Granny Possibilities

After a life time of working with color, it is still amazing to me how much more there is to learn. The way colors combine can make me feel happy or sad, melancholy and introspective, excited and adventurous. Color is one of the world's greatest marvels. I can't get enough.

After years of designing colorful knitwear, I recently rediscovered the joys of crocheting – a craft I learned from my grandmother when I was ten. My reawakening to crochet began with a vacation to Maine and a bag of assorted broken balls of many colors of Julia yarn which were left over from editorial projects. I quickly grabbed the bag of scraps as I ran out the door. A quick stop at a northern Maine yarn store just before boarding a ferry to Swans Island yielded me a size H crochet hook. With those two things I was off.

On Swans' Island, amongst my good friends and family, I crocheted away. During breakfast, during cocktails on the ocean, during dessert of apple pie, I kept crocheting. I was obsessed. I couldn't stop. Each little square became a color exploration. Every piece was different than the last. On the car trip home I crocheted. At home, I would pick up my hook and yarn and whip out a few squares when ever I had a free moment.

Little did I know that my little foray into crochet would turn itself into a television appearance. Last week on PBS stations airing Knit and Crochet Today (Season 2), my vacation folly made its t.v. debut. How cool is that? Here's the link to my free Granny Pattern which is available on the Knit and Crochet Today website. From there you can download the list of colors and how I made the afghan I demonstrated on t.v.
I'm still grannying away - making more squares because I'm hoping to make this a double bed size afghan. It will take me a few more years, I'm sure. I find grannies soothing to knit and mindless to make but rewarding in their own little colorful way. You should try it one day. You might be hooked too!

Our new litter of kittens have certainly enjoyed the afghan. It's amazing how kittens and cats appreciate good fibers - if there's ever a swatch of mohair, cashmere or wool lying around, they will take a little nap on top of it. When I'm looking for a missing swatch, I always have to remember to look under the snoozing cats.