• Crochet

    Fifteen! Thirty-seven! Fourteen!

    September 22, 2020 - By 

    Though football season has resumed, those are not calls but the number of completed projects. The goal for the year was 15 hat and scarf sets, 40 scarves and 15 afghans. Six and one could also be added to 15, 37 and 14 – six adult hats and one baby hat. One goal down and two to go. The hats were just bonus items because I didn’t have enough of the same yarn to make anything larger than a hat.

    Fifteen hat and scarf sets are ready to be donated.

    Some yarn I’m reserving for hats and scarves, mainly because there’s more yarn than needed for just a scarf – even in a pattern that uses a lot of yarn. For now, I have met the goal… though I may make more. There are still three months left in the year and time to make more scarves and finish the 15th afghan. The scarf goal is on it’s way to completion – only three scarves to make and as the days are getting shorter there’s more time to crochet.

    I’ve even started working on a project for myself after a lot of researching, planning, gauge swatch, more planning and math. The only thing that was constant with that project which I’ve had the yarn for since last Christmas was the yarn itself!

    I’m heading toward the finish line and may add more finished items in overtime!

    Stay tuned…

    Happy crocheting!

  • afghans - crafting - Crochet - stashbusting

    Ode to the Granny Square

    July 1, 2020 - By 

    The Granny Square is a utilitarian way of using up yarn. Generally, when many people think of a Granny Square afghan they think of lots of smaller motifs joined together in bright colors. The Granny Square, which is a simple shell or fan stitch – three double crochets with a chain stitch then three double crochets again with a few chain stitches at the corner can be used to make a block as large as you wish. This is a pattern that I can almost make in my sleep. It’s versatile.

    The best part about making one large Granny Square is that you can use up a little or a lot of yarn and make something unique and random or planned and bold. The reason that I make the Granny square so often is that I end up with a lot of small amounts of yarn from previous projects and I don’t like to waste yarn. Scrapghan patterns that have lots of colors are fun. Some people don’t like the unplanned, unmatched look. The bright colors don’t bother me as much as I really, really, really, REALLY do not like joining motifs. Joining colors is ok, especially since I found the craft life altering Russian Join so I don’t have to weave in ends.

    I like color. Lately, I have been playing with random colors that are complimentary or as I like to say, “sort of” go together and then are tied together with a neutral like gray to make the color changes in the Granny Square really stand out.

    Before looking down your nose at a Granny Square afghan consider that you can buy kits online that range from the tens to hundreds of dollars depending on the material and size of the finished afghan. A quick search online will yield lots of patterns for a Granny Square, and different variations – the Modern Granny, Rectangular Granny, Corner to Corner Granny, Granny Log Cabin and so on.

    What I like most about a Granny Square in addition to the ease of making it is that you can take a small amount of yarn to start and then continue changing colors for each round or doing multiple rounds of a color and you can make something beautiful. I have never seen a solid color Granny Afghan. It can be done but why. The beauty of the pattern is that it is so simple that the colors do make a statement. One, two or five rounds of the same color offers a nice symmetry. Even numbered rounds, odd number rounds or even a Fibonacci sequence can be used as a plan for a colorful afghan.

    Often when I start an afghan I don’t plan that far ahead of time, I gather what I think is enough to make an afghan, which is tricky when you have small oddballs of yarn. Remaining balls of yarn are great for Granny Afghans – because you can start with just a little bit of color and go from there. The negative comments about Granny Afghans makes me wonder why I make them. The simple answer is because I like them, they are warm, and I can use a bit of yarn to make something beautiful for someone else.

    Happy Crocheting!

  • afghans - Crochet - Odd balls - Scrap yarns

    An artistic proposition

    March 29, 2020 - By 

    There must have been a sale on Caron one pound skeins. That’s the only reason I can think of as to why I have four of these pound behemoths, in light blue, in my house. I have been thinking of the project where I could use black and a color and all the odd balls that I have. Why not put the light blue to good use? As part of my “inheritance,” a friend’s family gave me a couple of large bags of yarn and craft supplies.  There were full skeins but also lots of small balls of yarn that added to the stash that I already have. I think this would be an interesting at home project, at least to try to get things together to make something since we are sheltering in place. It takes a while to find everything up. The light blue could be interesting. I was thinking of cream or a tan, but why not use what I have on hand – lots of light blue.

