The Game of Yarn Chicken

The Chickie Run Scene in Rebel Without A Cause, 1955

When I first heard the term, "Yarn Chicken" I immediately understood the reference. I am a child of popular culture. The classic movie, "Rebel Without a Cause" is my yardstick by which I measure my life. In the movie, the kids end up playing "Chickie Run" which is a game between two rivals in the movie. They get a couple of beat up old cars and drive them to a clearing on the top of a hill that ends in a cliff above the ocean. They start to race. The first person to bail out of the car before the car flies off the cliff's edge is dubbed "Chicken." Poor "Buzz" got his sleeve caught in the door handle. This was a fatal mistake. "Jim" is the chicken, but at least he's still alive! Oy! Those kids! 

Chicken is a game designed to test the nerve of the players involved. There are no deaths in Yarn Chicken. Yarn chicken is a game in which a crocheter or knitter is not exactly sure whether or not there is enough yarn to finish a project and continues with the project anyway, yardage be damned!  Whoa! If that's not rebellious behavior, I don't know what is!

After my yarn stash purge and organization last week, I saw that I owned two beautiful, sock-weight yarns, one in gray tones and one in a kettle-died black. Both were ABOUT the same yardage. Perfect for one shawl! Instead of striping the yarn, I decided on the color-block method that is so popular right now. I found a nice pineapple crochet chart pattern on some Russian crochet website. 

Crochet Chart and Gray Section of Shawl

In order for the pineapples to be facing in the correct way for each end of the stole, you must join the sections at the center of the piece. I started to crochet with the gray yarn and finished 10 pineapple pattern repeats. I even had a bit of yarn leftover, just in case.

When I joined the black yarn in the center, I merrily crocheted along. I had ALMOST 10 repeats of the pattern and saw that I was running out of black yarn.  Oh no! Yarn Chicken! I started to crochet tighter. My heart was beating faster. I skipped a few chains, thinking that might conserve yarn!  Phew! I made it with about 10 inches of yarn to spare. I ripped back that last row and added back the chains I'd skipped.

OMG! I have so much excitement in my life!