August will look much different than we originally expected this year.

For the past three years my son has gone to a lovely, small preschool two days a week, but this fall he was supposed to be starting at a new preschool full time. I was excited to have more time to get work done, and just to myself in general, honestly. And I was excited for my son to have this new experience – and he’s a kid who thrives in a classroom setting.

While our school system is currently opening on a hybrid system (students will be in-person two days a week, alternating days, and virtual the rest), they are also offering a fully virtual option. With cases in our area rising, and knowing that I am already at home and in a position to keep him at home when others may not have that option for their children, we have decided to go fully virtual for the time being.

They have already pushed back the start date once and we are still waiting to hear what exactly the virtual pre-k program and schedule will look like, so I’m in an odd spot of trying to be prepared but not really having all the answers to fully plan yet.

Before covid-19, I had planned to use a good chunk of the newfound “free” time for creating more crochet patterns and illustrated products, updating older patterns – such as matching the layout to my new style and adding in the full range of sizes I now grade for,  and possible working on some wholesale options for the small amount of made-to-order items I offer in my little blog shop, as well as illustration-based products. I’m not sure what I will manage to get done since my kid will be with me full time now and I don’t really know how he’ll do with at-home/virtual school.

I fell like the past month I’ve had a second wave of all the fear and anxiety I had at the beginning of covid-19 hitting the US – I’m still overall able to be positive and focus on calming things and joyful things we can control, like drawing and crocheting or taking my son to swim at his great grandparent’s pool, but I just really miss my friends.

I think I was being fairly realistic with the whole situation in that I didn’t expect things to be better by May, but man, I really thought things would be better overall by now. Honestly, it’s been astonishing to see so many people so angrily opposed to something as simple as wearing masks in public places. I never would have expected something that to me seems like a simple public health thing to become so politicized or conspiracy-theorized. Like, can we all just calm down so we can actually, truly get back to life as “normal?”

Anyway, I digress. We are continuing to do want we can to feel safe and feel that we are keeping others safe. It’s just looking like the rest of the year will continue to be very different than expected, so we might as well let that go ahead and settle in our brains so that we can search for and focus on the positives.

Like, crochet-wise, this yarn I’m currently using to make a forthcoming skirt pattern. It’s Lindy Chain from Knitpicks (not affiliated), a linen-cotton blend in the color Turmeric, which using has turned out to be like crocheting with sunshine. A nice little thing for these times.