Author: Vikki Lynn Sorensen

By day, I work a fulltime job in corporate America. By night, I'm a fulltime couch potato. I love to read, write, embroider, crochet and watch British mysteries. When I do leave the house, it's to either go to church or to buy yarn and books. I'm a firm believer that buying books and buying yarn are hobbies on their own. I'm also the single mom (happily divorced for more than 15 glorious years) of two fabulous young women, rescue mom of one dog and rescue grandma to one black cat. My older daughter, Shelby is high-functioning autistic and an avid gamer. My younger daughter, Emilie, is married and lives with her husband about three hours away from me and is an avid baker. Both love Jesus fiercely and in their own way.
Posted in Moments and Musings

Storms are My Favorite

Posted on by Vikki Lynn Sorensen

This morning, I took Percy for our usual morning walk. Multiple storms had come through the area two nights ago making the ground soft and wet. As we walked to the park, I thought about storms and how they relate to life. Storms come and they go and while they’re here, they change everything they touch, if only for a moment.

We hung out at the park for a good long while before heading home. I looked up at the sky. To my left, it was partly cloudy. To my right, dark clouds still loomed. But then, directly above me, the sun broke through. It made the raindrops hanging on to the leaves look like diamond drops. All the trees lit up, bright and green. I could almost hear them sighing in the aftermath of a terrific shower.

We started to walk home and I noticed these mushrooms on the side of the walk. Such growth in such circumstances. Beautiful, delicate and perfect in their own way. They grow just as they’re supposed to.

Percy wandered on the grass, also glittered by the sun. Looking up again, I found the clouds to my left dispersing. Bright blue patches became bigger and bigger as the clouds retreated.

I think about my life in these moments. How many storms I’ve weathered. How many times I focused so hard on the dark clouds to my right that I neglected to see the sun shining above me. How many times God has waved His hand, dispelling the dark while giving me blue skies and diamonds on leaves to focus on.

He has never let me down. He has never left me. Like the sun follows the rain, every storm must end and when it does, the earth is left cleaner, brighter and ready for something new.

New growth. Like the mushrooms, something beautiful with raw edges growing in the seam where concrete meets the earth. I’m most alive during these times. Most in tune with God and most grateful. God isn’t absent in the storms but very much present during them. Afterwards, He paints the sky in rainbow colors, symbolizing His promise and its unfailing power.

What God has promised, He is faithful to see it come to pass. (Romans 4:21)

Maybe that’s why storms are my favorite. I love to see the endurance of nature and how it survives. I love the new growth. I love the freshness of it all. I love how it reminds me that I am never too old to be made new for this earth is very old and she is made new every time it rains.

Thank you, God, for each and every storm. Thank you for being with me during each one. Thank you for my rainbow afterwards. Thank you for mushrooms in the morning, for diamond raindrops, glitter in the grass and blue skies that chase away dark clouds.

Posted in Moments and Musings

Summer 2025

Posted on by Vikki Lynn Sorensen

I’ll never understand myself. Why would I plan to write monthly posts only to never write monthly posts. I don’t get why consistency is so hard for me! I think there’s something wrong with my wiring.

To be honest, outside of my job and crochet, it’s hard for me to finish anything. Sometimes, I think it’s because there’s a neurodivergent part of me that just finds certain tasks overwhelming at times. It’s what I like about crochet. Your only focus is the next stitch.

But I digress! This is about life updates and there’s been much to talk about since February!

Personally, I’ve been basking in the glow of being a grandmother. I still can’t believe it! I’m a grandma! I say it over and over again to myself. I feel like I should feel older than I actually am but little Miss Sophia makes me feel so young. She’s a happy, healthy, squirmy, curious 4 months old now and what a beauty she is!

I know most grandparents will say that about their grandbabies but in this case, it’s true! She’s got kissable cheeks. Her big, beautiful eyes miss nothing. Her feet never stop trying to take her somewhere. Her smile is as big as the ocean and lights up her whole face. I love how her eyes smile when she does. Already, I see joy and wisdom growing in her. She’s special; set apart. She will do great things for the Kingdom of God. It’s my privilege to watch her grow.

If you’ve actually gone back and read any of my posts, you’ll know summer is my least favorite season. Hot and humid aren’t my gig. I like being cool. I like being able to put a sweater on and some socks and crawl under a blanket. I like hot drinks with something foamy on top, soup for breakfast, lunch and dinner and twinkling lights. If I have to have summer, I prefer a gradual increase leading up to it instead simply being put in the center of the fire.

That’s what this summer has felt like. One day we were in the 70’s with low humidity. The next day, we had heat advisories, temperatures nearing 100 with dew points in the upper 70’s. The humidity has been relentless and I’ve been thanking God every day for my air-conditioning and ceiling fans. They’ve been my mainstays during this long, hot summer. In previous years, we’ve had heat and humidity but never with such consistency. It’s been consistently hot and humid with no end in sight.

