My 5-year old granddaughter asked for masks for her lovies.

They are certainly easy to make. And lovey respiratory droplets are hardly contagious at all so you don’t have to knit N95 quality gear.

Before sending them off to Evelyn, my gang decided they wanted to try them on.

That’s my Ravatar in the gray bonnet. And ceramic Lambie is to her right, decked out in a pink mohair sweater and stylish handbag. Acorn Hill Pony, to Ravie’s left, is sporting a green mask. He’s ancient, nearly 30 years old, and we let him pick his before everyone else. He really wants to be first in line to be vaccinated, and that won’t be happening, so we made this concession to his seniority.  Long-legged Bunny Named Quwi nabbed the red mask. She wanted something that clashed with her skin tones as much as possible. Red’s about the only color not in her skin. And, behind pony, is puppet Grogu a/k/a Baby Yoda. He didn’t explain his choice, just waved a finger and summoned the one he wanted.

You can just wing it on making these masks. I cast on, sometimes 22 sometimes 32, using Chinese Waitress caston. After about 4 garter stitch ridges, I retained 4 garter stitches on each edge and worked stockinette in the center section. I worked about 4 rows (sometimes 6), then I worked short rows through the center section. On the small ones I worked 4 short rows, on the larger 6. I worked 2 more rows, picking up the wraps. And I finished off with 4 garter ridges.

For the ties, on all but the red one I crocheted a chain from the length of yarn I left at the beginning and the end. Then I crocheted a chain from each of the other 2 corners. On the red one, I cast on 30 stitches extra on each side of the mask. And I immediately worked back, casting off (using a double chain cast-off). Then, on the last row, I cast on 30 stitches at each edge and again immediately cast off.

The children who are close to me are doing OK with this past year of COVID. But I have to think it is a very big deal in their lives. My granddaughter has spent about 20% of her life dealing with this mess. Her parents are taking very good care of her and of her brother. And she is taking very good care of her lovies.