SUNDAY MEMORIES
Judy Wills
I have mentioned in other musings that I really love to crochet! I taught myself to crochet, but took lessons to learn to knit. Unfortunately, nothing I knitted fit! I could knit to gauge, but when the garment was finished – it still didn’t fit! It was either too big, or too small. Just never worked. So I have done more crocheting than knitting, and have a great pleasure in it.
When I was learning to crochet, one of the main patterns I saw was the “traditional Granny Square” afghan.
It is made with left-over tidbits of yarn, in no particular pattern or color, but always bordered in black. While I love the look, I have never made a “traditional” Granny Square afghan. Perhaps someday….
For some reason, I started making afghans – more for gifts to friends and family than to myself. Not sure just why, but I remember the first one I made. We were living in Panama City, Florida (actually Tyndall AFB) and had met a family through our church. I became very close friends with the wife of the family. When they were about to move from Panama City back to their hometown, I wanted to do something for them that they could enjoy, and perhaps remember me (our family) when they used it. I found this pattern and liked it.
Lynn and I went to a yarn shop in Panama City to try to match the colors of her couch, which we did. I purchased a lovely yarn that was 4-ply, worsted weight (size), but was nice and light. When I finished the afghan, I found that I had nearly enough yarn left to make another one! And so I did – one for me. Here is a picture of that afghan. It sat on the back of our couch for many years – and actually it reminded me of Lynn and her family as much as I had hoped it would remind Lynn of our family.
1987 – Seaford, Virginia – Judy and Janet on our couch – the afghan behind us
And so, I found that I would make an afghan for wedding presents through the years, in this same pattern. I used many different colors, but the same pattern. My favorite color pattern was dark chocolate brown down to an off-white or cream color. I made quite a few of those colors, but have no picture of any of them. I did find another pattern for a small lap afghan, and had enough brown-tone yarn left to make a couple of small ones in that yarn. I gave them to our church to give to a mission project we did.
My Aunt Jessie wanted one in that pattern, so I made her one in tones of pink. I made one of the same colors for our Karen.
I made one of burgundy shades for our Janet.
I made one in shades of royal blue for a nephew and his fiancé (no picture). I made one in cream with a stripe of dark rust to match the couch of my best friend, Sue.
So, you can see I’ve worked a lot of afghans in that pattern.
But not too long ago, I found this pattern in a book.
While I liked the pattern, I wanted to make a smaller afghan for our Karen – sort of a “half” afghan. Her husband, Brian, likes to sleep in a cold room, so I made a small afghan in just white and aqua just for Karen to cover herself when the room got too cold.
And so, when I looked at that pattern in the pattern book recently, I thought to myself, “that looks really pretty.”
But when I purchased the yarn to make it like the picture, I again thought to myself “how can these colors possibly go together???” But now that I’m working on it, they go together amazingly! And bordered by white just makes the colors “pop” out! This one will be a wedding present, as well.
This is such fun! I am so glad to be able to work these things! God is good!
Judy is living in Central Florida with her retired U.S. Air Force husband of 50+ years. Born in Dallas, Texas, she grew up in the Southwestern United States.She met her husband at their church, where he was attending the university in her town. After college and seminary, he entered the Air Force, and their adventures began.They lived in eight of our United States, and spent six years in Europe, where their oldest daughter was born. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years .
Judy has always been involved with music, both playing the piano and singing. Always interested in exercise, she was an aerobic dancing instructor, as well as a piano teacher for many years, and continues to faithfully exercise at home.
After moving to Central Florida, she served as a church secretary for nearly nine years.Her main hobby at this point in time is scanning pictures and 35mm slides into the computer. She also enjoys scrapbooking.She and her husband have two married daughters and four grandchildren, including grandtwins as well as a great-grandson. She and her husband enjoy the Disney parks as often as possible.
Old Things R New 
You are an excellent Afghan maker.
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