Wednesday, May 20, 2020

Spring Flowers Afghan

Spring of 2020 has been an odd time for all of us.  I'm happy to report that my family is safe and healthy.  My husband and the Caterpillar are still working, Scoot is doing creative missionary work in Belgium, Rollo completed his AP tests at home, and D2 sometimes does some remote schoolwork.

I, being an introverted homemaker, am usually happy to spend most of my time at home, but things are different now.  I wasn't used to having most of the family at home with me most of the time.  I don't get to go to the gym or the library, and I'm not sure about the status of the fabric store.  But I still need books to read and things to create.  Luckily, we have a pretty good home library, and I have a pretty good stash of craft supplies.
So I crocheted this blanket for a friend's expected baby.  The stitch pattern is from a Leisure Arts leaflet, More Crochet Stitches & Easy Projects, and has the unimaginative name of "Cluster Stripes."  It looked sort of floral to me, so I used cheerful spring colors for the clusters, and white for the stripes.  I had some difficulty with keeping the edges straight, but otherwise it was an easy, enjoyable project.
I also joined the army of mask-makers to provide some supplemental face coverings for local health-care workers.  Since I didn't jump on the bandwagon until the elastic and bias tape shortage was in full swing, I bought a neat gadget (just the maker, though--the finisher would have made it even easier!), and made my own tape.  The fabric had been donated by local church members for a different charitable purpose, but was made available for this project.
And I sewed Rollo a new dragon shirt for his seventeenth birthday.  He likes the shirt more than he likes to smile for pictures!

What have you been making?