Under Color Crochet

What is a gal gonna do with a couple dozen granny squares that were supposed to be part of a giant afghan, but ended up being a colorfully epic fail of a kit experiment gone rogue? Make granny packs, of course!  😎 I had signed up for a kit club that was a year-long commitment, and the end result would have been a giant afghan of color and texture. I really gave it my best shot. I am not ashamed to say that less than half way through it, I gave up on the afghan, and switched my own gears. I already had so many granny squares completed (below), I knew it was not a wasted effort. There was so much creative potential here, it was a certainty that I was going to do something colorfully fun.  These pictures (above- all stacked up, below- spread out on the coffee table) show how far I got with the actual kit club directions. Fantastic, and so colorfully fun. I learned a lot, and I loved doing it. I have no complaints about the kit club. I might even do something like that again. Bu...

  And here we have two more examples of granny squares that I'm taking to Genghis Con. 🤩 Another granny square experiment! These two pieces are chunky chunks of luscious, and this experiment is all about bulky. I bought six skeins of yarn at my favorite local shop, Stitcher's Garden . (Love that delightful place! Highly recommended for all things colorful and crafty. Unfortunately, the checkout gal told me that they are phasing out carrying yarn, and only going to have sewing items in the future. Ah, well, I'll still meander in there and marvel at the colors and patterns.) With those six lovely skeins I made two supersized granny squares. One has four colors in it (dark blue, light blue, red, and pink), and the other has two colors in it (purple and blue). Here's a whole folder of way too many pics, showing that I had way too much fun 😎 posing these pieces:   Chunky Chunks I started with the quad-color plan: dark blue, light blue, pink, and red. I turned those four sk...

  I love it when I get free yarn! 😎 A colleague texted me one evening, asking if I would like some yarn that she didn't want anymore. Well, obviously, of course, definitely, yes. If it's one thing I really, really need, it's more yarn. 😁 The next day at work, she gave me two new skeins, plus a box of odds'n'ends. I was absolutely delighted! The colors are not something I would normally buy for myself, but once I had it all for free, I knew immediately what I wanted to do. Experiments with granny squares. 🤩 I wanted to see how this color scheme worked up, as a simple dc granny square. These earthy colors, with rust and smokey blue, are gorgeous together! And they don't exactly work out properly in the rows of a granny square, but it doesn't matter. Still looks beautiful, and I actually kind of like how the pattern of changing colors gets muddled up at every turn. It's a lovely muddle. 😁 The other experiment I've been wanting to try is taking the s...

    The Plan! 🤩 Make a baby blanket, that the Dean of Extended Studies will like. 😎  It has to be soft and sweet, for a baby. But it can't be too baby'ish. 😁 And it has to be ready in time for the baby shower. 🎉 I worked on it pretty much every evening for about a month, never rushed, but always focused on getting it done. I enjoyed every colorful minute of this labor of love project.  I absolutely loved making this baby shower gift. 😍 A giant granny square, with a double ruffle around the whole edge = perfect baby blanket. Six skeins of yarn for the granny square, and another two skeins of white for the double ruffle. Wow! Big blankie. Big, big, baby blankie. 😎    Here's a video of my boss and her husband, opening the gift:  Baby Shower Potluck Party, opening gifts I started with white in the center, and kept going around with the colors, eight times. Six times eight is forty-eight, yes! Forty-eight rounds! This baby is a beast. 😍 My fave thi...

  These sixteen granny squares came out of one skein of specialty yarn that has automatic color changes. I have a love-hate relationship with this Yarnspirations All-In-One Granny Square yarn. The love is because it is a gorgeous, earthy, cocoa and cream color scheme. (And ooo-laa-laa, I do have a long term love affair going on with earth tones: Caramel Mocha , Sand Sparkle,   Comfy Cozy .) Plus, there's more love for this all-in-one yarn, because it looks and feels excellent, sturdy but also smooth and soft. But, oh dear, then there is the hate because, well, I shouldn't say hate. There is too much hate in this world. I will not say I hate this yarn. But I will say that I have as much dislike for it as I have love, because it is so frustrating to make it actually work as all-in-one. So, that is a weird and warped relationship, that just makes me feel grouchy. So, Grouchy Granny it is.  Below is a picture of why I feel the dislike. This yarn is supposed to move along with...

  I'm so mixed on this project - mixed between love and more love! 😍 Also, doubt and confusion. 😁 I thought this first piece (a super sized granny square in the funnzies'est colors ever!) would work up to be the perfect replacement rug for a dusty gray one (that I want to put somewhere else). But now that this colorful fun one is done, I love it too much to put on the floor. And the second colorful piece I'm currently working on is even more colorful than the previous one, thus even less likely to end up as a rug. But, I'm still calling them rugs. 😋 This yarn is so scratchy, I thought it was going to be perfect for making a rug. (Thinking, decorative rug, in an easy space, for being warm under bare feet and socks. Not a rug at the front door for wiping your farmer boots. 😁) And this rough yarn IS kinda perfect... but also kinda NOT perfect. The texture is very rug-like, and does not at all feel like something you'd want around your neck as a scarf, or against yo...

I love this sweet beast of a piece! 😍 Granny Squares Galore? Godzilla Granny ...  It was difficult to decide what to call this gorgeous monster. 🤩 And it is impossible to get a sense of scale from the photo above . Don't be fooled by the cute poms, and the candy colors. No little baby blankets here, this thing is as big as The Beast . 😎 To get a good look at how big it actually is, I tried draping it over a chair ... but that just made it look like a piled up crash site, with poms and ruffles. 😂   So, I tried giving it scale by arranging it on the couch. But that didn't really work either, because now it just looks like a train wreck . With poms and ruffles. 😆 I absolutely loved making this friendly monster. Here's a photo album of the process ,  including several delightful poses, plus me sitting on the couch. 😁  All the yarn for this piece was actually a kit. But, I ended up not doing the kit piece. I just did my own easy granny square collection. ?...