Mickey Mouse

Another afghan from "Aunt Debi" and wow did I have a blast making this one!

The mom-to-be (due in January 2015) is a big Disney fan.  Anyone who is a fan of Disney like my niece Laura just has to have a Mickey Mouse blanket in their nursery.

I found the pattern through a diligent search of Pinterest.  Here is the link that was generously shared by a fellow crocheter: http://www.pinterest.com/pin/491385009315434863/

While there were not many colors in this one, because of the spacing, I had multi-attachments of the same color.  The area of the hands and buttons was the worst as far as having multiple lines of yarn attached.

HEre's a photo of what I was working with.  Notice I had nine (NINE!) attachments of black yarn, three attachments of white yarn and two attachments of gray yarn .... all at the same time!

It got to the point that I could only work on this while stretched out on the single bed in our second bedroom because I needed the space to spread out the multiple balls of yarn.

If you've never worked with multiple colors, here is a video clip that walks you through how to do it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYeKPO_ckn0

As I flipped the afghan over to start a new row, the yarns, of course, became pretty tangled up.  Thanks to a fellow crocheter on Facebook, here's the trick I learned.  As the afghan develops, fold up the bottom and place all of the attached balls of yarn inside this "pocket".  At the end of a row, flip the folded afghan over with all of the yarns tucked neatly inside the pocket and they won't get all flipped around and tangled up.  Over 40 years of crocheting and I'm still learning fun tricks!!

The afghan size, as you can see from the first photo, is the size of a single bed. This photo is my nephew holding it up (you can see his toes at the bottom!). 

I started by crocheting a chain of 103 stitches, using a size "H" hook.  My yarns were all Lion Brand Yarns, Wool-Ease.   I'd guess I have about 25-30 hours in this one.  Unlike "Miss Vivian's" afghan (in an earlier post), this one is easy enough that I'll probably make this one again!

I worried about it being too small, but as someone pointed out, if a bigger afghan is needed, then a border or edging can be added to make it as large as needed!  Smart idea!

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