    It will be either a failure or a great artistic work. Light blue isn’t necessarily the neutral that I was thinking of when I first envisioned this project but this will be interesting and colorful. What I need to figure out is how long the stretches of light blue will be, the odd balls all vary in length and I will try to use mainly worsted weight yarn for this project. I’m going to have to crochet a row of in the stitch I want to use, then measure it and cut some lengths of that.

    I’m liking this plan. I did like this plan…

    After more thought, I have some longer lengths of yarn and enough to make more than one scrapghan – or planned colorful afghans, as some of the yarn that I’m using isn’t scraps. Instead of using the same amount of yarn for the solid color, I might make a large granny square afghan in varying shades of blue with the light blue being the main color and another with rows of a coordinating color with black as the main color. For the black with rows of color, it may be the same color in two rows or it might be a different yet complementary color.

    When I first had this idea the sky was sunny and bright and I took that as a sign to work it out, but as I sketched things out and started with a few rows to get the idea some shape in my head, I think the two afghans will definitely use up more yarn. I have enough blue that it could be an afghan by itself, but I wanted to give it a little more pizzazz.

    I made the plan, then I didn’t like that plan. As I was working on an afghan already in progress, I decided to just take small amounts of yarn from my oddballs bowl starting with the smallest amount first making a round, then working a couple of rows of the light blue, then as many complete rounds of the next color, three rows of light blue and so on. The yarn was tempting me, because the bowl is near where I sit and crochet in the living room. I found a few colors to use and plan to use this method until I run out of coordinating colors (that’s a loose interpretation). Then I will finish it off with a few rows of navy. Some balls of the yarn are too small, maybe only a yard or so, but I am not going to throw those away. I joined a couple of the leftover bits of yarn that I used together in a ball. As I looked through the remainder bowl, I found some other small bits that I will add to this mystery ball of yarn. The result of this will be a colorful mystery ball. Adding lots of colors to this mystery ball will take time to some match up. The colors that that I’m selecting for the scrapghan in progress coordinate with the light blue main color. the small odds and ends are ones that I can’t bare to part with, due to my “frugal” nature.  I can just keep adding to the mystery ball until I have enough for an afghan, which might take a while.

    A few days ago I was on a Zoom meeting and since other people were showing their dogs and cats, I showed off the project I was working on. Someone asked me if I had enough yarn to keep me occupied. I laughed and said, “yes, and I already have a few projects planned.” The afghans are only the tip of the iceberg, I have yarn ready to make a couple of hats which likely will be finished by the end of the week or at least one set and more progress made on the other things I’m working on.

    Crocheting keeps me calm and now that I’m sheltering in place like many people in other parts of the world, I’m just doing more of it.

    Happy crocheting!

  • afghans - crafting - Crochet - crochet motivation - Donations

    New year, new goals

    January 9, 2020 - By 

    Yes, it’s the second week of January, well, the first FULL week of January and I’ve finally set my 2020 crochet goals.

    This year, I am committing to making 15 afghans, 15 hat and scarf sets and 40 scarves.

    I really missed making afghans.

    What I missed most about working on afghans is that when you work on them in the winter and they are large enough to cover your lap, your legs are warm. In the summer you can put and afghan off to the side or use it to block the breeze from the fan or ac, but in the winter it is a definite bonus. Without a goal in mind, I already started 3 afghans and a scarf.

    Though an outlier in the year’s goals is baby items: I might make some baby items, I might not. Another goal that I can’t measure is to use up yarn that I have or get rid of yarn that I don’t want from my working stash. Last night, I was looking for yarn to combine with some skeins that I was using to work on an afghan. I found some yarn to use, but in my search, I rediscovered yarn to make a couple of scarves. Surprise yarn is always great to find. As I was finishing my last scarf of 2019, I found some yarn that I didn’t like using, it was too bulky and I put it in the donation bag right away. I plan to do more of that this year. Someone else may like using it.

    There will be some colorful afghans made this year, because I am committed to using up what I have and not buying more. Not quite crazy quilt type, think neutral with pops of color. Getting rid of yarn that is taking up space is definitely on the agenda. I have purchased some yarns that I’ve liked from thrift stores probably from people like myself who didn’t like working with a project and just threw the whole thing into a bag to be donated or maybe a family was donating a deceased crafter’s unfinished projects. If you have the option, work with what you like and can afford. Life is too short to work with materials that you don’t like. I’m still going to experiment, try new yarns and also try to get to a non-big box, local yarn shop. I will definitely crochet (almost) daily in 2020, crocheting is like breathing and not even a goal.