In the past 24 hours, I have experienced a confluence of crochet events centered around the ubiquitous ripple afghan that have led me back to where I started. Coming in a variety of stitches as well as the width and depth of the chevrons that make up any given pattern, ripple patterns are longstanding staple of crochet.

The first crochet event took place late yesterday.

While I looking through some vintage yarn, I noticed the vintage labels. The outside of the Coats & Clark label proclaimed that the 4 ounce skeins of Red Heart yarn was 100% pure virgin wool. The inside of the label had a pattern for a project described as a “Royal Ripple Afghan.”

Calling for a total of 12 four-ounce skeins in the colors of yellow, mid orange, rust, and wood brown, the pattern was for a very popular ripple standard done with a single crochet through the back loop only.

Next, while sorting through a few things in the part of the attic known as the “yarn annex” (in an effort to determine which craft holdings I am going to keep and which craft holdings I need to divest myself of so that I can better use what I do have), I came across a bag that contained an unfinished object (UFO) from long ago.

Made with this raffinese that I found on sale about a decade ago:

and using the ripple pattern number 77 from Jean Leinhauser’s 101 Knit and Crochet Ripple Stitches, I worked the following piece of crochet:

this detail of which better shows the texture created by using a post stitch as part of the stitch pattern:

So, it was no surprise to me when the ubiquitous ripple made another appearance tonight, while I was watching episode 18 from season 2 of Modern Family (titled Boys’ Night), I couldn’t help but notice that when the elderly neighbor, Walt Kleezak, is rudely awakened from an early evening slumber, he jumps out of his chair the back of which is covered with a ripple afghan very similar in construction to the Royal Ripple Afghan on the vintage label I came across yesterday.

I don’t know what it is about ripple afghans that so appeals to us, but they have become an integral artifact (both past and present) of the texture of our lives.