Safe At Home

     

    I had wanted the pattern for the 'Safe at Home' afghan since it was published but never got around to buying it until I saw that someone (who or where I don't remember) had added one of the houses as a pocket on the back of the afghan (it's lined) to hold tissues or a book for someone laying on a sofa.  I thought that was a great idea (a sale 'hook'!) so I bought it...but just because I now owned it didn't mean I was going to knit it right away.

   The directions for the knitted afghan are somewhat complicated and frankly, I don't have the time or patience to knit all the little pieces the way the directions call for.  (And then, sew them all in place?  No Way!  Not Me!!)  So the pattern went into my file until last week when I saw that someone else (again, 

I don't remember who or where) had combined the knit and crochet versions and was able to make a knit strip in 1 piece.  Out came my pattern again and after looking at it for awhile, I realized that if I copied the chart for the house (with windows and door) to graph paper and added the cart for the sky and roof where they belonged, I would have a chart for the complete picture without the need to knit any small pieces.

   Last night I was bored with my sweaters for the shop and my library books had lost my interest, too, so I decided to try a house.  I co on 24 sts (instead of 12) and worked my house, roof and sky from my new chart.  When it was finished, I cut the yarn for the roof and house and added different colors for the next roof and house but left the sky yarn alone and kept knitting.  By this noon I had complete almost an entire strip without any small pieces that had to be sewn in!

I'm planning to make a 'Throw' size (52x60 or close to it) with a pocket on the lining, with 8 houses in a strip and 10 strips and a 1" knit border around it. Knitting each strip in 1 piece makes it a lot easier.  It can become a pocket project, too!  (Since it takes app. 1 hour to do 1 house, 5 small balls of yarn and a pair of short US7's with a started strip rolled up around it can easily fit in a baggie and slip into my pocketbook to be worked on in doctor's waiting rooms, grocery store parking lots, traffic jams, etc.)  And it will be a change from carrying around half a sock in a baggie in my pocketbook.  I think I'd like to do 1 throw for the shop and 2 or 3 for Christmas presents for next year.   Wish me luck!!  I'll post photos!