I Think I’m a Crocheter

There was that baby Superman cape and there was that really cool Holla Knits scarf, where I did feel like I had a rhythm going by the time it was finished.  Those are my only real experiences with crochet.  It felt like I was fumbling my way through those projects, my stitches just happy accidents.

But now, I am finishing stripe after stripe on this baby blanket in a fluid, effortless way.  I think I am a crocheter.

I knew I wanted to start a granny stripe blanket out of sock yarn scraps, with Nicky’s Christmas to Christmas Crochet-along.  But there was someone I really wanted to make a baby gift for and a worsted scrap blanket is a baby gift I know that I’d love to receive.  I like baby knits that aren’t in the traditional baby pastels.  I also knew worsted weight yarn would crochet up fairly quickly.  I think I’m over a quarter of the way through today.  That’s in four days of crocheting.  That’s insane!!!

Um, yeah, I’ll be knitting one with sock yarn too.  You know how on podcasts knitters will show you each individual square and say what yarn it is?  My husband squints like he’s listening to nails on a chalkboard when they do this, and, if I’m honest, I usually tune it all out.

So you completely have that option.  Squint away or scroll on down past where I make note of the yarns I’m using for my own neurotic pleasure.

From the top where I’m working to the bottom:

WotA Tweed from my Bradway shawl,
Up in Yarns Murkwood from my Laura + Maddy Mitts,
Gynx Yarns Targhee dk in Goth Girl from Goldfinch,
Cascade purple from Everett Henley,
Patterns Classic Tweed in Aran from Blowing Snow,
Quince and Co Lark in Clay,
January Yarns Olivia for the Karite Hat,
Tosh Dk in Earl Grey (sigh) from my Zelda shawl,
Beautiful Red Sock Blue Sock yarn for a Prim hat,
Malabrigo in Paris Night from my Thing to Wear Cardigan,
Junkyarn dk Diana from my Dresden Beret,
Patons in Natural Mix from my Cherry Pie sweater,
Gynx Yarns in Spanish Roof (a favorite of mine) from my Petawawa Toque,
more lark,
more Gynx Targhee in Goth Girl,
Voolenvine Yarns non-superwash in Gashlycrumb from the Quadri hat,
Malabrigo in Plomo again,
and Patons Tweed in Aran again.

Okay, now I’ll go back to being cool.  Because saying phrases like “scrappy baby granny stripe blanket” is too cool for school.

I think I feel more sentimental about these scraps than I would sock yarn, just because I’ve been knitting with worsted since the beginning and some of these are from older projects.  The wild thing is that they can all look good together in this blanket.  When I brought them to a Stripes class with Veera Välmäki, a few years ago, they looked like puke.

The email for the class said to bring scraps, so I really brought scraps- a bag full.  When the class began, I pulled out my somewhat tangled balls of workhorse yarns in chartreuse, light purple, brown, etc.  All the other participants pulled out gleaming cakes of Madelinetosh in coordinating colors.  Bunch of kiss ups.  No, they were really nice.  They all gave me encouraging and compassionate smiles as I spazzed out with my tangled brioche section.  I think I was the remedial knitting student.

For this blanket, I am keeping them in color groups of 3 or 4 stripes- blues, purples, reds, etc.  I am using a couple of new skeins of Quince and Co Lark in Clay for unifying stripes, every several stripes.  It will probably be the edging color too.   I want a hat in Clay.  Clay, Sedum, and Damson are all colors I want to work with.

I want this to be a travel project, and maybe it can since it’s a baby knit.  Dana (a crochet blanket master) had the clever idea of making a big ball of scraps, already magic knotted, so it would be more portable.  I think I’ll try that, too.  But I will have to unravel one row to see what length I need for a row’s worth of one color, since I am changing color with every stripe.  As it is, I would have to bring a big bag of scraps with me.

more on ravelry, kollabora, instagram

So, what are your scrappy projects?  If you don’t have any, consider joining us in Clara Peggoty’s Corner.  It’s not a Ravelry supergroup, with a bazillion members, but that’s refreshing.  I like being part of a group that’s not so overwhelming that members can’t keep up with each other.  We’re also on Instagram as #ChristmastoChristmasCAL