Iron Craft: Be Mine

I admit I groaned when I first read about this week's challenge at Iron Craft. The challenge is to make a Valentine.

I shouldn't have moaned and groaned because Valentine's Day is my special day. The Big D and I were married on this day seventeen years ago. We decided to elope and chose the next big "holiday" for the date not realizing that we forever made it impossible to get dinner reservations on our Anniversary. Our "wedding" was at dingy, grimy courthouse and I was back in classes the next day. We decided that each Anniversary should be an adventure since we didn't have a honeymoon.

Last year I gave birth to the Baby Lotus Bud four days before our 16-year Anniversary (and, yes, that was quite an adventure). She was our sweet little Valentine. I kept thinking about this as I considered a project for this week's challenge.

Have you ever bought a how-to or reference book and thought perhaps it was a waste of money? That's what I thought about Nicky Epstein's Knitted Embellishments. My first project out this book did not turn out the way I hoped so that's what got me down. But now I am super happy that I purchased it because I keep going back to it for new ideas and to learn new techniques.

I pulled a heart pattern from Epstein's book for this week's challenge and I just happen to have all the yarn I needed at home. My lunch plans for last Thursday were cancelled so I came home and started knitting up the heart not realizing that it would knit and finish rather quickly. In fact, so quick that I forgot to take some photos. But, I went back and cast on again just to give myself a visual reminder of how easy it was despite starting with anxious feelings about knitting with two balls of yarn.



Here's the finished Valentine heart. Now I had to figure out what I was going to do with it.



I decided to leave some yarn on it to I could tie it to the Baby Lotus Bud but she's moving around so much now I couldn't get a photo. My little Tasmanian devil! Capturing a photo of her is nearly impossible these days.

My sweet Valentine!



I made them both - the heart and the baby!