The Truth About the Granny Rose Pattern - by the NVO

EXPOSED!!!

As we are heading into the last stretch of the "Granny Rose Crochet-A-Long", this Tuesday, the NVO has insisted that he tell his side of the story of where the granny rose pattern came from. This is one of his favorite stories, and for him to take the time to write this down and email it to me is just outright endearing!!!

The Truth about the Granny Rose

By The NVO

Apparently this “CAL” has created quite a following and a roar of excitement within the hook-n-yarn crowd.  It is uncommon for the NVO to contribute to this blog; but you need to know the entire story behind this crocheted rose…and I know Astri will never tell you.   She has had crochetaholics, like yourself, asking for the rose pattern ever since she first posted about the blanket…I mean afghan…she created quite a while back; so I think you all need to know what she went through to figure this out.  She finally succumbed to the pressure, or had received enough praise on the “rose”, to write down the pattern, make the videos, and organize the CAL.  So as the late Paul Harvey would say, “Now let me tell you the REST of the story…”

As you are well aware, Astri can be a bit…compulsive when it comes to her crocheting and yarn.  Not to mention organizing cabinets, garages, and my undershorts drawer (I think they are arranged by age, color, size, and then the number of holes worn in them).   Our youngest (“Little Bug”) has a hoard of activities she enjoys; crocheting is not one of them.  However, she does have a very good friend (Kristen) that does enjoy the “art.”  This is where my interpretation of the story may differ from Astri’s...

Astri and I were visiting our “Little-Bug” one evening where she lived with a few other college girls.  Over the back of the sofa was “the afghan.”  Apparently it was made by an old blind nun at some secluded convent about 80 years ago, and found its way into Kristen’s family.  Astri asked if it would be okay if she took it home to “inspect” it and see if she could figure out the pattern.  Kristen agreed, as long as Astri brought it back within the next 24 hours.

Okay, close your eyes and imagine this…no, wait…then you won’t be able to read this and I’m not putting it in audio form.  Anyway, Astri is sitting on the sofa closely inspecting one of the granny squares of this 80 year old afghan; I am sitting in a separate chair reading something (Kierkegaard I think, or maybe it was the Sunday comics), and the bug is at the other end of the sofa.  After about 20 minutes I look up from my reading material and see Astri with a big pile of yarn next to her as she is stripping one of the granny squares clear down to sheep the yarn came from!  Not once…but twice!  Now there is an 80 year old afghan on the sofa, minus two granny squares!   My first words were the enlightened “Holy Crap!  Kristen is gonna freak!”  This is where I learned another lesson on trusting my girl.

Fortunately she was able to get the pattern figured out before she took the entire afghan apart.  However, now she had the task of crocheting it back from the pattern she wrote down using only the EXACT amount of yarn that she stripped.  It took her numerous attempts to recreate the rose without running out of yarn or having any left over.  Don’t let her tell you she was calm as a cucumber.  More than once I know I saw her wipe a drop of sweat from the tip of her nose in quiet desperation.  But she got it back together, with no-one being the wiser, unless Kristen reads this.  So now you know what Astri and the rest of us went through so YOU could participate in this CAL.

Happy Hooking…

NVO.