Illusion crochet afghan idea

When I was working on the tumbling blocks boxes the other day, I built the blocks from triangles. Geometrically, the shape is hexagonal, and hexagons are built from triangles. So last night, I went to bed completely exhausted, and apparently mumbling "It should work. Crochet equilateral triangles are easy and cubes are made from hexagons." Then went on to explain to my husband who hadn't asked that I mean 2 dimensional representations of cubes so it would make sense. Apparently I failed, but he was very patient about it.

So an example of a 2 d cubic representation is the tumbling blocks design which works out on triangle graph paper like this.

(I like modular granny square (or triangle!) crochet, it's very mindless for when I'm watching television and just want something in my hands)

So that's been done before. What I wanted was more of an illusion. If you look at the image at the top of the page, it can either look like a cube with a corner cut out of it, or a corner with a cube in it. So how would that look graphed for modular crochet?

The illusion relies on the varying tones, it's most effective in a monochromatic color scheme which probably will mean different yarn brands that are the same weight. Now I need to swatch for gauge and find the right colors! As a hexagon shape, it will be good as a throw I think.

Here's some graph paper if you want to play with your own ideas. I'd love to see them!

A printable box with a special story

The perspective makes the box look kind of small, it's a 3x3x1 inch box.

A little over 15 years ago, I started an afghan made up of lots of solid color yarns from garage sales, thrift stores and gifted stashes. It's all acrylic yarn of course, got as cheaply as possible. I crocheted hundreds of 3 round granny squares, edged them in single crochet with black yarn which mostly did have to be store bought. The squares are set on the diagonal which creates a nifty looking zig zag edge on all sides.

It took forever. It fits a queen sized bed nicely. 

15 years and 1 day ago, a week overdue to deliver my child, I became absolutely convinced that she wouldn't be born until the blanket was finished. I was frantic to finish. I called a friend to take me to get the last of the black yarn I needed. I worked through the day and halfway through the night. Finally.. it was done. It was as pretty as I thought it would be. Reminiscent of stained glass, somewhere around 40 colors of yarn total. Some only one or two squares of a specific color. No two squares next to each other in the same color. 

15 years ago today, my daughter was born.

Happy Birthday Queen of the Turnips. 

(she still sleeps under that blanket, which she absolutely considers hers) 

ETA: the knitting needles in the picture are a handmade pair that's very nearly done that I'm giving her for her birthday. I will be posting the pattern on Beadwork at BellaOnline when they are done. But not today. Today we celebrate!