67 days until the official start of Autumn.

Creatively, I’ve been motoring along. Check out here for details on my recent crochet projects. I also did a yarn-reorganization moving my yarn from the lowest level of my house to the highest level. It took two days but it was worth it see all my yarn in one happy place.

Scholastically, I’m in the process of studying for my math placement test in the hopes of not having to repeat a remedial math class. I have decided that if I do, I’m just going to work through it and do my very best and not be upset. Already, preliminary studying has gone well and I’m very encouraged!

That being said, I’m praying to find a balance in all this. Work. School. Crafting. Family. Myself. I want time for it all and I don’t want to miss any of it!

So, let’s get the rest of this summer over and done. I can’t wait for fall and school and all the ‘ber months!

Posted in Crochet

Creative Catch Up

Posted on by Vikki Lynn Sorensen

Against my better judgment, I started a 2025 Temperature blanket. I decided to do monthly granny squares instead of daily. Each month is one huge granny square and at the end of the year, I will join them all together to create one blanket. I have to say, I’m not as vested in this project as I hoped to be. I started it because “everyone was doing it” and I wanted to be counted among them. However, I made two major mistakes and have lost passion for it.

The first mistake is my color scheme. I loved the colors scheme I choose (color chart #3 found here on Kylee’s website) but I foolishly inverted them from their original order.  So my warmer months are actually much darker colors than the cooler months. I also decided to use the average daily temperature instead of a high or low temperature. This has resulted in much fewer color changes so it’s not nearly as colorful as I hoped. I’m still going to finish it but it’s not a project I have any passion for.

These are the winter colors for my 2025 Temperature Blanket

I also bought a pattern from Mel’s Homemade Craft called The 9 Square Granny Throw. Using Lion Brand yarn and the colors suggested in the pattern, this blanket worked up and was completed in a very short amount of time. As in under two weeks! That’s a first for me but I love how thick and squishy it is and I love the colors!

After that, I knew I needed to pick a WIP and complete it. Last year, after falling in love with Caron’s Simply Soft yarn, I bought a bunch in blues and silvers and began creating a rectangular granny square blanket. This was one big square instead of several small ones joined. My older daughter’s boyfriend has a mother who is very thoughtful. Each year, she helps him pick our cards and gifts for me for my birthday, Christmas and Mother’s Day. Shelby wanted to honor that with something homemade and after I found out her favorite color is blue, I designed this blanket.

Then it got put on the top shelf in favor of other projects. So once my 9 Square Granny was complete, I pulled this out and decided to get moving. I played with the colors going in and out instead of repeating and completed it with a simple single crochet border once around. Shelby shipped it and the feedback has been very lovely!

Since then, I’ve made a handful of dishcloths for Emilie at her request. I have a TON of cotton yarn that needs to get used up. I love making small projects like dishcloths and the like but for some reason, working with cotton yarn is not my favorite. It makes my hands tired. I also started a simple double crochet throw with this beautiful Red Heart Bitty Stripes yarn in Mermaid.

Still wanting to document the temperatures for 2025, I bought an embroidery pattern of a tree. Each leaf represents one day of the year. It’s a much smaller project and one I can catch up on easily. I also already had a whole bunch of thread gifted to me two Christmases ago that haven’t been touched so now I’m able to use some of that for this project.

In addition, I did a yarn re-organization which you can read about here.

So, I have been creating and it’s been so great! I have a ton of ideas including a yarn/fabric book for Sophia and tummy time blanket for her (and those who will come after her).

Happy creating!

Posted in Moments and Musings

Vikki’s Beef Stew

Posted on by Vikki Lynn Sorensen

I am not a writer of recipes. I rarely create anything new. That’s because I’m a process-driven person and prefer to always have a process, or in the case of cooking, a recipe to follow. I didn’t grow up with women who were great cooks either who could teach me. My aunt and mom cooked to feed their family in the best way they could afford. Both grew up in the ‘meat and potatoes’ era where food choices weren’t abundant.

When I got married, I wasn’t really allowed a budget that allow me to do anything much beyond Hamburger Helper, tuna casserole and the occasional shredded beef. Sometimes, the beef would work out and sometimes it wouldn’t. I never researched why.

When I got divorced, my girls and I moved in with my mom who still hadn’t really refined her cooking skills. She did her best though with a picky meat eater for a daughter and the ever changing tastes of two young children. She tried different recipes. She adapted when my older daughter wanted to be a vegetarian. She got creative when my younger daughter would only eat her vegetables smothered in gravy. Most of all, she fought to put to memory who liked what and how they liked it cooked. We weren’t easy on her at all but we were always very grateful for the food she put on our table each night.

