I suppose it would be nice if after finishing a larger project there were time to take one of my crochet blankets and find myself a nice warm spot by a water’s edge (oceans being my favorite) and simply sit and contemplate the world for a few days, but life does not always allow for that, and usually when I finish one project it simply means that I have more time for another project which has, in the interim, become more pressing.
Such was the case today.
With all parts of the cookie-dough-ku completed, I was free to resume work on a two-pronged project that I need to have done by April 6.
While I have one prong of the project well underway, as of this morning, I had not even started on the other prong: a sunflower inspired lapghan to be offered as one of the prizes for a raffle that will be held on April 12, 2013, in conjunction with a Spaghetti Banquet for my friend Becky’s husband, Donn.
As I have mentioned in previous posts, Donn has been living with and undergoing treatment for sarcoma for almost two years now, and sunflowers (along with yellow ribbons) are two of the symbols used to promote sarcoma awareness, so after some discussion with Becky, I decided that a sunflower throw would be perfect.
I needed a motif that would be fairly simple and quick to work. Using Square 26 from Jean Leinhauser’s 101 Crochet Squares as my source of guidance and inspiration:
along with a 5.5 mm hook, and Red Heart Super Saver in coffee, bright yellow and paddy green, I made a few modifications and came up with this:
and because I like to alternate decorative motifs with a more subtle design, I decided to work every other square in paddy green:
and then began joining them so that they form the sawtooth edge I am so fond of:
I did some quick calculations and found that I need to average making (and joining) 6.1 squares per day to get it done in time for the banquet, and as of today, I am right on track.
FUN pattern!!!! Love the saw toothed edge!
Oooh, love it!
Looks great!
It’s absolutely wonderful. I just posted for everyone that the raffle tickets will be on sale and they can see it at the Banquet. Will actually do the drawing on April 30th.
What a wonderful afghan! Here’s how sunflowers and yellow became symbols of sarcoma: Wendy Sommers, who survived many years with sarcoma, saw sunflowers as symbols of hope because they turned their heads toward the sun, which was pretty optimistic in the SF area, where she lived and gardened. In the 90s, she began calling and mailing sarcoma survivors around the world to give them information and hope. After she died, a sarcoma buddy founded the Alliance and Wendy’s husband created a yellow ribbon with a sunflower in the middle. If others can bid on your lap robe, I’ll put it on Twitter for you.
Thank you so very much Suzie for sharing the sarcoma alliance story with us. For a multitude of reasons we are keeping the raffle for the lapghan local.