UFOs? Mutant Granny Squares? or Play-Kitchen Potholders?

[akirlu]

No, it's D)Yarn-bomb Your House. No wait, it's probably E)All of the Above, where UFO stands for Un-Finished Object



One of the projects that fills my television-watching time at the moment is making a whole bunch of crocheted squares. They're not quite granny squares, because I am an undisciplined crochetist, (crotchety crochetist?) and like to experiment too much. Also, true granny squares have too much open air space in them for whatever's underneath to peep through. So call them mutant granny squares, since it's not an official pattern what has a name.

But, whatever you call them, eventually they will unite in one glorious, overly bright, bohemian whole. See, I have this ratty vintage slipper chair that I got cheaply off Craigslist years ago. It's comfortable, and I like the lines, but the fabric is Pepto- Bismol pink and kinda scratchy, and in the time since I first brought it home, Tinka has used it a few too many times as a scratching post. It's funny because she's usually quite good about leaving the furniture alone and doing her scratching outside, so I am left to conclude that she was offering some sort of aesthetic criticism. Anyway, while I always meant to recover it, Tinka has upped the urgency since the chair, at this point, is pretty disreputable.

Originally I thought I would use this as an opportunity to try my hand at learning some bona fide upholstering chops (she who dies with the most skills wins), and I have been particularly admiring some of the very brightly colored, funky patchwork designer upholstery jobs that pop up lately on the design blogs, but then I thinks: I have all this yarn anyway, and I am charmed by this whole culture of yarn-bombing, and so why not make a chair cozy instead? It means I can pick all the colors of the fabric myself, and make the outcome as wildly, funkadelically, ecclectically bohemian as I could possibly want, plus, if I do it right, I can slip the thing off the chair and hand wash it at need, which is not a thing one can do with tacked-on upholstery. So, A Project is Born.

It's slow going, because I find crochet far clumsier and more awkward than knitting, possibly because I'm completely self-taught and possibly because I don't do it as much. And I keep improvising new variants because I am, as I say, a bit of a free-spirit when it comes to adhering to strict pattern repetition. But there is progress. Yay, progress.

Comments

[athenais.livejournal.com]

Those are so cheery!

[scarlettina.livejournal.com]

Cheery is exactly the word I was going to use--they're so bright. When you're done, you won't be able to sit in this chair without feeling better, no matter how you're feeling. Love this idea. Hope you'll post pictures when you're done!

[wild-patience.livejournal.com]

Interesting. Crochet is faster for me, but I learned it first. I don't remember not knowing how to crochet or embroider, both skills which my mother's old German aunties did. I do remember them showing me some embroidery stitch when I was little.

The squares look great. I plan to use up leftover acrylic yarn from various projects over the years for a granny-square afghan for the sofa. Eventually.

[akirlu.livejournal.com]

Cheery, festive, and a bit childlike is what I'm going for, yeah.

[akirlu.livejournal.com]

Scary fact: they're brighter in real life. At least on my monitor, the picture makes them look quite a bit more subdued than the real thing. I mean to post pictures when I'm done, but that may be a while. Heck, I could even do a Before/After pair. But, like I say, it'll be a while.

[akirlu.livejournal.com]

Thanks! Yeah, my mother taught me to crochet a chain and then lost patience with me. It may be a good thing she never realized her early ambition to become a teacher. But so I actually only learned to crochet after a friend taught me to knit a few years back, and I'd been on Ravelry a while and kept seeing patterns I really liked that turned out to be crochet. Also, I found myself wanting to be able to do a crocheted provisional cast on, and so, needs must. I did learn embroidery from my grandmothers, and weaving, after my maternal grandmother had a stroke and took up weaving as occupational therapy.