Hi Beth. I'm sorry for not replying sooner. I took a late night run out to the farm to check on things. Driving at night with these LED truck lights is nerve-racking, and that makes me tired. Fell asleep when I got back home and just woke up. You know what? I've never had an indoor plant. Too much responsibility. I would kill it. My grandmother had a whole room full of plants. A solarium. It was like a jungle in there. She had to get someone to water them every time she went on a vacation. Now I'm humming the Monk theme song. I just noticed tonight there are two plaid chairs out there that DO NOT match. I should bring them in. There is no plaid in that living room.
(12/17/21) Friday My mother was always looking for sewing items on sale to buy and stash away for later use: zippers, buttons, seam binding, lace, thread, fabric, yarn... . I still have all of it. This is approx 25 skeins worth of acrylic worsted yarn that takes up a lot of space. Long story short, I wasted most of the day Friday trying to figure out what to crochet so as to use up most of this, in its present form. Ideally without buying any more. Finally settled on a bed spread/cover for the guest bedroom. That room needs some color. Granny Squares are supposedly back in style. The best part is no 2 squares have to be alike, so if there isn't enough yarn, you can buy a little more and it doesn't have to match anything. Plus, a single granny square could be finished before a person becomes impatient and careless. A possible example: I have a Plan B for everything I think might go wrong. If I do 2 squares per day, there should be enough by the time the grass starts to grow. Update: .This morning it just occurred to me how cumbersome it will be to hook all the squares together. I've never made anything larger than a doily before. After all this planning, I'm starting to get cold feet. Will cross that bridge when I come to it, if I ever get there. . .
If you donated all of the yarn to a worthy cause, you would be done with this project and could post about it in the (Yarns), Tall Tales & Fabrications section! Just cover the "bed" with Astro-Turf!
That's true, Joe. But if I were to donate yarn to a worthy cause, I wouldn't choose this pile. It includes half skeins, unraveled skeins, and balls, of oddball colors. It's the challenge of seeing if I can do something I've never tried before, that I enjoy most about any project. Not the final result. This seems to make no sense to anyone, so I probably tend to downplay it when I write about projects, and make them sound more like chores. By the way, since you mentioned the truck bed mat... Yes, the circular saw does melt the rubber, clogs up the blade, and causes much smoke. It will have to be done by hand with a box cutter. That I will NOT enjoy, because I know I can do it and it won't be pretty, so I'm procrastinating. It's adequate for now.
Well, that's good to hear! I was surprised by your somewhat negative approach to the project. I'm happy to know that is not the case. Granny squares it is then! I was jokingly referring to the AstroTurf covering for the guest bed, but could only find a picture of the truck bed.
Just one more comment on this... I unraveled all the little crocheted test items stuck on the ends of skeins, untangled the tangled skeins, and made them into balls today. Already see a problem I didn't think of. There is way too much white yarn. 1/5th. I just don't care for a lot of white, except with pastels. If one doesn't like the colors it puts a damper on ones momentum. I don't intend to belabor this topic with a blow-by-blow commentary. I'll figure out what to do in a couple of days. Maybe I just don't have enough imagination yet.
You could use the white as the background color for the granny square bedspread, @Nancy Hart . Here is one idea, and I am sure you could find more that use a white background. This one looks similar to the one you pictured with the red background. I really like the edging on this one, it is kind of a picot edging, but looks fairly easy to do.
That one is really beautiful, and I love the bright colors ! Also, if you still have leftover yarn when you finish the afghan, you could make some knitted or crocheted slippers for homeless people that are at a rescue mission, if you have one near you. There are some easy crocheted slipper patterns that are made from just a square on youtube.
"Excuse me... Just one more thing ..." Picked the simplest pattern I could find. Guaranteed to come out perfectly square every time. Two variations. One with an 8 petal flower in the middle. Both reversible. So the whole thing should be reversible when finished. I like that. A square is 7.5", including half of the white border. Of course you can add more colors inside the border most anywhere. I may cut out squares and put them all over the bed, because I can't visualize it enough to tell if these are too big. Practiced joining 2 with a crochet hook. One side. Don't care for the line down the middle, because it makes the squares look like 2 separate pieces instead of one unit. Other side. Crochet leaves a ridge down the middle. Stitching with a needle and yarn wouldn't. I figure it will only take 126 squares. These two are just practice pieces to gauge the size, and won't count.
Granny Squares Progress Report Previous squares were made with 7 rows (7.5" sq). Several practice squares of different sizes and patterns were subsequently made (and remade). Three joining methods were tried on a group of 6 squares. This report is for future reference, in case I forget. Results Size: The squares look better (imo) with 5 rows (5.5" sq). But for patterns with 3 colors, 6 rows would work better. It will take about 252 5.5" squares to make a nice full bed spread. Fastening off Ends: It takes 20 minutes to make one square, but almost that much time just to fasten off and hide thread ends when you change colors. And it looks messy. This is a good reason to only use at most 2 colors per square. There MUST be a better way. Still looking. Most Frequent Mistake: Forgetting to go in the opposite direction on each row. Joining Squares: Forget about using needle and yarn. If you make a mistake it's almost impossible to undo. I finally chose a crocheted zig-zag slip stitch to join. It runs continuously from side to side, and top to bottom. The seam in the middle tends to be straighter across squares. And it lies flat. Joining will require the whole thing to be laid out on a large flat surface, like a dining room table. . Colors and Patterns: These just don't do anything for me. Dark Brown: . Anything with that color in it I don't like. The first square above looks like it is trying to grow a mustache. Some remind me of the Corona Virus, and one looks like someone shot a hole in the middle of it. Some of this could be remedied with 6 rows of stitches, but the main problem is the brown just stands out too much from the other colors. Unfortunately this color also makes up a large amount of the yarn. It could be used as a border, but that would leave too much white. If you leave the brown (or white) out, there is likely not enough yarn. 8 petal flower: . They are cute but only with a white daisy in the middle. They are also a teeny-tiny bit smaller. Too many of these in one row would throw off alignment. I know this from replacing the old tin roof with new on the cabin. Orange: .There are 3 shades of orange. Some shades make others look faded. Conclusions: (I knew this would happen) If one is going to invest so much time in a project, and still have to buy more yarn (to replace brown), it is silly to be stuck with the remaining colors. Before I moved to Georgia I always liked earth tones like these. After dealing with red clay stains on everything for 40 years, I'm tired of them. If I do a whole bedspread I'd rather start from scratch and pick all new colors. I will make something else with this yarn, using dark brown sparingly. Maybe covers for the end tables or the dining room table, or chair covers for the living room. The living room needs more patterns. This will allow more practice before starting something as large as a bedspread. I actually enjoy making these. Just don't care for the colors. .