Friday, July 10, 2015

making...

Recently I waded into my mumsicle's huge wool stash - 
my fingers itchy for a simple project to occupy my hands 
while I waited beside those countless fields and tracks and ovals and pools...

My mumsy has a massive collection of part and whole balls of wool dating back to the 1960s... 

.... as of course she would
For generations all of our school, work and leisure knitwear was home knitted or crocheted.
Along with her own massive horde of wool, 
she inherited balls (and indeed partly completed projects) 
from both her mother and mother-in-law 

 Jumping into her collection of wool was like jumping into a time machine...


ahhhhhhh yes --- I remember the 1970s brown wool jumpers for the men folk 
(the men in our family only ever received dark brown or dark blue jumpers -
"to hide the oil and farm muck") 


ooo and I remember when my mumsy knitted herself a delightful 
multi-cabled, military-inspired cardigan from this wool in the early 1980s 
(it had big brass buttons --- I thought she looked fabulous!)


 OK I know this is going to come across as a bit hipsteresque (*rolls eyes*) 
but I figured crocheting some granny squares
would be the easiest and most useful thing I could do with
the various bits of left over 5 ply wools... 


I've found that it IS great fun!

Granny squares are light and easy to transport -
 all I have to remember is one simple bag of goodies and I'm set to get some work done

Given that I've raided the family wool stockpile, this project is FREE baby!
(and I get the warm fuzzy feeling of making use of leftovers)

Squares are quick and easy to pick up and put down 
(for when the on-field action gets a bit too exciting to concentrate on crochet)

There's no deadline or pressure to get the project finished



I've limited the palette of wools to just the warm half of the colour wheel:
bright red, orange, lemon, butter yellow, mandarin, rust...
with each square completed by a perimeter of delicious dark brown
this way, no matter what combination I choose to put together,
the whole rug should come together quite nicely thank you very much

and just as an extra bit of fun
I'm crocheting the combinations in multiples of 5
so that they can be arranged as interlocking crosses 
(or 'X's, if I tilt them on the side)


what do you think?



With just a few more kiddlie sporting events I'll have a rug to snuggle under
for my chilly days beside fields and tracks and ovals and pools 



yay team!


...


4 comments:

  1. OMG you had me at "making" in the title! Just love it - brilliant use of old wool, perfect for the time you have to give it and such a great looking rug, poncho, or pair of trousers...to be oh so hipsterish. Enjoy!

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  2. Is yarn bombing popular in Oz? Somehow, I can see you wrapping a tree with granny squares. Could be all those art gestures...

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  3. Blessed be the granny squares. And such rugs are ALWAYS useful to have around.

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  4. Doesn't real wool have a pull that synthetics don't? You've chosen great colours, Ronnie, and what a good choice for the stop/start moments you have to get those nimble fingers moving.

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thanks for all your lovely comments - your words are greatly appreciated xx