Thursday, January 28, 2010

Stars in the Mist....

Another finished project. I'm on a roll!

This pattern is called "Stars in the Mist," and I fell in love with it when I first saw the picture in a book of afghan patterns.

It's so unlike what I would normally choose to crochet, for a number of reasons:

  • It's all one color, sort of an off-white. I usually gravitate toward bright colors. Lots of them. See my NEXT afghan for proof.
  • It involves crocheting a lot of smaller pieces and sewing them together. I like a pattern that is finished as I go.
  • It has 53 hexagons. I don't do prime numbers.
  • It has 53 hexagons. I don't do hexagons. I do circles and squares.
  • It has an irregular shape. I like things to fold neatly into thirds or fourths and to be perfectly symmetrical.
  • It has curlicues. When you are crocheting curlicues, it looks a lot like someone has vomited yarn. Crocheting them together is like trying to hem up a bunch of snakes in a washtub. *Simile provided by Hubby.*
  • It has a border that calls for crocheting picots. Picots are OF. THE. DEVIL. To be fair, I discovered that crocheting picots with yarn that is about the same circumference as a pencil is a lot easier than crocheting picots with thread that is difficult to see under an electron microscope. Whatever that is.
  • This pattern called for "chunky" yarn. I identified with it immediately, but the pattern didn't mention that a skein would only make about 2 1/2 hexagons. And that's not including the border or the yarn used to sew all the hexagons together. This particular brand of chunky yarn retails for $6.19 a skein. You do the math. I might have been better off crocheting it out of dollar bills.
The first time I attempted this pattern, I was on an airplane headed to somewhere tropical. I don't know what possessed me to try the first hexagon on the plane. I couldn't wrap my head around the directions, and besides, an airplane is not exactly a comfortable place to attempt to crochet. I put it away for a long time. Long enough that when I started back and had already crocheted 9 hexagons, I discovered that the yarn I started with had been discontinued. Does anyone have a need for 9 off-white hexagons? I bought new yarn and started over. Then I bought more yarn. Then I bought more yarn.

When I started making the afghan FOR REAL, I had the idea in mind to auction it off at the next Nash Bash, our family reunion at the end of June. The closer I got to finishing it, however, the more I was attached to it. Sometimes literally. It is VERY heavy, and it will keep someone VERY warm.

But I think I will auction it off after all. With the animals in our house, it's not very practical to keep it around. I can just picture me coming home from a long day at school next winter and finding Hubby with this afghan across his lap, the dog on top, cats tangled in a hexagon or two, and pizza sauce all over it. I'd have a tough time explaining that to a judge and jury.

It's safer just to auction it off at the Nash Bash.

2 comments:

KatyDid53 said...

And you say you don't understand filet crochet! I would NEVER have attempted this pattern for all the reasons you gave. I will certainly bid on it if you put it in the auction. However, I'm sure some of those money bags will outbid me! Your mother can probably figure out something to do with the original 9 hexagons! I can't wait to see it in person.

Maggie said...

This is soooo beautiful! Just gorgeous! You did great work. Love love love it!