Tuesday, October 25, 2005

Awwww......

Warning: This is a picture heavy post. It may take some time to load.

Ok, I know I promised more, but I gotta keep you coming back for SOME reason. It certainly isn't for my timely posting. This posting is all about the first crochet project I ever did. I made an afghan for my mother-in-law that didn't quite turn out how I had planned. Not always a bad thing.

Her house is done in shades of purple and green. It's everywhere. Sage and lavendar, moss and aubergine, hunter green and grape purple. It's really rather pretty. So I chose purple, sage and cream to make her a ripple afghan. I got pretty far into it when I realized my ripples were more like soft scallops and the colors were soooo not working that way. It was fugly. Fugly I say! And I suck at ripples. Or I did then. No telling if I could do it now, but why would I try? I never did like ripple afghans, why would I want to make one? So I decided a simple granny square afghan would do. I didn't have a clue as to how to make a granny square. Off to Google!

Do you have any idea how many different patterns there are for granny squares? Neither did I. Not a clue. So like an idiot, I chose some of the hardest ones I could find because they were "pretty". Duh. On the bright side, it taught me just about every stitch out there in crochet land. The challenge was born! Must learn new things or the Stalker gets bored.

Now, in choosing the squares I did, I didn't realize what a true idiot I was until I started finishing them. I know guys don't like to hear it, but size matters. Sorry fellas. It really does. Especially if you plan to take squares and turn them into an afghan. I had 6" squares, 7" squares, 10" squares, 11" squares and 12" squares.......huh??? So I just kept crocheting around them until they were roughly the right size. I went with roughly. I like roughly. Besides, I wasn't planning to join them right next to one another. I was gonna make up my own join. *Snerk* What a dork.

I actually had one square that took me 6 hours to figure out and another one that took a full week of twisting and swearing. Then it took another 3 days of laying out the squares and then moving them. Walking away, coming back and moviing them again. I then gave up and had my best friend come over and help me lay them out. She got it perfect in like 30 minutes. I'm still not sure how much I like her. She's sneaky.

So I crafted my join. Just looops. So freaking easy. I make loops and join them as I go. No need to be the perfect size! The edging I got from a baby blanket I found on the internet somewhere. I liked it just for that edging. So, without further ado, I give you Linda's Afghan.



You can click on it for a larger view. I really am proud of it. And it did turn out straighter than the picture suggests. It's on a bed. Gimme a break. Sheesh. :P

I am also posting little pictures of each square in the order they are on the afghan, starting at top left. Again, you can click on them for a larger view but I must warn you. My left boob is a camera hog. It kept invading into the pictures unbeknownst to me until I loaded the pics on my pc. Damn you breasticles!



And last, but not least, a closeup of the edging.



Next post, yarn porn and something fun.

Hope everyone has a great day!

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Angie, what a great job! I'm impressed. Not only because your afghan looks great, but also because I can't crochet beyond a simple border on my knit things. Even then it isn't always pretty.

Alyx
http://stringtheoryfiberarts.typepad.com

erin said...

very cool. I really like the 5th square from the top. the four interlocking thingamabobbers. very cool.

Stalker Angie said...

Alyx, thanks and welcome to the blog! I'll definitely be hopping over to stalk. :)

Erin, that happens to be one of my favs. That and the pinwheel square. The interlocking rings took me a week to figure out. Fun stuff!

Christina said...

Ooooh, pretty!

I have *got* to learn to crochet.

You know you're spoiling us with all this posting, right? Now you're gonna have to keep it up.

Stalker Angie said...

Ya know, I worried about the blogging binge I seemed to be on. I think I may be able to keep it up. I'm trying to keep ahead of myself on postings. No promises though. hehe

Anonymous said...

That is absolutely gorgeous!!! I want to know about the "loops" joining the squares! And where in Texas are you? I'm near Galveston. Will you be at the fiber festival this weekend in the Hill Country?