Things I made this summer.

This has nothing to do with Ann Arbor, but I need to link my pins somewhere, don’t I? I crocheted a little this summer in between hanging out with everyone we hadn’t seen for nine months and working on the living room floor in our apartment in San Diego because why would we scrounge around for a table and chairs if we’re only living there for four months? Now, of course, I’m addicted to working on the floor and probably spend 80 percent of my workday sprawled out next to a perfectly functional futon, desk, and kitchen table (we have a kitchen table! That may or may not get its own blog post in the near future).

For my mom’s birthday, I decided she would be forced into accepting one of my handmade treasures. I thought a beach tote would be appropriate, as my parents are intent on becoming OC people, which is fine by me, because I love a good beach city as much as the next person, but I will mourn the transition out of our dear Inland Empire home of 12 years if and when it happens (I don’t care how impoverished the Valley is becoming; there’s nothing like those mountains, and our little tract home is absolutely adorable without four teenagers living in it).

Of course, I had yarn left over, and Daniel and I had a lot of “Mad Men,” “Community,” and “Suits” to watch (and by a lot, I mean the all of the seasons of all of those shows. And we still hung out with people, I swear). So I attempted this insane-looking potholder pattern. Mom got that one, too. It didn’t come out exactly like it should have, but it’s still interesting to look at. Note also my little plants in the background; I kept basil, lavender, and a couple of snapdragons alive all summer. Now we live half-underground and have no natural sunlight (it’s not quite as bad as it sounds), so an Ann Arbor herb garden may not be so feasible.

And there was yet more yarn, so another potholder needed to be made. It took me about three times of practically crocheting the entire thing to figure this one out, but I did it, by golly.

And the last few scraps went into some African flower coasters. Happily, I realized, they are reasonable facsimiles of the U of M maize and blue, so they are exceedingly appropriate in our Ann Arbor apartment. I am so good at this grad school wife thing.