52 Week Crochet Challenge - Week 3

Yay! I did it! I started and finished Week 3 before Week 4 begins. Woohoo!  It really is the little things sometimes, isn't it? 

So, Week 3 is: Celebrate the First Day of Spring (March 20, 2014) by Crocheting a Flower, or Make a Project that has a Flower Motif or Theme. Well, it sure doesn't feel like spring in my neck of the woods. Today it's snowing. Really not my idea of a good time, but least the roads are clear...for now anyway.

There are so many gorgeous patterns for flowers out there that I debated for a bit on how I wanted to proceed with this week's challenge. A couple weeks ago I checked out the book, 75 Floral Blocks to Crochet : Beautiful Patterns to Mix and Match for Afghans, Throws, Baby Blankets, and More by Betty Barnden from the library, and let me tell you it's worth looking at!  With every page turn, it was, "Oooh, I love this!" I'm really not one for buying books, especially when there are so many free patterns online, but I think having this book in my crochet library would be a welcome addition. So many project possibilities! Where would I start? Truthfully, I forgot all about the book until now *sigh*.

But, that does get me back to Week 3 of the challenge.  Flowers.  What to do, what to do? Only one thing to do...look at my stash. "Hello, my name is Sheri, and I'm a yarn addict." There, I said it. I didn't even realize it until I started crocheting again, but I LOVE yarn. The color, the texture, the way to slides along the hook, the way it takes on a whole new personality with each design. I do have a problem though, besides the addiction I mean. I have all of this great yarn, but I don't want to use it! Crazy, I know. Yarn was created to be used. It wants, no needs, to be used. Yarn does no good sitting on a shelf getting dusty. So why do I not want to help it fulfill its desires? Maybe it's because once I use it, it will be gone. But that's not true. It won't be gone. It will just have a new need. No longer will it need to be used to create something. Yarn's new need will be to bring warmth, comfort and joy to those who use it in whatever way, shape or form it has now taken. Its purpose remains the same, though. Its purpose will forever be what it was created to be...yarn. Even when it changes shape and form, it is still yarn. Still fibers wound together. No chemical reaction takes place to change its being when it touches the crochet hook or knitting needle. Only a physical transformation into something beautiful, something more beautiful than when it was originally created.

I purchased yarn in carrot, coffee, dark sage and cornmeal for a Melinda Miller sampler blanket that I'm working on. After the first three squares, I decided that these colors were too dark and ordered others to continue the project. This yarn had been sitting on the shelf for about a month, unloved, when I came across this week's challenge and this pattern at Nandina's Place. Perfect!  It was the first time I used a pattern that wasn't in US crochet terms, but it is very well written and I didn't have a moment's trouble converting the stitches. It worked up very quickly, and I'm very pleased with the finished product; however, I really should start blocking my projects before posting. Anyway, here's my finished Week 3 challenge:

Sunflower Crochet Square by Nandina

All this talk about yarn got me thinking. Aren’t we, as humans, a little bit like yarn? Just like yarn, we were created with needs and a purpose.  We were created in the image of God (Genesis 1:26-28), to worship and honor God (1Samuel 2:30, Revelation 4:11), to fear God and keep His commands (Ecclesiastes12:13), to love one another (John 15:12).  Just like yarn, our needs will change as we go through life. Our needs as newlyweds will vary greatly from our needs as empty nesters. Our needs as parents of toddlers will vary greatly from our needs as parents of teenagers. Just like yarn, our lives will get tangled and come unraveled at times. Our shape and form will change as we grow and mature, but our purpose will remain the same - to know and enjoy God. In John 15:16, Jesus says that we did not choose Him, but He chose us to fulfill a purpose. A purpose to love one another, to bear fruit (be a witness for Christ), to keep His commands. Just as we are the keeper of our yarn, to keep it smooth and free of kinks, God is our keeper. While our lives will never be without bumps and knots along the way, God promises that He has a plan for us, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future" (Jeremiah 29:11). God promises that He will never leave us nor forsake us (Deuteronomy 31:6). God promises peace, even in the toughest times (Philippians 4:6-7). Just as a ball of yarn is transformed into a beautiful flower or lovely blanket, our bumpy, knotted life is transformed into something beautiful when we allow God to be our keeper.

"And we know that in all things

 God works for the good of those who love him,

who have been called according to his purpose."

~ Romans 8:28 NIV