Stitch Sampler Afghan for Renee

A couple of years ago, my niece Renee joined the Annie's Attic Crochet Block of the Month Club to make this lovely Stitch Sampler Afghan in the Pearl/Cream colorway.

Renee has been crocheting even longer than I have, but she is in a different life stage than I am, and, a few months into her subscription, she realized that she just didn't have enough time to set aside for herself to enjoy crocheting these blocks.

I'm sure many of us can relate to her dilemma. It becomes an added layer of stress and/or guilt when we're subscribed to something that keeps coming at us, but in the process we end up finding out that we just don't have the time to engage with it.

So after six months, Renee cancelled her subscription and stashed the unused kits in her closet in the hope that she would eventually get around to making them.

Alas, the months kept flying by, and Renee found herself having only finished the first block.

Earlier this summer, she packed all the kits into a tote bag, which included the first six pattern brochures, all of the yarn, and the first block she made, and called me to ask if I would be interested in having them. She wasn't asking me to make the blanket for her; she just wanted the stuff out of her closet, and she assured me that if I took it, I could make whatever I wanted to with the yarn. Of course, I was happy to receive her offering. To me, the yarn and patterns were a gift, yet I also completely understood her need to be rid of them to protect her mental health in this moment. I have been there myself from time to time.

However, I also knew immediately that even if I used some of the yarn to make other things, I would secretly finish making the blanket and gift it back to her. 🩷 I think she will be surprised when I gift it to her but also pleased that she will be able to have this blanket in her home after she thought that would never happen.

In fact, the first thing I did was to crochet an open-mesh cardigan for myself using some of the yarn. 😂 

Then I got busy crocheting the blocks for this blanket. Because each block is different, and because the pattern arranges the blocks in a way that does not follow their numerical order, I printed out little labels (I just printed them on paper and cut them out) to mark the number for each block and attached them with safety pins as I finished each one to help keep things organized as I went along. You can see the pinned-on labels in some of my photos. These were easy to remove once the blanket was fully assembled according to the pattern. Here's a link to download a copy of a PDF for my labels, in case you would like to use them for your blanket project.

I finished making the first 18 blocks from the six pattern brochures in the kits that Renee had purchased. Then I was faced with a decision: Do I find a way to get the rest of the pattern brochures (or a PDF of the pattern) from Annie's, or do I make up my own block designs until I have enough made to finish the blanket?

I did already have an account at Annie's from a pattern purchase I made years and years ago. So I decided to reach out to their customer service and ask if it would be possible for me to purchase the entire Stitch Sampler Blanket pattern as a PDF.

The short answer is no, they don't sell this pattern separately from the kits. (Hint-hint, Annie's; you would probably make a few extra pattern sales if you also sold this pattern separately from the kits!)

I explained my situation and how I was attempting to finish the blanket for my niece, who had purchased half of the kits. The rep who was helping me looked up Renee's account to confirm my story, then she said that she could arrange to have the other half of the kits (including the rest of the yarn and pattern brochures) sent to me all at once if I agreed to purchase them. I mulled this over for a bit and then decided to do it. The rep also added to my account the digital versions of the patterns (all of which include video tutorials) from all the kits Renee had purchased, as well as the digital patterns and videos from all the kits I purchased, which was so nice and very helpful. So I now had the complete pattern, plus all the matching yarn I needed to finish the blanket.

The individual blocks are very quick to make, and most of them were easy for me, but there were a few that I needed to view the videos to understand how to do them. You know how it is; trying to explain the steps in writing can often be waaay more confusing than just to SHOW someone the steps. But even the ones that I needed the video for were fairly easy to crochet once I understood the steps.

I would make a block or three each evening during my break from work. That's how quick and easy most of the blocks were.

I finished crocheting the blocks on Aug. 15, and I finished weaving in the ends on Aug. 27. Even though I used a 5.5 mm hook to crochet all of them, I tend to be a tight crocheter, so even after adding a border that's a little more than 2 inches deep, the finished size of the blanket only measures about 46 inches by 52 inches. I'm pretty sure that the blanket will relax and maybe grow a bit after laundering (and certainly after being used for a while), but if I ever make another one of these later, I would probably use at least a 6 mm hook. (P.S. The blanket did grow about 3 inches in width and 4 inches in length after laundering. Yay!)

