Today's (not new) word

variegated /VAIR-ee-uh-'gay-tud/ - 1. having discrete markings of different colors  2. various, diverse, varied

I know this word because of my great aunt Emma (after whom my granddaughter Emma is not named), who always had a crocheting project going, and it was almost always an afghan. Her old hands would work surely, seemingly on their own as she carried on conversations or watched television, except when, depending on the pattern of her current project, she'd stop periodically to recount when she lost track of the number of stitches she'd completed. She often used variegated yarn.

That's not the memory that made me want to blog this word that I know, though. The year after my dad died, mom didn't work, and we lived off of his insurance and social security for a while. She needed something to do to keep her from losing her mind; idleness was poison to her. So she decided to crochet afghans for my sister and I. Her aunt got her started with the first two rows of mine, her first afghan ever, and then she took over. It was a simple chevron pattern with alternating orange and white stripes. But because she was new to crocheting, her stitches weren't as tight as Aunt Em's were, so my afghan was wider at one end than the other. I still treasure it, though. (It was not, however, made of variegated yarn.) I think I still have my late sister's, too, but maybe have handed it down to our middle daughter, her goddaughter.