It’s Spooky Season, and I celebrate with a slightly off beat bit of crochet. This is the first block of many, destined together to become a long bolster cushion for a sofa.

Younger Offspring whose apartment décor sits at the junction of vintage, Goth, mid-century modern, and exuberant and individual artistic expression has requested this and picked the colors. I provide the manual labor, and enjoy the fun of the journey.

The pattern chosen is Granny’s Eye, a paid pattern available via Ravelry. The yarns were chosen for value and wash properties. The black is KnitPicks Brava Sport, with a native knit gauge of 24 stitches = 4 inches (10 cm). The other colors are all Herschnerr’s 2-Ply Afghan Yarn. Although it has the same gauge, it is not as dense as the black, and has a more airy hand, sort of like vintage Shetland sport yarn. As a result it’s an unruly crochet, with the strands separating and shredding – very difficult to get a clean “grab” on them when forming the stitches.

I am using a 3.0 mm hook, to make squares that are 4.75 inches (12 xm) across. Preliminary calculations are that 11 x 4 units for the front and back, plus a squared side edge of one unit all the way around yield a finished cushion dimension of 52.25 inches x 19 inches x 4.75 inches (132.7 cm x 46.3 cm x 12 cm). That means I have only 117 more to do. I may experiment with a hook one size smaller to see how I like the density. I want it as tight as possible for this use. If so, my size/number of units calculation will have to be redone. In any case, there are going to be a lot of eyeballs in my immediate future.

Oh – that forehead cloth I’ve been working on? I’ve put it aside to get cracking on this bespoken project request. I’ll go back to it as soon as I can.

Being craft-multi-dexterous means that I can cycle among knitting, embroidery, and crochet (and sometimes sewing) and so avoid boredom or falling into a creative rut. Highly recommended. 🙂

UPDATE:

I’ve now experimented with hook sizes and styles. I most prefer a Clover 3.25 mm hook with its soft, wide grasping handle. For some reason the 3.0 mm hook I have from a set of mutiples must have an unusual alignment for throat and hook end, because I can’t pull it through a stitch without it catching. I can get the same gauge with better tension using the more comfortable Clover model. On to mass production!