blanket metaphors

This summer, when we were out in California, my mother taught me and my daughters how to crochet.

First she brought out a large sack of yarn balls from which to choose. The girls spent quite a while looking through all the colors, to find the perfect ones. After they had chosen what they wanted, I just grabbed the first ball of yarn at the top of the sack. Since this was just supposed to be a how-to lesson, I didn't think it mattered what color I used.

My mother taught me how to make the basic chain, then she turned her attention to teaching the girls how to make granny squares. Of course, teaching the girls was a start and stop adventure, through tantrums and frustrations. And I just kept working on my chain until it was quite long.

Once the girls could work fairly independently, my mother turned back to me, to show me how to double crochet. Now that I had invested all the time in the chain, I was going to turn it into something! Who's surprised that I now wished I'd chosen a color I like better than pale purple? Still, I double crocheted along the chain, and selected black for my next color.

We brought our projects home with us when vacation was over. My chain was to become a scarf. Then, after I'd done several stripes and wrapped it around my neck, I realized how long it was. So I decided to turn it into a blanket. I flipped it over and worked from the other side of the original purple chain, so that the pattern will be symmetrical. This is where I am so far. I look forward to adding to it through the winter.

The girls abandoned granny squares for other projects.

The 9yo designed a haute couture barbie dress.

The almost 7yo realized her curving, uneven stitches could be turned into a hat.