Unleash the Kraaken! ...er, I Mean, Crochet, Ho Ho Ho

When I recently reorganized my yarn by brand, I also pulled out all the Christmas yarns I bought last year, in some odd, unexplainable frenzy.  It's like I bought every type I found, at least a few.   I was thinking now's the time to get actual projects going with them, and if I needed more of something, maybe it would be out there again.

I have 6 skeins of Red Heart Super Saver "Mistletoe" and thought I could make a throw with them, no idea of the size.  I started making granny squares and  really like them.

My keen idea was to make as many squares as I could from the skeins, then think about adding another row of a matching color or colors if I thought I'd like it.

 Next thing you know, there I was out shopping with a square in my pocket to see if I could find a match in something like the Caron One Pounder.  Lots of room for edges, right. Better yet, I found Red Heart Super Saver Jumbo in White which matches perfectly and lightens up the color scheme.  I really like the addition.

Let's get those projects going, you say!  I have seen more Bernat Handicrafter Holidays Cotton Yarn out there, and could get more of that one.  I wanted to try it out first, and the 12 oz big skeins seemed like an amount you'd want to base a blanket on.  But, can you make an afghan from cotton yarn?  Some say yes, some say no, but only one site showed an afghan using it.   Others dismiss cotton yarn as "kitchen yarn" and "dishcloth yarn."   Eek, like I'm going to make a thousand dishcloths from that big skein.  Or, whoo hoo, a pencil cup cover.  The placemats I've seen aren't too bad, but again, a waste of all that Christmasy colored yarn.  I am really liking working with the cotton.

I'm using Attic 24's Granny Stripe Afghan pattern, and I have two other colors I could be striping in, maybe should be striping in.  But, I love the cotton Mistletoe so much.  It is pretty, works nicely (best on the Boye rubber handled ones--metal and plastic hooks sort of caught on the yarn and were hard to pull through).    It is soft and pretty.  At first I thought I stripe in a red and white with silver metallics every fourth row.  They're also the Bernat Handicrafter and are cotton, but I just kept going.  We shall see how far the first skein gets me.  I'm just on row 6, but I love it.

I've been meaning to try the granny stripe for quite awhile, and it really is a pleasure to work along the rows.  I did take the measurement of another site 164 chains to begin rather than the 239 (?) Attic 24 has.  It's plenty wide.  We'll see how long it ends up.