Saturday, August 2, 2014

Summertime Crochet

There's something about a lazy summer afternoon that just simply demands some kind of colorful crochet project! A few weeks ago, I was lucky enough to have a week's vacation at Cape Cod. The weather was spectacular, and we spent every morning until about 1pm at the beach. Then in the afternoons, I would pull out my new book -- Crochet Motifs -- and begin exploring the possibilities of various patterns. 


I had been working on a granny square afghan for my mother-in-law for about two months, but was looking to take a break from the same pattern. An article in Simply Crochet magazine about mandalas by the fab crochet diva, Wink, intrigued me so I gave it a go!


It was strange to go from working in a square to a circular form. I had a couple of false starts, but then just gave up struggling and let myself trust the pattern, the yarn and the hook -- not too shabby!


A close-up of the mandala.  I'm sure there are mistakes but it still appeals to me --
  a bit like the summer sun!


This was another version, but this time using the pattern by the awesome Erika Knight. I'm beginning to envision a bunting of mandalas strung along the mantlepiece -- similar to how Lucy of Attic 24 described decorating her home with texture and color.

And as if that were not enough, I remembered a colleague of mine talking about doing two large granny squares to make a top.  Ummm, so out came another hook and I decided to work on just one gargantuan granny square for a winter afghan.  That's what you see under the mandala. And here it is at the beginning was it was "petite."



It's almost finished now -- about 3.5 feet square, using two skeins of Red Heart ombre.
  I may keep going using another blend for a border effect; not quite sure yet.

Well the sun is breaking out after a morning of cool rain, so I'm packing up my yarns and hooks and heading out into the back garden -- a good mystery and a glass of chilled chardonnay should help the crocheting along nicely!


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