I deviated from the pattern in a couple of ways. First, I moved the position of Block 1 (the one Renee had made) from the outer-right column to place it more toward the center, because I wanted to "mark" her block with a little crocheted pink heart applique, and thus I figured it would look nicer if her block was placed closer to the "heart" (or center) of the blanket. So I swapped places with Blocks 1 and 29. To join the blocks, I used a technique where I slip-stitched into one block, then chained one, then slip-stitched into the other block, then chained one, and repeated that going back and forth all along the seam. That gives a nice, solid join that has a small bit of zig-zag texture but is subtle and doesn't detract from the prettiness of the actual blocks. I also deviated in the way I worked the border. I did one round of SC followed by one round of DC, followed by one round of SC, followed by one round of DC, followed by one round of SC, followed by one round of twisted SC.

For the little heart applique, I used a small amount of Hobby Lobby I Love This Yarn in the Rosy Cheeks colorway from my stash and a 4.5 mm hook. I followed this video tutorial by ElyseCrochets on YouTube, which makes a lovely little quick and easy heart.

The blanket was finished in time for me to enter it in our local fair, so I'm planning to do that.

Annie's schematic

 

Montie's True Blues XL blanket

This is just a simple XL corner-to-corner moss stitch crochet blanket worked with two complementary colorways of yarn. 

Recently I saw a reel where crocheters were basically losing their minds in the comments at how beautiful this simple, monochrome C2C moss stitch baby blanket was by Laura of Hook and Fiber Made. It reminded me of how versatile crochet moss stitch is, because it works really well in solid colorways but also just as well in variegated colorways and also in other configurations, such as stripes, and I was fairly certain that it would look nice being worked up in stripes of the two colorways of yarn that I had in mind for this project.

Close up

Hooked by Robin has a good video tutorial on YouTube for how to make a C2C moss stitch blanket. I basically used the same process for this blanket; the only difference was that I used two colorways of yarn, alternating colors every two rows so I could carry the unused color up without ever having to cut it.

The somewhat unorthodox method I used to change colors is very much like what Play Hooky with Me shows in this video tutorial. The differences for me are that I'm working in moss stitch (so, SC and chains) and I'm only changing color at the end of every-other row. After changing colors, chaining and turning the work, I pulled the dropped color strand so it was crossing over the edge where I was working from back to front, where I would crochet over it without catching it in a stitch. (The strand would then be caught by and lie between my turning chains and the first SC of the new row.) That kept the dropped color close enough to pick up again the next time I changed colors, where I would repeat the process, and with marled look of the multicolored yarns I was working with, the "floats" are barely noticeable at all along the edge. If you were concerned about the floats being visible, all you would have to do is to crochet a border on your blanket as a finishing step; the first round of the border would fully conceal the floats.

Edge with floats vs. edge w/o floats

Using that method meant that the only tails I had to weave in at the end were the ones at the start and at the end of the project.

The yarn I used is Red Heart Bitty Stripes in the Horizon (blue) and Seaweed (green) colorways. Those are the same colors that I used to make my new grandnephew Waylon's blanket.

When I first started working on Waylon's blanket, my husband looked at what I was doing and said that he would actually like to have a similar-looking blanket for himself. That was a jaw-dropping moment for me, because if you know my husband the way I do, he NEVER wants me to crochet or knit ANYTHING for him, and he directly said so to me many times over the years. 😂 (Not because he doesn't support me in what I want to do, but because he is very particular about what he will and will not wear, and he doesn't want to hurt my feelings by not wearing something I've made for him if he doesn't choose to wear it.) So for him to tell me that he would actually LIKE for me to make him a blanket constitutes a jaw-dropping moment in my book.

My only concern was that this is not a tunisian entrelac pattern, as Waylon's blanket was. I did admittedly find tunisian crochet a bit challenging, so it wasn't as enjoyable for me, and I didn't want to attempt another tunisian blanket again this soon if I could avoid it. So I worked up a good start on the C2C moss stitch design so that I could give my husband a realistic preview of what the finished blanket would look like. I figured the worst that could happen would be that he said he didn't care for it, and if that happened, I could just finish off the blanket anyway, figure out what to do with it later, and then start on another tunisian one for him.

Another feature of the C2C moss stitch that I like better than tunisian entrelac is that moss stitch produces a fabric that is entirely reversible and looks equally good on either side. And another nice thing about moss stitch is that it grows surprisingly quickly, even though it isn't a tall crochet stitch.

