African Roseanne Afghan

You know how on the TV show "Roseanne" they have that blanket on the back of the couch, made from all different little scraps of yarn, just added at random and a black border framing each square? Well... Yesterday early evening I decided I would do that but with African Flowers. It will use up all the little balls of yarn scraps that I have that are too small to do much else with. The African Flowers work up very quickly. This is not going to be a full size blanket but more of a throw. Here is what I started on early last evening and have so far.

I am sure by now anyone reading this blog is starting to think "But just about everything you make is out of scraps!".  This is true and untrue all at the same time, LOL!  The reason why I have a lot of scraps is because I keep a laundry basket filled with various balls of yarn.  Some of them are donated, and some of them I purchased.  Many of the colors that I wouldn't normally pick are slowly going away and getting used up in some of my projects.  I like to look at my yarn basket in the same way that a child looks at a box of crayons or a painter looks at all the tubes of paint sitting there, just waiting to come together in whatever fashion they see fit. Sometimes a color isn't all that pretty on it's own, but just the right thing you need to make something "pop", and a key "ingredient" to make it come together.  I would not sit down and eat a tub of butter on it's own, but I sure like some on my mashed potatoes, and I would not sit down and eat a carton of baking powder, but my biscuits would be flat without it! 

I don't like to constrain myself to just a select 4 colors for a project or whatever.  In some cases yes, that is ideal.  But for many things I figure why not just get as colorful as you can, and so I do.  Once I start to use up some of the colors that were donated to me, I see myself making some projects with more "me" type colors in it. Much of the time, I will pass by the yarn isle and just pick up a skein of whatever color because I think it is pretty, although I have no plans for it in particular. Many of the colors you see here I purchased, but there are bits and pieces here that I did not.  Anyway... I have the laundry basket sitting right next to me and I am using the smallest balls of yarn and some of the colors that I am not super crazy about in this project and mixing them with "me" colors and eventually I will make use of all those colors.  It is fun to see how they will all come together.  

That is why I am calling this my "African Roseanne" blanket.  Just like on the blanket on her couch, this will make use of all the colors I have on hand and form something colorful and cheerful.  We all grew up with one of those blankets or knew someone that had one on the back of their couch.  Some were prettier than others depending on the yarn used.  This is my take on it but instead of using granny squares, I am using African Flowers.  

OK, my pot of jasmine tea is ready I think, and I have an hour to kill... off to hook some more on this project and have some tea while using my new tea cozy ;)