Inquisitive Felines and Fibers

I spent this week crocheting and tearing out, crocheting and tearing  out, crocheting and tearing out. Well, you get the picture. I’m making a baby afghan for a friend’s grandchild and I knew just what I wanted. Upstairs I went to look in my stash – 3 very large totes of Red Heart worsted yarns from various afghans over the years – to dig out the colors I thought would work. Lavender was a given, a rich purple a probable, a minty/sagey green a definite, and a multi to tie them all together. And I found them all! Of course, I found various amounts of different shades of each just to keep things interesting. Once they were bundled up, down the stairs I went with our yarns and my hook.

I’m not sure quite why, but I rarely knit afghans. Crocheting is much quicker for me and I seem to find patterns that I like better in crochet to make up the afghans. This might be something to analyze at a later date. One thing I love about Red Heart yarn is it’s consistency in weight. Plus the colors are solid and for a child’s afghan it’s good to have something washable that will hold up to some use. Now, if the yarns had been in full skeins rather than bits and pieces it would have been a much quicker project, but then where would the fun have been. I like this pattern and I’ve had an afghan in this pattern for 20 years that still looks like it did the day I finished crocheting it and I have used it a lot over the years.

This has also led me to the “why don’t I have baby things made and stored” question that rears its little head every now and again. It’s usually when I have two or more items to make that I think about this. I don’t really suppose that I could do it that way with the afghans, though, because I try to make each one differently and to personalize them so making them up in advance wouldn’t really work.  Now sweaters, on the other hand….. So, how do you handle baby items? Do you have a safe stash or do you make as you go?