The Monstrosity

The story of The Monstrosity must be told first.

Here I was, in a new apartment, with three bags full of yarn. Most of it was scrap yarn; yarns I had collected from various others who had collected or had it from various other sources. Many of the yarns were old - from the 70s and 80s. Finding two dozen projects for all of this yarn was daunting, and I've been wanting to get rid of it - so that I can focus on purchasing specific yarns, for specific projects.

I hemmed and hawed. I thought, perhaps I shall make a granny square blanket. But I'm not fond of multicolored granny squares. Granny daughters? Fine, but then I have to purchase enough yarn to connect it together - and so many of these colors don't come anywhere close to looking good next to each other. Laughingly, I told my husband that perhaps I should just make a giant blanket to put all of these horrid colors together.

A few minutes later, I had a basic interlooping square pattern, and a box full of scrap yarn by my chair to get started. So far, here's how it's progressed:








The intention is to always mismatch colors as much as possible. Generally, there is a color pattern in that I use two solid colors, and then a variegated; but that may have to change because I'm running out of variegated yarn. I call it a tribute to bad crochet (and bad yarn!). Intentionally bad (and yet still stitched carefully; I can't bring myself to crochet sloppy.) It's endearing to me in its own way, and will be a staple in the home in its own way. I'm going to intentionally wear it out. Fairly good use of the yarn if you ask me!

I hope you don't have one of these in your home on purpose.

Andy's Scarf

I have been working on a scarf for my husband. The yarn is unidentified - it was yarn I got from my mother, who got it from a likewise vague source. It's worsted weight, a little scratchy (possibly wool or bad stiffener), and a nice tweed color.



Here's a closer detail of the stitching.



I love the professional look of the scarf. It's a basketweave stitch (3 front post double crochet, 3 backpost double crochet alternating, 2 rows high), so it looks excellent on both sides of the scarf. It gives the scarf a very nice, thick texture as well.

It is unfinished still - I am working it width wise, and it must be long on request. It will be edged after a desired length is reached, possibly in the same color, possibly in another. I haven't determined what edging to use yet, although I will likely stick with a front-back post combination.