or two, but three boxes appeared on my porch the other day!
I already knew a little about what was inside each; the littlest box held 3 two-year old blueberry plants, twigs really, that we ordered from Indiana Berry and Plant Co.
– I’m excited to try a new variety, ‘Bonus’, because, to quote the catalog, “Its’ berries are the largest on the market, generally the size of a quarter or half-dollar”!! Can you imagine? Can’t wait to see if we get even one berry of that size this year.
And I knew that the other two boxes contained blankets that Karen of MA started for me. – I think that sounds better than saying “Karen’s unwanted UFOs”, don’t you? –
Box One had variegated granny squares.
Lots of ’em!
59 five-inch granny squares in all
with yarn enough to make a few more squares or a border.
Why, it’s like receiving a granny afghan kit – ready for assembly!
Time out for a little math; scribble, scribble, calculate, calculate. . .
If I lay out 54 of the squares in a 6 x 9 grid I’ll have a 33″ x 49.5″ blanket. If I add a couple of border rounds it will be about the same size as my kids’ ripples! Cool. Thanks Karen!
Box Two opens with the beginnings of a very pretty blanket
double-crocheted of two strands, one cream and one variegated. The variegated changes with each row.
What a wonderful way to use up variegated scraps! I have a few of these same variegated yarns in my scrap box, but I don’t think mixing in some others will detract.
The next layer is a small section of a single-crochet ripple. Karen told me that she unraveled the rest of the blanket, one of her first, so I feel free to let DH unravel what remains.
She also sent the beginning of a second granny afghan
with plenty of coordinating yarns.
And, tucked in a corner, I found a completely unrelated surprise of some mohair!
So many projects, where shall I start? The variegated granny is very near to being done, which makes me want to weave in the squares’ yarn tails right away.
Oh. My. Did you read what I just said?. . . “I want to weave in yarn tails?!” Am I running a fever or sumthin’?
It must be that working in tails doesn’t feel like as big a deal when someone else did all the work of crocheting the squares for me. Thanks again Karen!
alottastitches 
The sc ripple looks like it might have been unraveled to start the pinks granny squares. My first thought is to now make blues granny squares (no two the same like the pinks) and use the continuous join as you go of all with the variegated yarn. You would not need to make 24 as the joining would add sizing.
http://babylovebrand.net/2013/08/27/continuous-join-as-you-go-again/ photo tutorial
http://www.crochetcabana.com/html/join_jayg.html video tutorial
Granny Squares: no two the same
http://www.ravelry.com/projects/AFwifeCrochetNut/arizona-granny-squares
What are you thinking for these?
Well, since two strips of the pink/white squares have already been sewn and I’ve been given so much pink yarn, I think I’m simply going to make more pink/white squares. But thanks for sharing the link to that eleven-color granny – LOVE IT! and love the way the maker kept track of her color combinations too. 🙂
The continuous join-as-you-go method is so clever! I played with it a while back and will probably use it on my next ‘from scratch’ granny. The pdf tutorial that I used, “Joining-as-you-go without cutting the thread”, can be downloaded from here, through Ravelry.