The Ugly Duckling In the Window

Have you ever gotten hold of a skein of yarn and thought, 'Man, that's ugly?' But since you have a hold of it and it's yours (either by design or accident or someone playing a trick on you) you decide to swatch it up to see what happens and it comes out kinda....pretty.

Those are what I call Ugly Duckling yarns. It doesn't look all that great at first glance but then it takes off the glasses and lets down the hair and you look at it and say, "By Gosh, you're beautiful!"

So it was with the skein on the right and when I pulled it and made the granny square, I thought, boy this is better than it looks. The picture does not do it justice and it feels good to the touch as well. The photo doesn't do justice to the other square at either. The skein was always pretty but it squared up even better than I thought. I was thinking of combining the two into the same afghan but decided they would do better on their own. The one on the left would do well with a black background (I thought the black would absorb it, it doesn't) and the other a deep brown or really dark blue.

One of the truly fun things about granny squares is they are quick to do. This particular afghan requires 80 of these little buggers and this is one of those rare instances where a combination of sewing and crocheting them together makes for a faster assembly so I don't see a reason they won't be ready for the show either - at least one of them should be. I say this with calm and without dread. If it makes it that would be great if it doesn't - oh well.

As we begin the good-bye to this year and the hello to the next, I have not reached my resolution - which Aneha warned me about at the beginning of the year - she said they do not work. It wasn't that this one didn't work - it was a big order to begin with - to eliminate the stash. I can say with great confidence the stash will not be eliminated. Oh, I've made inroads. I've gotten rid of a box or two, but the stash will live on.

But so will the goal. I have not cried defeat. I have not written a concession speech. I have five skeins of the ugly duckling yarn to make the afghan and that's a help. When going stash shopping, I got some ideas from some of the skeins I saw so this is me not giving up. I will eliminate that stash. It's just gonna take a little more time than I thought. I have a new date - May 4, 2011. Our 15th anniversary. We'll see what damage can be done in five months.

In the meantime, I have to decide where I want my birthday dinner and I would like to go someplace new. Do you live in or know the Chicago area? Suggest a place for my birthday dinner this Sunday. Thanks!