Darla Fanton

Variegated Yarns

In an earlier post I mentioned that during my travels I work on charity crochet projects. They are usually small projects that are easy to pick up, don’t require a lot of concentration, use up stash yarn (providing an excuse to buy more) and hopefully give the recipient as much joy in the receiving as I had in the making.

Since I will soon be on the way to the Orlando Needlework Show, it was time to rummage in the yarn stash and organize the next project. The Portland CGOA Chapter, Always in Stitches, is making children’s afghans as our Community Project, so I will be working on easily portable 7″ x 9″ blocks. I’ve made a number of these blocks already using various pattern stitches and bright colors and my “always ready to go on a moment’s notice” bag was a little light on yarn.

Sorting through one of the boxes of stash yarn I came across some in white, pastels and a variegated pastel. Perfect for a baby afghan. Plus it provides an excuse for me to work with variegated yarn. You see, I have a fondness for variegated yarn. Always have had. Can’t explain it. Not even going to try to analyze it. I just love working with the stuff.

When designing with variegated yarns I always do a lot of swatching. They can be challenging to work with. Sometimes the color changes create a pleasing pattern all by themselves - sometimes they don’t! I try different approaches….maybe working in the round instead of rows or trying different stitches. Sometimes a small change is all it takes to make a big difference. Another thing that can make a big difference is the solid colors used with the variegated. This project provides an opportunity to illustrate the impact a surrounding color can have.

I have an additional challenge with this project. This is a discontinued yarn, so I’m pretty much limited to what I have in my stash. I could work solid color blocks and edge them with the variegated. But I only have 1 full plus 1 partial skein of variegated (and another partial skein in a different dye lot - How did that happen?). I’m pretty sure that won’t be enough to do the edging and joining. Plus the difference in dye lot of that “odd one” would be too noticeable if I had to add it in right next to the main variegated. I’ve decided to use the variegated by working with three colors per block. I’ll alternate 1 row of variegated with a row each of two other colors and see how many blocks I get. Then I’ll decide if I’m going to do some solid color blocks or some additional blocks of 3 color stripes or…..?

I worked a couple of blocks while I was deciding on an easy stitch pattern. You can see how different this variegated yarn looks just by changing the second color from pink to blue. In both blocks I started with the variegated, the 2nd row is a solid color and the 3rd row is white, repeat that sequence ending with a variegated row. I’m sure changing the second color to yellow will give yet a different look.

This post is getting rather long, so I’ll pop in tomorrow and share the pattern for this block in case you want to crochet a similar charity afghan from your stash yarn. I’m sure somebody in your community would welcome a warm blankie. If you aren’t sure who could use your afghan you might want to start by checking to see if there is a Project Linus Chapter near you.