Crafty I Am Not

This post was published yesterday, in error. 

If you are one of the 19 people who read it before I deleted it.... oops!

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As long as it doesn't have to fit, I'm fine. Aprons, hats, mittens, blankets, as long as it's one-size-fits-all, whether on the sewing machine or with crochet hook or knitting needles, I'm a happy girl.  Like G'ma before me, I'm becoming more comfortable if the materials are not too dark, my eyes aging with the rest of me.  But I like to keep busy and the NBA playoffs are not holding my attention and I seem to have a lot of yarn just asking to be made into blankets.  

The problem with blankets is that they require many skeins of yarn.  Sometimes I make up the stripes, sometimes the yarn itself creates them, but even the bulkiest of yarns requires more than one skein for even the smallest of baby blankets*.  This means that I must join the skeins together.  

I don't have the patience to do a great job, I think.  My grandmother's and TBG's grandmother's afghans are 60 years old and have no signs that any of the sections are other than seamless.  There are no loose threads appearing out of nowhere.  There are no squares falling off the edges.  Alas, I am not certain that the same can be said for my creations, beautiful and cozy as they may be.  I have yet to master the art of weaving in the ends and I am too parsimonious to pay someone to finish my work.

It's a conundrum, obviously.

I've been pondering solutions for two or three blankets now.

I think I have a solution.

I'm going to put tags on them.

Babies love the satiny tags on the fancy toys ... often, more than they love the toys.

This blanket will look elegant from the front and have four or five luscious tags for baby's little fingers.....  at least, that's the plan.

How was I to know that my local Hancock Fabrics store was closing? The 25% off offers were delightful, but I'd have paid full price for the glue gun and the ribbon and the glue sticks.  I had a plan.

I practiced folding the ribbon while the glue heated up.  Even the low-power model, designed for delicate fabrics like my satin ribbon, takes 5 or so minutes to become goo.  I'm glad I read the directions before I began; I knew to put my glue goo covered fingers under cold water and peel gently.  They were right to admonish me to use a protective surface.

This kitchen towel, bought for The Big House in 1997, will now move to a new function as glue glop catcher.  I'm so glad that the glue is not on the countertop.

It was nearly too hot for my not-so-delicate fingertips to maneuver successfully, but this first one doesn't look all that awful to me.  It's a sad standard to uphold, but, as I warned you, Crafty I Am Not.

It may not be the most elegant of solutions, but I'm not unhappy. I remember express mailing FlapJilly a dolly and watching her caress the tag while ignoring the most interesting face and hair and clothes that Amazon had to offer.  It was irritating and fascinating in the same moment..... just as babyhood is.  And so, even though it may not make any sense to those of us who have outgrown our bottles and diapers, it made sense to my granddaughter and so by definition, it is correct.

Excuse me now while I continue to glue.  I'm on a roll.

*This excludes those designed specifically for the car seat of the freezing baby who's not allowed to wear her snowsuit while buckled up for safety; those are one ball wonders.