to fill my life with all that is floral.

Ripple Blanket

I love crochet. I'm addicted. And the thing I'm addicted to the most is the Ripple. It's just enough a pattern to keep me interested in the act of crochet, but simple and repetitive enough to be relaxing (read: I don't want to tear my hair out).

Plus, it's BEAUTIFUL. I am alternating complementing colors every 2 or 3 rows, depending on how much yarn of a certain color I have. This is a great project for your stash, or for yarn left over from other projects, and it's enjoyable to kind of watch how it comes along and creates itself. I've just been using (gasp) acrylic yarn, and prefer a plastic crochet hook (which gives me more control over the yarn than the slippery fancy metal ones), but the piece is still vivid and inspiring.

My mom and I got the pattern here at "Handcrafting with Love."

More posts to come as it comes along!