Of Granny Squares and Mandalas

So my "Gargantuan Grannies" continue to grow . . . it's so bad now I'm soliciting family and friends: "Hey, would you like a hand-crocheted afghan?" Someday they'll start running when they see me coming. 

Oh dear, what's a woman to do, I ask? I need to break this river of granny squares and detour to something else. But why? I love making them. 

It's mindless. I get to play with beautiful colors and textures. And eventually, as the winter moves in, people will appreciate their snuggly afghans.  

I could pick up knitting again -- I have baskets of lovely yarns scattered throughout the house -- 

and I have tons of knitting needles -- steel, bamboo, circular, all sizes. But . . . then I'd have to do a test swatch. Ugh. I don't have the patience for that. I just want to pick up my hook and go.

This was a project I started last winter. I thought I'd do a cabled cowl with a neat button closure. But I put it down and now it's lost somewhere in the house. Oh, well.

So perhaps this afternoon I'll sift through my pile of magazines and try to come up with another crochet project -- mandalas?  Striped afghans?  Coaster and placemats?  

I think mandalas are pretty cool, so I went into my Photoshop and did a little manipulation of some of my flower shots.  Hmmm. . . this could be a new way to envision and plan my next project!
 

The incredible Wink's mandala

My kaleidoscope edition of a pink azalea

 

Another altered image of a purple petunia

This could be the start of a whole new world --  Happy crocheting!

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!