I reached 60 inches wide on the short side of the rectangle after working 41 stripes each of both color A and color B. (Each stripe is two rows.) So the width for the short side of the rectangle was achieved after working 82 stripes, which equals 164 rows. 

60 inches wide

With the target width achieved, now I could stop increasing at one end of the row while continuing to increase at the other end of the row to continue to increase the length of the blanket until the target length of 84 inches was reached. (Details for how to work the "straight" rows are in the video by Hooked by Robin linked above.)

Turning the corner

If I've counted correctly, the straight rows are 167 single crochet stitches wide. Plus the chains in between, for however many total stitches long that is on the diagonal. 😅

Gauge view

Slogging through the middle section took months, because those are the longest rows, and they just seemed to go on and on and on and onnnn...

Fair time is coming. CROCHET FASTER!

But, finally, the long side reached its target length, and then I was able to start decreasing at both ends of the rows, heading toward the final corner. Changing colors on the decrease edges works about the same as on the increase edges, in that I would still pull the dropped color across, from back to front, and then crochet over it as I worked the next row, to secure the float where it needed to be to be picked up again. The only difference was making a decrease there instead of an increase.

Turning toward home!

Thankfully, I finished the blanket in time to enter it into our local fair. There's nothing flashy or fancy about the blanket; it's just the biggest single thing that I've ever made, so I wanted to enter it in the fair because of that. 😀

Peek-a-boo! (He's standing on the hearth.)

 

Fair time is coming

Fair time is coming. ... CROCHET FASTER!!!! 😂🧶

This is a candid shot of me working on my C2C moss stitch Montie's giant blanket WIP. The blanket is approximately 80% complete here. The final dimensions will be 60 inches by 84 inches. Whew!!! Here's hoping that I finish it in time to enter it into the fair. 😁🤞

Waylon's blanket

Earlier this year, we learned that my sister-in-law Linda's daughter Brianna was expecting her first child, which was going to be Linda's very first grandchild, and our family was super excited to welcome our newest little addition. It's going to be a boy! 💙

Naturally, this news also meant that Auntie Susan needed to get busy stitching up a keepsake blanket to welcome her newest grandnephew!

Finished with 43 rows of squares, before blocking

I searched for baby blanket ideas for a few days with nothing really jumping out and grabbing me until Red Heart Yarns shared on social media their pattern for this blanket made with Red Heart Bitty Stripes yarn. Instantly I could see in my mind's eye how amazing this design would look made in shades of blue and green, so I ordered the kit with those colors and then anxiously waited for it to arrive. 

This pattern says to use an 11.5 mm hook, even though the yarn is rated as a standard 4 weight. I did purchase the 11.5 mm hook with the Yarnspirations kit (it was less than $2, and I didn't already own a hook that size, so why not?) for the blanket project, but as I started working the foundation chain, it was just soooo loose that it really didn't look right, so I switched to using a 6.5 mm hook, and that seemed to look a lot better to me. A 7 mm hook would probably be ideal, but I don't have one that size (yet).

The free pattern wasn't yet listed in the Ravelry database when I started this project, but it could be downloaded from this page at Yarnspirations.

Measures about 36 inches wide

Since I'm using a smaller hook than the pattern suggested, I also added more chains to the foundation chain to ensure that the blanket wouldn't be too small. Thus, I started with a foundation chain of 153 instead of 113. After working several rows of blocks, the piece measured about 36 inches wide, which is a good size for the width of a baby crib blanket. This blanket is 14 squares wide. I'm aiming to have the finished blanket size be about 36 inches wide by 48 inches long. I figure I will just keep adding rows until the blanket looks more rectangular than square, so I'll let you know how many rows that ends up being after I've finished.

Work in progress...

I'm also fairly new to tunisian crochet techniques, and I wasn't understanding the written instructions for how to get started, so I looked up this Yarnspirations video tutorial (hosted by Mikey!! Yay!! He's such a great teacher) to get me through the blanket setup. Once I was able to understand how the tunisian block pattern works, it became super fun to make this pattern. It only takes about 4 or 5 minutes to complete each block (it takes about an hour (ish) to complete a whole row of blocks), and as the yarns gradually change colors, half of the fun is seeing which color will come next, so I found myself wanting to keep making "one more block" and never wanting to stop. 😊 The beautiful colors of the Bitty Stripes yarn play so well together, too. It's just a gorgeous effect when it's all put together. 

