This past summer, Emily was blessed with a trip to Greenville, SC, where she got to see several friends who live in the area. It is because of this trip that I made this afghan. I should state... this was my first afghan and I am pretty dern proud of how it turned out!
The stitch is a basket weave that I took from a baby blanket pattern on ravelry.com. Basket Weave Baby Blanket Pattern What I didn't know was how substantial the basket weave is. This blanket will keep the most chill-prone person toasty warm! It devoured yarn at an alarming rate and consequently is quite heavy. The pattern of stripes was chosen purely from my personal aesthetic preference. I am not a fan of the zigzag 70's afghan nor the skimpy stripes. I love the color combination and although the colors might suggest a Christmas theme, I think it could be used anytime. 
When changing colors, I stitched an initial row of double crochets across with the new color. Basically using that last row of the previous color as my "initial chain" and continuing at the beginning of the ravelry pattern. The green has ten completed basket weaves (20 rows) plus the initial row of dc making the total 21 rows. Each of the other colors only has 9 completed basket weaves (18 rows) plus the initial dc row making it 19 rows total. The color pattern went: green, white, red, green, red, white, green. 
The border, I agonized over. While I wanted to try a different stitch with more of a scalloped edge... I decided that it wouldn't be consistent with the strong presence of the stripes and weave. In other words, the scalloped edging would be too frilly for the manly stripes. Instead, I went with a simple single crocheted border. Three rows of sc with the second and third rows stitched only in the back loop to give a little ridge look. I crocheted three sc in each of the corners as well.
So this Carolina Crochet Project is my family's thank you to the family who made Emily's trip possible, and so wonderfully memorable. Thank you! I hope you enjoy using it as much as I enjoyed making it.
~The Pools
 |
| Here is the afghan in its new home :) Looks like it was meant to be there. |
oh Sallie, it's wonderful! Everything you create looks expertly made. I love a good, heavy blanket, so I may need to add this to my queue of projects...
ReplyDeleteThanks Fran. This was surprisingly heavy and quite cozy. :)
ReplyDeleteI need to make a heavy blanket for our daughter. Did you use regular, worsted weight yarn or did you use cotton like the pattern example?
ReplyDeleteFran, I know I already answered your question via facebook, but just to make it official on the blog: I used Caron Simply soft, which is great for a soft blanket, but because this pattern uses so much yarn, something like Redheart might be more economical. :) I look forward to you posting your finished project picture! Happy Crocheting.
ReplyDeleteHow long did you make your beginning chain for it to be a full size afghan and not a baby afghan?
ReplyDeleteHonestly, it has been so long, I don't remember, and I gave the blanket away. But the stitch pattern repeats using 6 stitches, so just make sure you have a multiple of six as your starting chain, and you can make it as long as you want.
ReplyDeleteThanks. That will help me alot. I guess if I had thought about it long enough, I would have figured out it would be in multiples of six. Thanks again!
DeleteSince I can't find the Facebook post, how many skeins of Caron Simply Soft did it take?
ReplyDeleteJess, wow, this was a while ago. I don't remember exactly, but i know it was at least 9 skeins PER COLOR. Yup, this blanket EATS the yarn. But it is so dense and luxurious.
DeleteI made this afghan with Hobby Lobby's "I Love This Yarn" in color 406 (Dakota). It is a calico yarn in brown, red, teal, olive green and tan. I used 12 skeins of this yarn and it made an afghan large enough to completely cover me up for a nice warm nap. It is very thick and heavy. I really love it. I'm going to keep this one for myself. I've made everyone else a crocheted afghan and I figure I deserve to keep this one. I did make one small change. I crocheted four FPDC and BPDC rather than in groups of threes. It was the first time I used this stitch and I plan to make more afghans with it. Thank you so much for sharing the pattern on Pinterest. I really appreciate your gift! I live in Indiana and it has been a very cold winter!
Delete