Killing Time, Granny Style

I have a dilemma.

I don’t want to start any long-and-involved projects before the baby gets here, but I also don’t want to sit around twiddling my (granted, Miss Piggy-esque) thumbs together & doing nothing.

I want to have a transportable project available to take with me to doctor’s appointments and hospitals to combat the “sitting around being bored” syndrome, but I don’t want to have to take a pattern with me, nor do I want something so involved I’ll have to stop counting and/or rip out a row to get back on track the next time I work on it.

Translation:  I want a project I can work on for five minutes, put down for three days, then pick up again & still be on track.

Solution?  Granny Squares.  And rectangles.  And pillow cases.  LOTS of them!

...a pillow case for the baby's room...

...a girlie granny throw made with alpaca homepspun...

...green-and-white-and-blue cotton WIP...

The problem is that granny squares projects work up quickly.  Like, Oh-dear-I-just-sat-down-and-now-I’m-out-of-yarn-again quickly.  Lucky for me everyone I know seems to be stocking up on babies, so I’ve got plenty of Welcome to Earth projects to keep me busy.  I’ve also used up my entire stock of scrap yarn – I started an awesome ALL-THE-COLORS granny quilt that will likely take years to finish (it’s an experiment in asymmetry…we shall see how my brain copes with the lack of perfection):

And, since I discovered that the amount of arthritis/swelling/pain in my fingers doesn’t subside even when I DON’T make lovely yarny things (and likely won’t subside again until baby gets here), I switched to some back post/front post double crochets and kept hooking – I made another pillow case:

And a throw blanket for Nina & Fraidy Cat, made entirely of scrap yarn from my Dr Who Scarf, which the kittens refuse to snuggle (because the box from our Roomba is a much more appropriate cat bed, obviously).

...handmade blanket-in-a-basket = definitely less comfortable than a cardboard box...

 

I’ve got enough yarn to finish one or two more projects… think it’ll last me until baby boy arrives?

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A Crunchy Welcome to Earth Blanket!

…for a sweet baby girl slated to make her debut in early March:

It’s my favorite crazy stitch, only this time in an all natural, unbleached cotton.  Fabulous!

It’ll go great with the sweet little dragon baby I made to go along with it.  I can’t wait to meet her (the baby, not the dragon.  I’ve already met the dragon).  *grin*

 

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I Totally Tricked My Husband!

Hooray!  We’re celebrating Husband’s birthday this weekend, and I totally tricked him!  He’s been hinting for months that he’d really like a nice big afghan from yours truly.  Because I am a tricksy one (AND a happy one!), I’ve been patronizing him about this.  Sure, honey.  I’ll make you one someday… I guess…

Anyway, I had this huge summer project going filled with star squares like this:

As you can see, I chose blue, black, and gray (which just happen to be Husband’s favorite colors…).  I told him I was making this as a wedding gift for some friends, but secretly I was making it for him all the while!  SO tricksy, eh?

He really liked it while I was making it, and kept saying things like, “Oh, those are my favorite colors,”  “You know, that’s a really cool blanket,”  and, “Wow, they’re really going to like that.  It’s black, like my soul!”  (Yes, he really does say the part about his soul being black…  it’s a joke, though, so don’t worry.  I’m pretty sure his soul isn’t actually black).  He also spent some quality time “testing” it to make sure it was “big enough.”  *grin*

I finished it in August, put it away, and haven’t mentioned it since.  Husband, I think, all but forgot about it.  …teeheehee…

Anyway, the best part is that I also made this:

…which I gave him first, telling a big long story about how I knew he really liked that big blanket, so I figured a pillow with the same pattern was a good consolation prize…  I’m so evilly tricksy!  Anyway, we went out to dinner (Indian, of course), and I ran back in the house before we left to do this:

…so as we crawled into bed at the end of the night, Husband discovered the rest of his present!  Hooray!  (He says, by the way, that he was never actually tricked and that he knew all the time I was making it for him.  Suuuure, Husband.  That’s what they all say…).

Oh, and just in case you were wondering, I also got Husband some delicious, delicious adult beverages.  Now he can drink scotch and snuggle…er… do manly things…while I’m on a Chibication in New Mexico!  Hooray!

Happy Birthday, John!  })i({