I am what is known as a trumpet mom.

Among the other things I do in the course of a week, I drive my youngest son to a trumpet lesson that is roughly 45 minutes in duration, and while my son’s trumpet teacher attempts to teach my son the basic skills required to play the trumpet with some degree of competence, I wait.

As I wait, I learn snippets of music theory (particularly as it pertains to the trumpet) and work on whatever crochet project it is that has my attention.

To do this, I sit in a particular corner, in a particular chair with two small lamps to illuminate my work.

In addition to providing me with the necessary illumination to do my work, the rays of the light of the lamps reach a shelf of books that falls within my line of vision, and on those shelves are the first two volumes of Greystone’s Creative Hands, a twenty-two volume series published in 1975 and edited by Beverly Hilton. With little effort, I can reach those volumes, and this past Thursday, that is exactly what I did while I waited during the trumpet lesson.

The volume nearest to me and easiest to remove from the shelf was volume two, so that is where I started. While there were several projects that caught my interest, the one that ultimately grabbed my attention and prompted me to reach for a hook (my 4.5 mm in this case) and scavenge from whatever yarns I had on me, was a granny inspired circular pattern called a Wagon Wheel.

Using what colors I had available (Red Heart Super Saver candy print and baby pink) I set to work.

The first thing I made (using the candy print) was the small circle seen here:

After that, I alternated rounds of candy print with baby pink to create the large circle:

and while I would need to make four more large circles to show how the two motifs are combined to form an afghan, you can see how the two pieces look when placed adjacent to each other:

In addition to the two circles shown here, there are directions for a continued expansion of the circle that results in an engaging and fun pillow cover.

As for the book, the crochet information despite being nearly four decades old has an approach to the craft that is both fresh and timeless. If I come across any one (or more) of the twenty-two volumes that comprise this series the next time I am in a used bookstore, I will definitely pick it (them) up.