The one appliance I introduced to my mom was the wonder of the crockpot. Pretty much, anything I put in my crockpot is magic. Chicken with Italian dressing, chicken with my mom’s pasta sauce, applesauce….it always was a hit.

Except for beef. That still was a hit or miss and neither Mom nor myself could figure out why. Then one night, I was watching Ralph Fiennes’ version of Wuthering Heights. There’s a scene were he’s eating stew of some sort and the gravy was super thick on his fingers and on the bread and my mouth just watered.

Up until this time, we’d been making beef stew with a broth and I couldn’t figure out how to obtain that rich, thick beef gravy-like consistency. It was nothing short of beef soup. No one told me about cornstarch. So off to the store I went in search of the perfect beef stew ingredients. I bought our usual beef cubes, baby carrots and potatoes, an onion and some minced garlic. Only this time, instead of getting beef broth, I bought a jar of beef gravy.

We got home, put it all in the crockpot but my Mom was still concerned about the seasoning. We went on a treasure hunt throughout our kitchen for that perfect beef stew flavor. We found it in the form of soy sauce. I looked at Mom and she shrugged her shoulders.

“Why not?” she said, and proceeded to give our stew a good five to six shakes. We put the lid on the crockpot, turned it on and waited 8 hours.

It was THE BEST beef stew ever! The meat was tender, the veggies were soft but not mushy. And the gravy was divine!! Of course, I’d had successes before so I wasn’t sure if this was a fluke or not. A few weeks later, we made beef stew for the family. Again, she gave it 5-6 hard shakes with the soy sauce and magic again!

So, I’m no recipe writer. I don’t know anything about food except that I like to eat it. But here’s my easy version of beef stew as enjoyed by my family. I hope you like it.

Vikki’s Beef Stew

  • lean beef stew meat, 2 lbs
  • frozen pearl onions, 12 oz pkg
  • minced garlic, 2-3 teaspoons (we like garlic in our family)
  • baby peeled carrots, 1lb
  • red or yellow baby potatoes, 1.5lb bag
  • 1 jar of Heinz beef gravy, 18 oz
  • soy sauce (for best results, don’t use the low sodium), 5-6 shakes

This is super easy. No chopping of vegetables is necessary. Simply dump this all into a crockpot and cook on low for 8 hours. Serve with a crusty bread and a side salad for added veggies, if you’d like. You can also add more vegetables to the stew, if you’d like. I like the simplicity of this so I choose not to.

Unfortunately, I’m not able to provide measurements, calories, etc….this feeds my family of 4 adults usually with a little leftover for a lunch or two. This also freezes very well.

Posted in Crochet

The Great Yarn Reorganization of 2025

Posted on by Vikki Lynn Sorensen

I’ve never bought yarn without a purpose in mind. My creative flow is get an idea (or buy a pattern), buy the yarn and complete the project. Every skein had a purpose.

Then Joann Fabrics announced it was closing its doors.

Like so many, I was devastated. If I’m being honest, I didn’t go into the stores that often. When we lived up in Grayslake, my girls and I would go to the location in the area. But since moving to Orland Park, I only went into the store here once and it was so dirty, I left really upset. But I did shop a lot online! Boxes upon boxes, each for a specific purpose, were delivered.

It was my daughter, a baker and creative person herself, who told me she’d visited the store by her home and the deals were unreal. Still, I decided not to as I had patterns waiting to be worked up and didn’t think I could house anymore.

I was wrong. She convinced me to go and “just buy the yarn. Buy all the yarn.” So I did. I filled two shopping carts and collectively came home with more than 10 bags full of yarn. No patterns. No Pinterest ideas. No Instagram ideas. Just me, my own creativity and my pocketbook (which did sputter on each trip).

All this yarn was so beautiful! So many ideas! But I needed a place to put them all. I already had laundry baskets, two bins under my bed and 4 bins in the storage room full of yarn. I also had all this.

Add the Joann hauls and you get something close to this….(and that wasn’t even all of it)

So, I spoke with others who live with me about this situation and came up with a solution. We have a loft. While it’s furnished, there was a whole wall that was empty. We filled that empty space first with shelves I bought from Walmart. They’re the Furinno Turn-N-Tube shelves. I love these shelves. They’re a quality product at a decent price and they were perfect for what we needed.

So first we filled the space with shelves. Then we filled the shelves with yarn. All my yarn and all in one space. I couldn’t be more happy with the end result! And having it all organized helps my creativity even more. I can see all my colors at the same time, choose what I want for what project and plan, plan, plan for the rest. I also loved how cozy it made our loft.

The moral to the story is when in doubt, just buy the yarn!