Yarn!

I love yarn! And I love making things with yarn. Even as a kid, I liked those "lace-up" pictures that used yarn going in-and-out of punched holes to outline a picture.


My first real time to work with yarn was when I took knitting for a 4-H project my first year or so, around 4th or 5th grade. My cousin and I would meet after school once a week in the Extension Office, which was in the basement of the courthouse. The kind Extension lady worked patiently with us, teaching us the basic stitches of "knit" and "purl." My cousin worked on a scarf, while I worked on a pair of TV slippers in bright pink and blue yarn. I forget what kind of ribbon they got in the fair, but I wore them at home for a long time after that.


My next lesson was in Home Ec. in high school. One time we all learned the basic crochet stitch, and made a "Granny Square." Mine was bright green and dark brown. (Quite a difference from that earlier hot pink and blue!)






In my 2nd year of college, I got the idea to make my grandma an afghan. (See photo above.) What colors did I use? Brown and green and white! I guess I was stuck in a "brown and green" mode when I was younger. I liked nature! I just crocheted this afghan simply in stripes, and gave it to Grandma for her next birthday, if I remember right. SHE LOVED IT. She had it on her couch from then on, and would put it over her for her afternoon nap. It even went to the rest home with her.






The above "Navajo"-patterned afghan has a story. I was in college, and would occasionally come home on weekends. I noticed Mom was crocheting on this afghan, but she said she was making it for my cousin for a present. The holidays came around and ... here I had this afghan! But wait a minute .... my cousin had one, too! Turns out, Mom had been sneaky. She was working on TWO afghans (alike), and kept them up to about the same amount so I always thought she was just working on one. I love that my mom "pulled a good one on us" this way!






I remember once a long time ago Mom had some kind of a knitted, aqua-blue wool sweater. It got kind of baggy and unwearable, so she unravelled it and used the yarn to make this afghan (see above) in a ripple pattern, using the blue wool and some other colors of regular yarn. (Evidently leftover yarn from the "Navajo" project!)






Of course later on I was married and expecting at a couple of different times. This gave her good excuse to make some baby things! Above are a couple of baby blankets, and a blanket-jacket-hat-booties set. Somewhere I have a baby girl's outfit in pink that I kept, that she had made both a girl's and a boy's set because we didn't know which we were expecting!






One of our wedding presents was this blue afghan above, made by a lady we knew from our hometown. She and her husband had ran the movie theater for years and years and years.






Above are 3 afghans I have on hand that Mom made. The middle one has all kinds of yarn scraps throughout it. I have another one somewhere that has all kinds of scraps, made as one HUGE Granny Square - the whole afghan! I also have one somewhere that's Granny Squares surrounded with blue - I really like it. I need to organize my house better. I know it's here "somewhere!" It's a wonder I found all these things to take pictures of.






Above are 3 afghans I've made. I also made a few others that were given away.





Lately, I've been sticking to smaller projects such as scarves, hats, coasters, dishcloths and the like. Sometimes I work with regular yarn. Other times I work with that "homespun"-looking yarn (for scarves), which is different, but pretty. For the dishcloths, I like the various cotton yarns, such as what's pictured with the basket above. In the jar in the picture are mostly Mom's crochet hooks (only a few I've added), including the teeny-tiny ones she used to make doilies, WHICH I CANNOT DO! The knitting needles were hers too (and I have a few more), except for the light-colored wooden pair, which I bought recently and really, REALLY like.





Above are the 2 current things I've got going for a couple of small projects. The red-white-and-blue dishcloth is just a straight knit stitch. Something I can just pick up and do without thinking about it. I should have it ready to use for the 4th of July coming up! The red-and-white dishcloth, I only started the other day. It's fairly complicated for me, compared to what I usually do! You can find it in this post of one of the blogs I like to follow:


http://homespunliving.blogspot.com/2010/06/aunt-may-dishcloth.html


Following the pattern instructions, it comes out with a "woven" look, which I love. So I will painstakingly keep at that one, and add that to my "repertoire." It may even turn out to be a gift, or if I run out of yarn, I'll make another one like it from a fresh skein. I'm pretty sure I know someone who would like that color in their kitchen, perhaps. :)


So there's a little history of my "love of yarn." I've really enjoyed it, and hope to enjoy lots more!