I am scrambling to keep up.
Things looked good in December. Carol and I had been plotting and planning for months and had some awesome prizes lined up, and I'd gotten a jump start on the KAL by casting on a pair of SpillyJane's Swedish Fish (Ravelry link), a pattern I'd had my eye on ever since it was first published.
But then ... Christmas happened. And we gave the kids a Wii, which turned out to be a whole family gift, as we spent way too many hours of the holiday week gathered together in the living room racing each other around the Mariosphere.
Which, honestly? There aren't many activities that every single one of us can enjoy, and the sight of my sons playing each other on a more or less equal field as Her Ladyship cheered, teased, and offered advice and WB stood next to her brothers and waved a toy wand in the air in time with their Wiimotes, playing along ... well. As far as I'm concerned it was the best part of the vacation.
ANYway, because we spent so much time in the living room, I noticed for the first time how much my children seem to love the crocheted afghan my grandmother made for me when I was seven (you can see it on the back of the sofa in this picture):
I have no idea what yarn she used, and while my best guess is that it's acrylic, I am reluctant to set fire to a bit of fringe to find out. It's certainly hard-wearing; the older kids drape it over their knees while they read and watch tv, Young'un throws it over chairs to make a tent, and WB wraps it around her shoulders to do one of two things. She either marches around the house wearing it like a cape, or falls to the floor and rolls up in it like a burrito. Not the kindest way to treat a 40-year-old afghan.
I think my grandmother would be as tickled as I am that her afghan is providing warmth and comfort to a new generation, but I am unwilling to let my children love my only remaining example of her handwork to pieces. So as I sat in the living room watching Young'un and WB play "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" with the afghan as a brightly-hued oar, it occurred to me that I could make them a substitute. I could crochet it, even, since I'd successfully crocheted this year's contribution to the Red Scarf Project.
First, though, I needed to buy yarn (stop snickering, I did too). Berroco's Vintage fit the bill nicely (machine washable, nice palette), so I ordered a bunch from kyarns and while I was waiting for it to arrive I began to take note of all the granny square afghans that were popping up in my flickr contacts (hmmmmm. one person seems to be responsible for most of that). And oh! There's a Ravelry group or two. And look what a google image search turns up!
What happened next should come as no surprise to anyone who has read this blog for even a short amount of time.
when you have an itch, it's best to scratch
I grannied merrily away while the other members of the KAL dashed out of the starting block, tossing off mittens and mitts right, left and center, until I came to my senses and realized that I couldn't keep on like this (and besides, the colors I'm working with are crying out for a lighter purple than the one I have to be added to the mix, and I can't continue until I track it down).
So this weekend, with the brakes firmly applied to this out-of-the-blue crochet thing I suddenly have going on, I finally cast on -- and finished -- my first pair of mittens for NaKniMitMo (Wood Hollow Mittens, by Through the Loops).
Now I'm back to obsessing about mittens, at least until the end of the month.
(Which is about how long I figure it'll take for me to track down that purple yarn.)
0 comments:
Post a Comment