WIP at 27 rows

I'm using the Seaweed (green) colorway as Color A in the pattern and the Horizon (blue) colorway as Color B. 

The first skein of Seaweed ran out after the 15th row. The first skein of Horizon ran out in the middle of the 16th row. The blanket was basically a square at the point where these first skeins ran out, so if you wanted to use this pattern to make a roughly 36-inch square blanket, you might be able to do it with just one skein of each color (plus more yarn for a border, if you wanted to add one). 

In working out the math for the sizing of this blanket, I calculated that 48 inches is approximately 1.33 times 36 inches. And since 14 squares measures about 36 inches, I estimated that I would need to work 18-19 rows of Color A (or 14 times 1.33) to reach my target length of 48 inches long. Notice that that's only counting the Color A rows. Since the pattern is alternating rows of Color A and Color B, the total number of rows would actually be approximately double the number of rows of counting only Color A, which I'm estimating would be around 36-38 rows of squares. 

Standard hook = crowded

I went through phases of using three different 6.5 mm crochet hooks while stitching this project. I started off with my regular blue-handled Boye hook (this set is one of my overall all-time favorites to work with). Because the squares in this pattern are fairly small and only require a maximum of 7 loops to fit onto the shaft of the hook, it is possible to manage that with most standard crochet hooks, even if 7 loops gets to be a bit crowded. 

A Furls hook helps

I looked around at the options available and thought that the long shaft of the Furls style hooks might work better for this project than my Boye hook, so I ordered a pretty 6.5 mm Furls hook from Amazon. 

All the hooks I went through

When the Furls hook arrived, it was noticeably easier to fit all the loops onto its shaft. But the problem with the Furls design is that the shaft gradually tapers into the larger grip area, and that larger part of the shaft was making the loops on that end of each row bigger than the other loops. It wasn't a huge issue, so I worked quite a few rows with the Furls hook. 

A tunisian hook is ideal

But eventually I decided to finally bite the bullet and buy some type of actual tunisian hook, in the hope that it would make it easier for me to keep the loop sizes more consistent across the entire row. I settled on this double-ended tunisian hook by Red Heart. 

The only reason why it took me so long to finish this blanket was because I struggled somewhat with finding the energy to keep working in the middle of the project (health struggles, sigh), so even though I knew that I really wanted to have it ready to be a gift for Baby's first Christmas, I put it in time out for a few months to let myself rest. But as December rolled around, I found the burst of energy I needed to pick it up again. 

After finishing the 43rd row, I measured the length of the blanket and found that it was just about exactly 48 inches long and celebrated finally reaching my goal.

I had ordered a skein of baby blue Red Heart yarn that looked online like it would coordinate well with the blanket's colors and make a good solid color for the edging rounds. But it was evident as soon as I saw the yarns in person that this edging color was not going to work. Happily, I still had a lot of leftover Red Heart in the Denim colorway, which complements the blanket colors nicely in the border rounds.

For the border, I worked two rounds of SC (turning to work the second round in the opposite direction to help prevent curling) followed by one round of twsted SC, which gives a simple but lovely, texture-y, rope-like edging that I have used to finish many blanket projects. Twisted SC looks exactly like RSC, but twisted SC is a LOT easier to work, IMO. 

Pink blanket for great-grandaughter

This is going to be a Christmas gift for my great-granddaughter Lilliana, who loooves pink! The blanket used less than 4 skeins, so I'm using the last part of the fourth skein to also make a matching pink Mini Dino for her. 💜 This is a great design to give as a gift to any young person because it's easy to crochet, and the infinite pathways contained in the blanket represent the infinite potential in every young person's life. I absolutely love that symbolism and message.

I followed the method shown in this video by Fiber Spider. Blanket is worked with 39 pattern rounds followed by 1 round of solid DC and then edged with a border of RSC (reverse single crochet, also known as crab stitch). So, essentially, 40 rounds plus the edging. Here's the link to my Ravelry project page, which has details about the yarn and hook I used.

I've made this design several times, and I like that the rounds begin/end at a corner, but I think if I ever make another one, I'm going to attempt to do it in turned rounds, where there is no obvious right side/wrong side.

The Granny Merge blanket

I was looking for an idea of a different way to work a center-out blanket when I came across this video by Fiber Spider showing how to use the granny merge stitch sequence to make a shawl. I like the way this looks, and so I'm adjusting the instructions just slightly to use them to make a center-out square blanket.

