afghan now, afghan later

[snugglekitty]

My crafty groove this month is afghans.



So, I'm making progress on my triangle throw. Right now I have two rows of six blocks and one row with four blocks. It looks like I need one more row, so I need eight more blocks total. I laid out the blocks that I already have, to see how things are going. I have four colors of blocks - dark green, variegated dark blue, variegated light blue, and variegated light purple with hints of light blue in it. When seen this way, it looked like two light colors and two dark colors. However, I had chosen a contrasting yarn - a very pale yellow - to connect the pieces with. When this was included, the variegated light blue and light purple were discovered to be midtone colors. It looked pretty balanced, although there is still no "bright" tone in it. That reminded me that I had intended to include a bright purple yarn in the color scheme, and I made the first block. It looks great - I just hope I can find enough of the purple yarn for two more. (Right now I have three blocks of each constrasting color and five blocks of each main color. I'm planning to make two more purples and then probably do the other five in the main colors.) If not, I might try double-stranding some hot pink fuzzy yarn that I like a lot.

I worked on weaving in some ends yesterday, and I also checked all my blocks against my "template block" which is how I keep them all the same size. (Gauge can vary. If it's more than half an inch different than the template, I rip it back and start over.) The good news is that twelve of my sixteen blocks are fine. The bad news is that four of them are too big and will have to be remade. This jettisons my earlier hopes of finishing the afghan on Solstice, but that's okay. I think I may switch to a smaller hook size to make it easier, if I can find one. (I've been using N, but I think that M is missing. Perhaps I will replace M with a metal hook. I love metal hooks.)

I have a book out of the library, 200 Crochet Blocks for Afghans, Throws, and Pillows, that I'm feeling really inspired by. "How so?" you say? I'm so glad you asked. :) I love quilts, but let's face it, kids, I'm not cut out to be a quilter. I've known how to sew for a long time, but sewing machines don't like me and sewing by hand makes me cramp up and I always poke myself with a needle. Repeatedly. I hem my own pants and will change buttons on a shirt or sweater if I care about it, but that's as far as it goes. But 200 Crochet Blocks has great ideas about how to make afghans more like quilts. It offers many different choices for blocks, including some that would be extremely well suited for quilting (half-squares, corner pieces, striped bits for the edge...). If I find that I have enough yarn left over to make a second small matching afghan for the other dining room chair, I would like to set it up like a quilt, ie, do the design intentionally and have it make a quilt-like picture, only with knitted instead of woven fabric. I think that would be fun, and I spent some hours going through the quilting books I have figuring out what kinds of designs I like. But I'm also interested in trying a ripple afghan, which doesn't require as much finishing, because the pieces are bigger. I also like the way they look. So I think I'll be busting my stash with afghans for a while. Which is good - it can use it.



Pictures will be forthcoming.

Comments

[purplepathos.livejournal.com]

Cool! I've been in the mood to crochet lately, too, and picked up a granny-square project I'd set aside for a while, plus I ran out and bought yarn for another afghan I wanted to do (as if I don't already have a ton and a half of yarn in the box in the living room). I've never found an M hook; I have a bunch of lace hooks, which I've never used and don't know if I will, and regular hooks from G to K, plus N, P, and Q. I have one or maybe two books that have patterns for making afghans that look like quilts... they're very cool. I'll try to remember to find the titles for you if you're interested.

[lady-anemone.livejournal.com]

I'd love to hear the titles for those books if it's not too much trouble.

I sorted myself out by finding an L hook in the clutch purse where I keep such things. It seems to be helping.

[purplepathos.livejournal.com]

This one has lots of quilt patterns. Almost a third to a half of the book.

This one has a handful of quilt patterns, and the other patterns are also exceptional. It's possibly my favorite of all my (30+) afghan books.

I have a magazine that has several quilt-patterns in it, too, but I haven't been able to find a copy of it on Amazon or eBay: "Country Quilt Presents Country Afghans 2004." It has a blue and yellow granny square afghan on the front cover and across the bottom says, "Classics made easy!"

Also, an Amazon search just turned up this one, which I ordered for myself immediately.

(Argh! Please forgive the repeated edits!)

[lady-anemone.livejournal.com]

Awesome! Thank you. I will check those books out ASAP. 200 Crochet Blocks gave me the idea, but I didn't actually like the patterns they were using. I am tempted to just buy all of those instantly, but perhaps I will restrain myself and get them from the library first.