Day at the Beach

If you believe in divine guidance, then you will have no trouble understanding why I believe I had that kind of help in making this afghan.  It was requested by a cousin for her 83 year old mother, our Aunt Libby, who is starting to feel chilly pretty often.  As I type this, we are in the middle of a severe cold front with wind chill temps in the 35-below-zero range.  Schools have been closed for a couple of days.  So the fact that Aunt Libby is feeling a bit chilly these days should not be a surprise to any of us!

I call it “A Day at the Beach” because the colors blend so well and replicate beach colors.  Starting in the deep waters of the ocean, the bottom border is navy blue.  The colors then flow thru the ocean colors of teals, greens and blues, fading into the creams and final border of white, like the sands of the beach.

The photos do not really do it justice.  As I hold it up, the angle of the light makes it look different each time, the colors melting into each other so the individual stripe disappears and all I see if a beautiful flow of color.

I used standard yarn (meaning not baby yarn or anything special) and a size “L” yarn crochet hook.   To start, I chained 100, which makes the end result about the width of a single bed.  Two strands of yarn were used, making the afghan extra thick, extra warm, and extra soft.  The softness is enhanced by the stitch I just discovered a couple of days ago (again, claiming divine guidance!).  One row is dc-sc-dc-sc, etc., and the next row is sc-dc-sc-dc, etc.  This stitch pattern gives it a nice stretchy texture and adds an overall softness to the finished afghan.  Each stripe is 9 rows of color.

When I make this again, I'll probably do a chain-80 to start and make each stripe only six, maybe seven rows to make it more "lap" size.  My husband tried this out for me and sitting on the couch, he had significant afghan overlapping on the floor at his feet.  But .... as I tried it out, I found the size to be perfect when curled up on the loveseat, my feet tucked in under me, nice and cozy warm as I enjoy my favorite TV show or a good book.

I’m a pretty fast crocheter, but this was a record setter for me.  I started and finished this one inside of three days.  Or I should say, inside of three evenings. 

I set my yarns up in this box for easy access.  I’m fortunate that I had a box in the house that was the perfect size for these yarns, enabling me to carry it from living room to bedroom, depending on where I chose to work on it.

It is being shipped to Aunt Libby this week.  May she spend many, many happy hours snuggling on the couch underneath it, staying warm as toast as she enjoys her day!