The repeating sequence I'm using is 3 granny rows followed by 2 solid rows. After 25 rows, the blanket measures about 30 inches on a side, which if I stopped now would be the right size to make a nice lap blanket. But I believe I will continue working to make this into a throw-sized afghan.

I wanted to make a new blanket for my grandniece Charlotte, and when I saw how long it was taking me to finish this one (which I started on Jan. 30 ... that was 10 months ago!!), I realized that if I was going to give Charlotte a blanket this Christmas, it would need to be this one (even if it isn't her first choice of colors). My ability to crochet blankets has slowed way, way down, to the point where apparently I'm only able to finish one blanket per year anymore. Sigh! I hope Charlotte will like this one.

Finished at 45 pattern rounds plus 1 round of RSC (crab stitch) edging. Total yarn weight: 1,223 grams.

A new blanket for Wendy

I started making this blanket without a recipient in mind just because I had the yarn on hand and felt like using it because it is a very pretty colorway. (Originally I bought this yarn for a different project but then lost interest in that one.) And the Red Heart Ombre yarns lend themselves nicely to the Which Way Filet blanket pattern by Fiber Spider.

As the blanket was coming together I started to think that it might be a nice one for Wendy, since she's now a teenager and had outgrown the more "baby style" blanket I previously made her. This blanket pattern, with the limitless potential and endless possibilities suggested by its winding paths, is perfect for a brilliant teen like Wendy. 

My only worry was that I didn't know whether turquoise was a color that Wendy liked. But then I got to sit beside Wendy at dinner early in December, and I don't know how we got on the subject, but I was able to ask her what her favorite color was, and I was THRILLED when she said TURQUOISE!! Woo-hoo!! So now I know that she's going to love this new blanket.

I made her older sister a more grown-up-looking blanket last Christmas, and now it's Wendy's turn to get a new, grown-up-style blanket to last her for many years to come. Finished it just in the nick of time to give it to her for Christmas this year.

Virus Blanket for RV free pattern

Well, it took me a little more than a year (only working on it when we were camping in our RV), but I finally finished this afghan. The colors in the afghan coordinate nicely with the color scheme inside our RV, and the finished size makes a nice topper for the queen-size bed to add another layer of warmth on cold nights or to snuggle up with for a nap.

This is the Virus Blanket free pattern by Jonna Martinez. Her free video tutorial is on YouTube. And I like to use the edging from this video by Kiki Crochet on my virus blankets.

Total yarn weight: 1,113 grams, or about 5.59 skeins / 1985.5 yards. Please see my Ravelry project page for details about the yarn colors I used here. 

The Fairy Slippers Blanket free pattern

This free Fairy Slippers Banket pattern is a variation on the Which Way Filet blanket by Fiber Spider that works up quickly and easily from the center outward.

This Lion Brand Mandala yarn is soft and light, and the colorway is reminiscent of soft rainbow colors that would make a precious, cuddly keepsake blanket for a “rainbow baby.”

I had been hearing the term “rainbow baby” getting used a lot around knitting and crocheting circles, but I didn’t know what it meant, so I finally decided to look it up. According to Google, “A rainbow baby is a name coined for a healthy baby born after losing a baby due to miscarriage, infant loss, stillbirth, or neonatal death. The name ‘rainbow baby’ comes from the idea of a rainbow appearing in the sky after a storm, or after a dark and turbulent time.”

Which means that I am a rainbow baby myself, according to the modern parlance, because my mother delivered me after previously enduring seven miscarriages. I had no idea that I was born under this lovely, colorful label. Ha! 🌈

This filet blanket pattern is also ideal for a rainbow baby because the infinite paths winding and spiraling outward from the center symbolize the infinite potential contained within each new life.

This also means that maybe instead of giving away this baby blanket when it’s done I should just keep it for my rainbow-baby self. 😁 I could get another skein of this Honeydukes colorway, whip up another blanket just like this one, and then sew them together to make a nice and light but colorful, funky, and boxy rainbow poncho!

If I finish this as a baby blanket, I’ll edge it with 1 round SC followed by 1 round RSC. But if I keep this to be a poncho, I’ll end with 1 round SC before sewing the panels together.

