Change of Pace

After I crocheted and mailed two Superbowl scarves, I found that I was between projects. It's wa-a-ay too hot to be working on a one-piece afghan, and my weed-pulling muscles complain if I do too much crocheting.

Well, I dropped in to the Knit Night group on Thursday and saw them working on diagonal knit dishcloths. One lady had expanded the pattern to a diagonal knit afghan. While a single-piece afghan is not what I wish to do at the height of summer, I did like the idea of making a batch of the smaller squares and sewing them together.

I started with black yarn and size 10 1/2 needles. My pattern increases by one at the beginning of every row until I have 35 stitches across. Then I change to one of several colors and decrease one at the beginning of every row until I run out of stitches. I use garter stitch. With my particular tension, the squares are about 9" on a side.

When I sew these squares together, each black edge will touch a colored edge. All of the diagonal center lines will point to the middle. When I make a large square out of four smaller ones like this, it will form a pinwheel pattern.

I remember having one like this some years back. I liked it because it was light-weight, just about right for a spring and fall throw.

Two squares down and only 46 to go.

Happy crafting,
Kathi

Quick and Easy Grannies

Looking for instant gratification? Go to www.lionbrand.com and enter "bulky granny" in the search bar. Here you will find some granny square patterns made with bulky yarn that work up in no time. Scrap yarn piling up? Make one of these with two or three strands held together. You'll be ready for the cooler weather on the other side of summer. (I know that's hard to believe right now) or have a head start on gifts for the holiday season.

Happy crafting.

Kathi