Yarndis - Redux

I was at a loss to explain it. Why I have WIPs up the wazoo now that I've cleaned up the living room. Why it couldn't stay uncluttered for a moment. Then just this morning as I was putting each project into it's own bag - Yarndis. The yarn goddess is playing with me. And not only does she have me working on 4 afghans - she has made each one of them hate me.

The first one - the 42 square afghan. I couldn't use the 12 inch squares because the measurements didn't add up but luckily I had more than enough of the other size squares. It just wasn't a good mix of crochet with knit squares but it all worked it self out and now I have just to add the last strip and then do an edging and it will be all done. It's trying to kill me because it was supposed to be easier than it's turning out to be. Don't ask me why I never learn the lesson that my imagination has much more energy than my dimensional self - but I never do. The last strip will be added in a few days when I get back around to the afghan. I know, I can just get it finished and over with but I am at the mercy of Yarndis who also wanted me to work on the crazy afghan.



This one really is trying to kill me. It's trying to suffocate me. It has grown since I started working on it and what started out as a cute little thing has morphed into a monster afghan. The pattern says to to until there are 85 shells across and since it's one increase per row, it should be 85 rows but that's not how it went but I couldn't bring myself to do one more increase so I am hoping it won't go wonky on me. I haven't even started the decreasing yet and the thing takes up the whole chair. I don't think this will be an afghan as much as it will be a bedspread. I went out to Hobby Lobby yesterday to purchase one more skein of each color just in case. The good thing is that I will be decreasing every row so it should so maybe the yarn will hold out. It took 6 skeins to get to this point but this one will definitely require an edge to it - I won't be surprised if it will need to eat another skein or two.

These last two you haven't seen yet but I have talked about them - the green crochet afghan and the knitted afghan that calls for duplicate stitch but I didn't want to duplicate stitch so I decided to do intarsia instead. Let me just say working with the bobbins are fun and the intarsia stitches are actually very textural. I expected them to lay flat in the piece and they are not. It's like they are being added on top - BONUS!!

The green afghan calls for front post stitching which makes for an interesting texture as well. While I was getting the yarn for the crazy afghan, I picked up three skeins of three different green colors (3 skeins total) just to supplement. I expect all the green I have will be used. These are trying to kill me by the sheer volume of it all.

Today I am working on the green afghan and I am tempting Yarndis by saying I am managing to keep the edges straight. I am grateful for that because it would just drive me bonkers - I am going to have to put an edge around this one, too, just to give it a nice finish so if it was a little off, edging could fix it but it would make me absolutely crazy and no one in the free world wants that.

Melissa noted Wednesday evening that I've picked up the crochet hook and I haven't put it down. Not quite true. Knitting remains my love but my world has opened up that much more and I have to admit I don't think of it as i did before - which is probably just the world correcting itself since I crocheted first.

Come Together Right Now

I am in awe of all those minds that first thought up knitting and crochet and those techniques for the rest of us to learn. The progress being made on the 42 square afghan makes me sit in wonder at the creative process.
The squares start out seemingly random and apart and then the joining starts and it changes into something else. That something else still isn't much to look at but then that's where creativity and trust have to intermingle and it doesn't seem like the two of them should be coworkers.

The needle arts are funny things. Stockinette stitches curl, and if you put too many crochet stitches around the edge of a knitted block, it gathers in and waves appear in the unexpected places. But that trust thing appears again and you have to go on.

Some other mind thought up blocking and sewing and edging and when you put them all together it starts to form a picture and the trust begins to pay off because you see things coming together. Then there's the smallest feeling of fear as you wonder if it really all come together or fall apart around the next bend. Trusting doesn't come easy to a knitter/crocheter but trust is really all we have and so we have to go and believe that we will get what it is we are after.

Some of the squares in this afghan were made years ago. Sometimes I get on a square jag and I make them with the thought of creating an afghan at some point. What is it called then when those squares are brought from those separate jags and come together to form a beautiful work?

There are still two more strips to be done on the afghan and I am really liking how it's turning out. It has a rustic, old fashioned feel, I believe I said in an earlier post that it reminds me of quilts. I look at the piece and I remember my grandmother, Charity, she had huge quilts on all the beds in her house and they provided a great deal of comfort. I ran into some trouble with a square and it's because I didn't do enough to tack down the intarsia ends. I believe I repaired it and I feel very comfortable with the whole thing. It will take two more sessions for me to be done and I have other projects I am working on - the biased crochet afghan and the crochet afghan made with all green colors.

This creativity and trust is a fun thing!