Crochet: A Study in Carrots

This month, I joined my first crochet swap.  I’ve seen swaps all over on Ravelry and other internet groups, but I never actually participated in one until now.  I was sucked in by the colors!

These colors are all Vanna’s Choice by Lion Brand (did you know that Vanna White is a huge crocheter!?  Who would have thought!).  The line of yarn that has her name on it is acrylic (which means great for a house with little children), but the colors are what I most love.  They’re beautiful, and they’re meant to all coordinate with each other, taking a lot of the guesswork out of color selection.  Anyway, there’s a group on Ravelry dedicated to this particular yarn called – appropriately – Vanna’s Choice Fan Club, where they coordinate numerous swaps throughout the year using Vanna yarn.  The color schemes are chosen a couple of times a year and then you can choose to join in or not.  When you do, you crochet up a bunch of squares in the chosen colors, and then send them to the rest of the group.  At the end, you have a lovely afghan.

So, as I said before, I was tempted to join in because of the beautiful color inspiration for this particular swap – carrots!  (For those interested, the colors here are terracotta, radiant orange, fern, kelly green, and beige.)

Now as an aside, I just love carrots.  We eat carrots constantly here, and with summer gardens coming up, the fresh palette just called out to me to join.  And so I did.  We’re each to make two squares to send to our swapmates.

I don’t think that too many of the other swappers make one square over and over – the norm seems to be more along the lines of making many different squares, to keep the crocheter from being bored.  I, on the other hand, afghan maker that I am, appreciate a good square in repetition.  So I chose two patterns that I’ve been meaning to try for a while and have the first one just about ready to go.

This square (actually an afghan pattern) called “Eve’s Coverlet” is from More Herrschners Blue-Ribbon Afghans – a book I love from a designer that I’m so totally into – Susan Stevens (more on that later next week!).  I’m just so pleased with the way it turned out, though it took quite a while to make just one… well, that’s what happens when you pick a hobby like crochet – not so many cases of instant gratification, but well worth the wait.  Ravelry notes, by the way, are here.

The other pattern I’ll be starting on next week, and it is keeping in tune with the vegetable theme – stay tuned!