Staying Warm With a Project

I was in no rush to finish off this afghan over the cold winter months as it was keeping me warm all the while I was working on it. I purchased the yarn before Christmas with a coupon for 30% off your whole purchase at Michael’s. I just love savings like that. I had a project in mind for awhile using a pattern I had found on another craft site.

I got the pattern from Not Your Average Crochet who was inspired by an afghan at Little Woollie. It was originally a CAL (crochet along) but I just worked at it on my own once the whole pattern was posted.

I started out with some of my favourite colours … soft fern, fern, forrest, deep forest, heather, taupe, chocolate and aaron (used twice) of Loops and Threads Impeccable yarn.

I snip off a bit of each colour and organize them in an order that I think will work. Then I label each colour and tape the little snips down. In a pattern like this one where the colour keeps changing along with the stitch this is very helpful in keeping track of which one to use.

The pattern is made up of hdc, dc, and different stitches … granny stripe, catherine wheel, star stitch, bobble, and chevron ripple. It’s made using a 5 mm hook. I added in a stitch I call trellis stitch which is dc in 2 stitches, ch 2, skip the next 2 stitches and repeat. I sneaked this in a few times when there were lots of repeats of hdd and dc.

It was fun to do all the different stitches and it really gives the afghan a lovely look, especially with the colour combinations.

I worked on it a bit each night while watching Coronation Street and every now and then when I felt like keeping warm. I also did other projects in between … cup cozies, bunting, bookmarks, and dishcloths.

Here is the finished afghan hanging over the railing by the stairs. The edging was done in hdc, dc and sc rows. I’m still a bit undecided whether to put a shell stitch row around the edge.