Granny Squared Into Highlighter Hell Throw free pattern

I found a couple more skeins of the unidentified colorway aka “Highlighter Hell” (what I call it) by Red Heart, so I decided to use it along with some plain white to make an infinite granny square throw for my daughter who loooves these (horrifically) bright colors. 😉

After trying to work this continuous granny square in full rounds of a single color, I discovered that there was not a good way to carry the next color up for the subsequent round without leaving a long loop on the reverse side where I changed colors (see below). I was afraid that the only way to “fix” this would be to add a lightweight flannel backing to cover the reverse side and hide the loops.

I pondered this problem for a while and concluded that the best way to avoid it would be to use a two-color spiral method, so I went searching for a pattern and found The Continuous 2 Color Granny Crochet Tutorial by Fiber Spider on YouTube. Ta-da!! This method is an absolutely brilliant way to work a two-color continuous granny stitch blanket without having to tie off after every single round (and have eleventy-bazillion ends to weave in when you’re done, plus all those ends would equal a lot of wasted inches of yarn), and it eliminates the big-loop-from-carrying-up-the-yarn problem I was having. Like I said: Brilliant!!

Here's a comparison of the obverse view of working the blanket in full rounds of each color (left) vs. the half-rounds used in the Fiber Spider method (right). As you can see, the different methods are undetectable to the eye, but Fiber Spider's method results in a blanket that is fully reversible and looks tidy on both sides:

I just kept working rounds on the throw until I ran out of the Highlighter Hell color. Then I used some highlighter orange yarn from my stash to work a border of one round SC followed by one round RSC or crab stitch. Finished size is about 44 inches square.

Works when they were still in progress ...

Pink Grapefruit Lemonade blanket contemplation

I have a bunch of skeins of vintage acrylic yarn (circa 1960s), and I’m trying to finally use them to make an afghan. And although I’ve tried several different stitch patterns, so far nothing is really jumping up and grabbing me to say, “This is the one!” I’ve tried drunken granny, C2C granny, and circle granny thus far. I’m afraid I may end up defaulting to my favorite afghan pattern -- virus -- which wouldn’t be terrible because the virus afghan is lovely, but I thought I wanted to make something different this time. Ugh!

As you can see in the photos, I tried starting out in all the stitch patterns mentioned above. The furthest I got with any of them was in the “drunken granny” stitch, which I had seen some people talking about online but I hadn’t previously heard of this stitch. The photos they shared looked interesting, so I went looking to see whether the pattern was available on Ravelry but was disappointed not to find it here. However, there are several good video tutorials for this stitch on YouTube. I used this one.

I usually prefer to have written instructions to refer to, however, and I also can never leave well enough alone, so I jotted down the starting instructions from the video and also embellished them to work if using FSC instead of a starting chain.

Drunken Granny easy crochet baby blanket pattern

Setup row: Chain in multiple of 5 to desired width of the finished blanket (or FSC in multiple of 5 plus 1).

For foundation chain setup, row 1: Ch 4. DC in 5th ch from hook 1st FSC. DC 3 more times (total of 4) in same st; ch 2; DC in same st. Skip 4 sts; 4 DC in next st; ch 2; DC in same st repeat until 3 sts remain at end of row. Skip 2 sts and DC in last st. Ch 3; turn.

For FSC setup, row 1: Ch 3. DC in 3rd FSC from hook. DC 3 more times (total of 4) in same st; ch 2; DC in same st. Skip 4 FSC;

Row 2: Working into ch 2 spaces from previous row, 4 DC in next ch 2 space; ch 2; DC in same space. Skip to next ch 2 space. 4 DC in ch 2 space; ch 2; DC in same space repeat to end of row. DC in top of ch 3 from previous row. Ch 3; turn.

Repeat row 2 until blanket reaches the desired length.

Work a SC border around all 4 edges to finish.

For different looks this blanket can be worked in a solid color, in stripes alternating colors every 3 rows (or more), in an ombre gradient yarn, etc.

To me part of the appeal of the drunken granny stitch is that it reminds me of falling ginkgo leaves even more than an alternate version of a granny cluster. But I still wasn’t inspired enough by it to keep going with it in a full-sized blanket.

So … virus it is, I guess. LOL. Virus is turning into my go-to blanket pattern. Le sigh!! 😏

And thus the Pink Grapefruit Lemonade afghan came to be.

Playing yarn chicken

When you play "yarn chicken," you win some, and you lose some. Oh well! 

OOOH, I found another skein in the stash bag where the first baby pink skein came from! I'm saved!! Bwah-ha-ha ...

Better to be lucky than good sometimes. 🙃