Monday, July 21, 2014

Block Party

I admit, that is a dumb title for this post. It isn't about a party at all. Sometimes it is just tough to come up with titles!

Recently a friend of mine asked me to crochet an afghan that she wanted to give to her daughter-in-law. She wanted it 6 feet X 4 feet. Doesn't that sound daunting? As it turned out, she chose a bulky yarn and a loose stitch that worked up very quickly. In fact, I think I only worked on it about three days.

One thing I tend to slack on is blocking. Do you crocheters out there always block your projects? Because this blanket was so big and stretchy, I felt it had kind of stretched out of shape as I worked on it. It is very heavy!   really needed to block it.

It was so big, I wasn't sure where to do this blocking business. I hand washed it  in the bathtub and then set up a folding table on our deck. It was exactly 6 feet long but only 2 1/2 feet wide. If I let any part of the wet blanket hang off the edge, it just kept stretching!


Guess what! I was able to moosh and squoosh until it accordianed in to that size.


I left it in the sun, weighted down because Wyoming is somewhat of a wind tunnel.



After sitting out in the sun on a hot day, for about 8 hours, it was STILL wet! I tossed it in the drier for about 15 minutes and it was STILL a bit damp!  I told you it was heavy!

I was hanging with my Mom, by her hospital bed, as I crocheted this project. She kept talking about how soft the yarn was and how much she liked it so I decided to start another, identical to it. It is soft, fuzzy yarn and has rather a comforting feel to it.



I'm happy to get to make one for Mom as well. 

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