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Scrappy Grannies, &tc.

First, thank you for all the kind comments on my Citric Acid afghan!  :o)  

Second, so much for my plans to catch up on the last few blocks for the Crochet Favorites Sampler CAL Afghan... I've left that project solidly on the back burner.  (Ah, who am I kidding?  It's been off the stove altogether for quite some time.)

There has been crochet and knitting, though.  (Of course.  At this point, I can't function without crochet-- or at least my beginner's-level knitting.)

Instead of working on one of the afghans currently in progress (there are three, if you don't count the novelty yarn one, which is in deep hibernation until cold weather arrives), I brilliantly decided to start yet another afghan project.  There's something about finishing one project that triggers me to start a new one, even if I already have more than enough to choose from in my current WIPs.

Anyway, whatever the reason, I've started a scrap afghan.  I've been saving very short lengths of yarn ever since I started crocheting, and by now, there are quite a few of them.  It has long been my plan to use these small scraps to make a motif-based afghan-- possibly an old-fashioned granny square afghan.  Well, come to find out, many of these scraps are too short even for the first round of a granny square!  But I've saved them, so I'm still using them, by golly!  I'm just knotting them together using this method, which apparently has many names (such as the English knot, true-lover's knot, fisherman's knot, etc.).

Unless I change my mind later on, the whole afghan will be made of two-round "classic" granny squares edged in one round of single crochet.  I think I'll join them so that the squares sit "on point" (i.e. with seams on the diagonal).

I started out inspired by an afghan I first saw on Ravelry-- cauchy09's "Not a Square to Spare"-- but since I'm using a wide variety of leftovers in very small amounts (and have decided to add that round of single crochet to each square), I don't think there will be much resemblance between the two blankets.  (I still think hers looks great, though.)

Because I'm trying to use mostly scraps too small to be useful for anything else (and maybe larger amounts of yarn if I just absolutely can't see any other use for it), this will be a long-term project.  I'll use up the scraps I have now, then put it on hold until I save up enough small scraps to continue.

By its very nature, this will probably turn out to be a utilitarian blanket with a little too much scrappy variety to be really pretty-- but just as you hear owners of some of the "less conventionally attractive" dog breeds insist that a dog can be "so ugly that it's cute"*, I'm hoping that the same holds true for ugly afghans.  ;o)   In fact, maybe I ought to change its name to "So Ugly It's Cute" instead of the current (boring) "Waste Not, Want Not"...  Hmm...  Yep, done.

So Ugly It's Cute Scrapghan

* Personally, I prefer dogs that are so cute that they're cute.  That's why we've had a black-and-white cocker spaniel (a white muzzle with black freckles-- awww) and two Eskies.  Eskie puppies look like little polar bear cubs-- and they grow into fur-shedding beautiful, too smart for their own britches intelligent, attention-demanding companionable dogs.  (I love Eskies.)

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Otherwise, I've finished up the Pinecone Neckwarmer-- all but the button(s).  (Not sure yet whether I want one or two buttons...)  I think I'll make my own toggle-style button(s) from polymer clay, but there's no rush.  I don't think I'll need a neckwarmer for a while, yet.

No photos of the finished neckwarmer, but here's one of it "in progress":

Pinecone Neckwarmer

I've also been working now and then on a slowly growing pile of "Tribbles-to-be".  That Tribble knitted dish scrubber pattern is ideal for mindless, beginner-level knitting.  TV knitting for when you don't want to have to count or think too much .  "Exercycle" knitting for when you're trying to lose a few pounds but get bored and want to get off the bike after five minutes unless you have a good distraction.  "Little extras" gift knitting for the up-coming holidays.  ;o)

Tribbles-to-Be


...And then there were one or two other things, but those will wait for another time.