For Him

  The next Granny-Spiration Challenge is coming up soon, so I thought I'd share a little sneak peek along with a granny-inspired quickie I just worked up. It's no coincidence that both projects are made with granny squares; I've been going back to it a lot since starting the Challenge. It is just by chance that both happen to be for a man.


crochet, cotton, granny square, Granny-Spiration Challenge

  The first project was a request by Rip van Winkle. Yes, you read that right: He asked me to crochet him something. This is rare, but it's happened before. As usual, he gave me his input on how it should go, and I'm not happy with the result. But... He's happy with it, so that's all that really matters. I found out that the liquid "soap" (which is actually detergent) that he uses is no good for the infection he's still fighting, so I made him switch to a bar of real soap. This, of course, has caused him to start complaining about the bar soap being mushy because he leaves it on the corner of the tub... *Sigh* At least he asked me to crochet him a soap holder to stop the problem.


crochet, granny square, cotton, soap holder

  We were out losing our minds... Er, I mean shopping at Wal-Mart... We were out anyway, so I picked up one of the four colors of cotton yarn available at the local hell... I mean Wal-Mart on a Sunday. I didn't feel like having to go anywhere else, so I settled on a cone of the color he liked best. The color that has a lot of white in it. For the guy that works with concrete every day. I know it won't be white for long.


crochet, granny square, soap holder, cotton

  I was going to make it with a drawstring enclosure, but I was halfway through seaming it together when he asked me if I could put a button and a loop on it. *Sigh* I don't have any more buttons. I undid the seam and reworked it in in an envelope fashion, adding a loop as I worked around. (I seamed it without breaking off from the square.) Then I crocheted a button by making 10 single crochet in a magic circle, joined, and made 12 more single crochet right over those. It made a "button" thick enough that the loop won't slip off easily.


crochet, granny square, soap holder, cotton

  To finish, I added a 10-chain hanging loop so he can stop complaining about his mushy soap. I used an internet tip a while back and installed an expanding shower curtain rod against the back wall of the shower. A pack of fancy S-hooks later, we have a place for him to hang his washcloth, bath puff, loofah scrubber, and now his soap holder. The man has more bath implements than me and The Kid put together, and he still comes out with concrete on him.


crochet, granny square, soap holder, cotton

  The thing I'm not happy with - but it doesn't matter - is that the pouch is way too big for a bar of soap. I would prefer a soap holder that fits the bar snugly, but he wanted something closer to the size of a washcloth.


crochet, granny square, soap holder, cotton

  Again, it doesn't matter, but I don't like how the top folds over a bit because of the extra material. It's not my soap holder and he got exactly what he asked for, so I'm going to wash my hands of this one and just go work on the now-requested matching washcloth. Yup, it will be a simple granny square.


  Now, my friends, for the sneak peek at something you'll really want to see! No, there's nothing really special about the stitches or the colors of the afghan I'm working on, other than I finally found a use for that horrid green-y Taupe. It will be made of simple granny squares in man-friendly colors. So what will be so exciting about this project that you won't want to miss?

crochet, WIP, work in progress, afghan, man-ghan, granny square

  I think we can all admit that we don't like the inevitable twist that happens as you work a granny in the round. The more rounds you work, the more the center twists as you can see above. But that twist you see in that picture? Yeah, that's not gonna happen anymore!... I've been experimenting. You'll like the results.


Happy Crocheting!

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