Waiting for grenadine

leslieorama

In our last regularly scheduled blog post, I was mid-way through crocheting the third of three very large flowers when I ran out of the yarn: a loud pink called grenadine from Red Heart Super Saver line.

Three large crochet flowers all in a row
Three large crochet flowers all in a row

I was pretty certain that I had more of the yarn, but it was nowhere to be found.

So I went online and looked to see if there were a skein of it at any of the Walmarts located within a 10 mile radius of my house.

There wasn’t.

I did the same with Michaels and Joann Fabric and Craft, and the result was still the same. There was not one skein of Red Heart Super Saver grenadine to be found anywhere in Albuquerque.

So I went online, found what I was looking for and ordered ten skeins.

I don’t need ten skeins, but I know that when a color that was on the shelves suddenly disappears and is only available online, it is just a matter of time before the color is dropped from the line altogether, and since I find that the grenadine has a certain pop and punch that the other pinks in the line lack, I am stocking up while I can.

So while I am waiting for a box full of grenadine yarn to arrive, I turned my attention to how to make a flower using yarn and a fork. I watched the video and carefully followed along with red yarn and this fork:

A large serving fork with four prongs to use as a tool to make a flower with yarn
A large serving fork with four prongs to use as a tool to make a flower with yarn

The initial wrapping went well, but when I tried to finish the petal as demonstrated, things started to unravel. Literally.

So I went to my crochet caddy and got a thinner yarn needle, and then I went to the drawer in my kitchen where I keep things I don’t have anywhere else to put, and I got a glove that I use when I need to have non-slip grip:

A thin yarn needle and a non-slip glove
My thinnest yarn needle and a non-slip glove

I had everything I needed to give it another try — almost.

I just needed one more thing: a good strong chip clip that could be used to hold the wrapped yarn in place while I ran the yarn needle along the yarn wrapped fork tines to secure the wrapping:

I rewound the yarn, clipped it in place, put the glove and and threaded the thinner, more agile yarn needle and held my breath and tried to work more patiently than I felt like working. Eventually I got the first petal done:

I have five more petals to make and then I will have what I need assemble my first “fork embroidery” flower. Hopefully I will be able to pick up my “petal” speed as I gain more experience while I wait for the grenadine yarn to arrive.