Flower/Diamond Afghan

A while back Walmart had a bunch of yarn on clearance, including some Caron Simply soft, which is my favorite for making afghans.  It was such a good price I couldnt pass it up.  So I picked up several skiens of of it in Plum Wine.  At the time I had no plans for it, figured I would just keep it on hand for when an opportunity for its use presented itself. 

I find myself frequently getting bored when I am working on projects and keep find the best way for projects to keep my attention is to switch between a few projects at a time.  While working on the previously posted baby girl blanket, I decided to make use of the Caron Simply Soft yarn I picked up at Walmart.  I pulled out "Birthstone Afghans" which I had bought a while back and had yet to make anythign from and settled on the April 'Dimond' pattern.

I really liked the alternation pattering of the flower/diamonds and the checkered look.

The pattern called fror a fringe to be put on the blanket, but after completing the body I couldnt decide if I really wanted to add the fringe.  I asked the hubby and he stated it needed the fringe.  So as much as I HATE doing fringes, I went ahead and added the fringe.  

After all was said and done, I think it turned out quite nicely.  Another satisfying project completed.

Sometime in the up coming week I hope to get this listed for sale on my etsy site.  Hopefully it will find a good home.

Crochet Double Ruffle Baby Girl Blanket

I came across this beautiful baby girl blanket in the book Best of Terry Kimbrough Baby Afghans, which can be bought from Amazon.com.

As beautiful as this blanket was it took a lot more work then I had anticipated.  The body of the blanket was easy enough to make, it consistent of alternating single and double crochet stiches.  The difficult and time consuming part, was the double ruffled edge. 

The first step was the pink ruffle underneath.  This ruffle was made up of single stiches and half double stiches. 

Then came the top white outter ruffle.  This was created using single stiches and chains.  It was a bit tricky as the base stiches of the white ruffle had to be worked around the half double stiches form the pink ruffle.  The center white ruffle was also made up of single stiches and chains.  These were worked around the half double stiches from the pink ruffle as well. 

After completing the white ruffle it was time to add the pink trim in the middle of the two white ruffles.  This was again made using single stiches and chains and also had to be worked around the half double stiches of the pink ruffle.

At this point, the blanket was not quite finished.  I still needed to add the ribbon trim.  Unfortunately, I left the blanket unfinished for while despite having bought the ribbon I needed for the project.  Im not very good about finishing projects.  ;-)

It got to the point where the project needed to be completed in order to make it to its destination in time.  So, I added the ribbon, taking my time with the corner bows.

Finally complete!  Im going to have such a hard time parting with it.  Its so beautiful.  I love it!



Crochet Zebra Afghan

I bought the book "48-Hour Afghans" several months ago and fell in love with this pattern.  I desperately wanted to make it, but I couldnt find the yarn I was looking for, Lion Brand Homespun yarn in Metropolis (a black/white/grey multicolored yarn).  There was a reason I couldnt find, it had been discontinued.  After searching on-line I found a craft store chain in California that still had some skeins in stock.  Needless to say I bought them out :-)  I used Caron Simply Soft yarn for the solid black, white, and grey yarn.  This pattern was simple enough to follow.  It used a single stitch, double stitch, and popcorn stitch.  It turned out fabulous! 

(Ignore the mess, I spent the day glued to the couch in order to finish it)

I made this afghan to giveaway as a Christmas gift this year.  Im pretty sure they are going to love it!  Hopefully between now and then I dont convince myself I should keep it!

Old Crochet Projects

I remember my excitement when I first learned how to make a granny square.  I enjoyed the simple granny square pattern so much that I decided to make a giant granny square blanket. 

I think most of the excitement from learning to make a granny square stemmed from the fact that I learned how to make the granny square from following a pattern in a book....I could read patterns!  This opened a whole new world of possabilities for me.  After that I sort of went on a crochet book shopping spree.  I have so many books now, that my husband insists there couldnt possibly be a pattern out there that I don't already have.

Once I realized I could read patterns the next project I tried was a shawl.  This involved a little bit more of an intricate pattern.  Again, I was surprised that I could easily follow the pattern.

One of my favorite projects so far has been a granny square baby blanket that I have made for a few friends for their baby showers.  I really like the lacey look to this and how they dont lay quite flat, but have more of a ripple effect.

The pattern for this blanket can be found in the book "Afghan's by the Pound".