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Saturday, April 13, 2013

Striped Crochet Afghan


I've done it.  I completed my first afghan.  It might now seem like a huge accomplishment, especially since it is crib size, but for me it is.  I'm a bit of an instant gratification crafter.  I don't want to spends weeks or months working on a project.  I want things to come together quickly.


I knew I wanted to make the baby a blanket, even though blankets are the last thing that we need to get ready for this baby. It just seems right to work on a blanket for the new baby.


I went to the store to pick out some yarn, and ended up with these three colors: Sage, Fern, and Silk from Bernat.  The yarn is from their satin line.

I didn't have a pattern worked out in my mind when purchasing the yarn, so when I got home I had to figure out a pattern that would work up using roughly the same amount of each color of yarn.


The pattern is nothing fancy.  Double crochet with a double thickness of yarn all the way across.  4 rows blue, 2 white, 4 green, 2 white, 4 blue (repeated three times).  I did  a single row of double crochet in white for the border.  I used a J sized hook, so that the afghan would work up even faster.  It took me a few days, but that really isn't so bad. All in all I used 2 skeins green, 3 blue, and 3 white.  I got the yarn on sale, so it wasn't really too expensive.

It's funny, when I was picking out the colors, I honestly thought I was being original in my color selection.  Then I got home, looked around, and discovered that it is one of my favorite combinations (take a look at my blog, business cards, bedspread, you name it). Oh well.

So even though a new blanket might not be a necessity for baby boy number three, it makes me feel like I'm getting ready to welcome him home.

What are your favorite projects for welcoming baby?  And for those of you with multiple children, what baby items do you find are needs for 2,3,or 4, that weren't for number 1?  I'd love some input.

By the way, I found the coolest random stripes generator while looking into stripe patterns.  You can select your colors, then number of rows you want, and generate your own pattern.  Pretty cool.  I didn't end up using it, but it seems like a great choice when working with odd amounts of yarn.  Check it out.

11 comments:

  1. Beautiful color combination. You did an amazing job.

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  2. It looks awesome! I love the colors, they are my favorite too, so I tend to do the same thing. And you are super brave to take on so many color changes for your first big project! :D I did the same thing with my last two babies. They both had all the blankets and clothes they needed, but I just couldn't let them have ONLY hand-me-downs, so they both got a few small crocheted blankets.

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  3. Beautiful crocheting and colors. :)

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  4. Love the colors! And to me, an afghan is still a huge accomplishment... I have yet to finish one. Yours is beautiful though

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  5. Sweet little afghan. Beautiful color scheme as well. Nice job.

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  6. This turned out SO beautiful!!! You are so talented!WOW~! You will have to teach me to crochet when I come to visit!!!

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  7. How did you do the double thickness of yarn?

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  8. I love your colours! I never get bored of stripes :)

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  9. This is so pretty and I'm crazy about your colors. I'm new to crocheting can you explain what you mean about double thickness of yarn and how is it done. Thank you.

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  10. Tracy, I had two skeins of yarn available for every color. Pull a long allowance of yarn from both skein, and begin crocheting with both of them, just as if it were a single thickness. Does that make any sense? Your technique is the same, you are just pulling from two skeins at once.

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  11. Thank you for answering my question Tricia. I thought that might be the case but wanted to make sure. I'm looking forward to reading more of your blog.

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