The Perfect Little "Old Folks" Blanket

A sturdy little 40"x30"  "throw" (weighs about 1.4 lbs) made with small,
 rather densely crocheted granny squares.

 Many years ago,  I crocheted this small, two-toned blanket using granny squares arranged in an interesting geometric pattern with what I think of as a "red sun" in the center. I can't remember what yarn I used...maybe Red Heart? Anyway, it's not super soft, as you might want a throw to be, but I like it. 

I gave it to my parents.  After they both passed away and I had to sort through all their remaining household goods... there it was. I'd totally forgotten about it (as maybe they had, after a while). I didn't really want to get rid of it -- it had been a big project for me, not any quick-'n-easy thing. And it looked good.  I kept it, even though it seemed at first to just be extra bulk in the room. 

Well! As it turns out, it is the absolute perfect thing to have nearby, at night. My husband always manages to kick off his blankets, and then when he wakes up he says he got cold. (Tried the big weighted blanket thing, yuck.) And me, while I do not kick off my stuff, I tend to wake up and see that he has tossed his covers. But, I can't really jump up out of bed very easily. So I keep this perfect little blanket within my reach, and it's easy to toss right onto him. It's  Just simply the most perfect size, weight, texture, etc., for that.  

So, that's nice. 

Today, more of the same, mostly

 I did half of the hand-sewing left to do on the little towel. I'll probably finish up the rest of it tonight when we watch a DVD. Then, I'll need the sewing machine to "pillowcase it" with the backing before I hand- sew again.  

Also today,  I crocheted more of the green geo vest.  Finished the second pentagon and made another parallelogram. 

Sunny out today.  Nice,  but a bit hot and humid for me.  And I'm tired. I slept okay, but... just kind of tired. Who isn't, these days?

Progress on the geometric blanket yarn vest

The pentagon shape as given in the book 'Every Way With Granny Crochet'

by Julia Madill seems like it will work out well as a side joined to the parallelograms (also from the book). This has been guesswork so far and I will need an additional shape, I think, on the shoulders. The yarn is Bernat Blanket and the crochet hook is K.

Today's progress on a kitchen towel

 

I did this as a "quilt as you go" thing, with some guidance from the book 'The Directory of Quilting Techniques' by Caroline Rodriguez. I wanted to see what I thought of this method.  So, anyway,  I can see why it would be helpful if I were making something very large and I didn't want to try to feed it all through my sewing machine all at once.  But,  for my small patchwork towels, hmm... don't think I'll do it this way again.  It worked well, yes, but I think it makes more sense to do these the "usual" way.