Maric's Blanket

Well, silly me!  I found this article still in draft stage!  A quick update and it is ready for publishing!

Experienced eyes will spot some errors (compare the two "R"s), but my granddaughter won't notice!

This is a stitch called the Popcorn Stitch or I've seen it referred to as the Puffy Stitch.

I used this site for the pattern for the letters:  http://www.crochetnmore.com/babysabcsafghan.htm 

This afghan has about 150 ours invested in it.  I really like making personalized crochet items  like this.

Jacob's Ladder Afghan

This afghan pattern is called “Jacob’s Ladder” and when I saw a photo of one, I instantly had to find out how to make one.  Here is the pattern I used to get me started:  http://www.freewebs.com/bethintx/jacobsladderafghan.htm 

I deviated a bit from it as I didn’t like so many bump-parts of the design.  I wanted those to be the accent of the finished afghan.  (If you follow my work at all, you know I RARELY actually follow a pattern the way it is written.  I almost always make my own design changes in about everything I make!)

This is a blanket for my niece who is expecting her third child.  I felt pretty safe using these colors because there are no girls in their family.  She already has 2 sons and her husband’s brother is expecting their first baby …. a boy.  Wouldn’t you know it that when I’m over half done with this, she finds out it is a girl!  Oh well.  As I tell people, “Girls wear blue all the time!” 

I used one skein of the blue (with lots left over), 4 of the white and 8 of the multi-color.  However ….. I used 2 strands of yarn when crocheting with the multi-color so if you used just a single you won’t need near as much.  Size “H” crochet hook.

There are some things about the pattern I just love and some things you have to think about.  I love that I can easily figure out how many beginning stitches to make and still have the pattern come out right.  (Don’t you just hate it when you have 3 or 4 extra stitches at the end of your first row because of miscounting or miscalculation?).

The bump part of the design is actually 10 chains that are twisted together and braided.  The instructions in the pattern were pretty easy to follow.  

Knowing that, I was able to easily count my stitches for length.  The wide parts of my afghan are 30 stitches, so I just counted off 10 for the first solid section + 10 for the chain-10-braid + 30 for the next solid section +10 for the chain-10-braid  …….. and so on. 

The part you have to think about is the blanket will shrink in actual size once you do the twisting/braiding part.  The chain-10 are about 2-1/2 inches wide but once they are twisted they are only ½ inch wide.  You will lose two inches in width for every braid in your design.

But spend a few minutes thinking it through and you will be fine.  This is illustrated very well in these two before-and-after photos of the afghan laid out on the bed.  Notice how much extra bed is exposed in the after-photo.

The "before" measurement was 48 x 58.

The "After" measurement was 48 x 43.

I was concerned the bump in the design would be hard to lay on but was happily surprised to find it is just as soft as the yarn being used.  No worries after all!

This pattern is very easy, even though it may look a little complex to beginners.  So beginners ….. give this one a try and your family and friends will rave over your expertise and talent!!

It is about to become my Go-To pattern.  I’m planning one where I make the afghan all one color and the braids a different color.  Can’t wait to see how that turns out!

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Miss Vivian's Afghan - Block Square with a Pattern

I love making afghans for the new babies in our family.  I try to actually have them made by the baby shower, but Miss Vivian, the recipient of this one, was three months old before I got it to her.  It took much longer than I thought.  Not because of the difficulty but because I used a smaller thread and needed to make over six times as many squares.

The original pattern (HERE ) that inspired this design used an "E" hook and (regular size yarn) to make a blanket of 6x6 squares.  This blanket, assuming an average of one hour per square including connecting, would have taken me about 36 hours.  (See my previous blog entitled "Size Matters".)

The blanket I made for Miss Vivian was 15x15 squares (225 total), using very small yarn and a size "E" hook.  The yarn was oh so soft and tiny!  It was given to me and I searched the internet to find additional balls of it because I just fell in love with it.  

The finished afghan took over 200 hours (average of 45 mins to make each square plus connection time) and is made of over 2 miles of this thread.  I laid out the pattern using Excel ...... making just a lot of squares then labeling each one with "W" for white and "M" for multi-colored.  My memory is vague on the number of balls I used.  I had some on hand that had been given to me.  I ordered more online.  I ran short and had to order more online.  So I THINK I used 10-12 balls of white and 6-8 balls of color.  (I promise to keep better track on future projects!)

I kept the multi-colored squares to a minimum as variegated thread/yarn tends to makes a project look "busy".  I wanted the color to be just an accent and not the focal point.

Putting it together was fun!  I took over the extra bedroom and laid it out according to the pattern I had created on the Excel spreadsheet.  I didn't wait until the very end to put it all together.  I would attach squares when I got 15 or 20 of them done.

Adding the multi-colored ruffle made such a difference as you can see in this "with and without" corner photo:

The ruffle enhanced the color without making it overbearing.    The border I found online is called "Cathedral Edging" and the pattern/pic can be seen (HERE) and is a free Ravelry download.  I made a few adjustments on this pattern, though.

I wanted the ruffle to be a big softer so I used a larger hook (a "G" size) on the ruffle.  The Cathedral Edging called for a total of 8 treble crochets in each point (4 tr, ch-3, 4 tr) but that was a bit too big. So with some experimentation (and a few unravelings!) I settled on a total of 6 double-crochets with the ch-3 between (3 dc, ch-3, 3dc) to form the point.

It is finally done and will be delivered to Miss Vivian this coming week.  I hope it becomes her very first family heirloom!

Crayon Afghan

I am the aunt that always makes the new babies in our family an afghan.  So when my niece Laura announced the coming new addition to the family, I began crocheting away an afghan for the baby shower I knew would be down the road.

A few weeks later, Laura posts on Facebook that the baby's room theme would be crayons.  She posted some very crafty pieces she was creating that were beautiful!  I was very excited as I threw the WIP (work in progress) afghan aside and bought yarn for the afghan I had been dying to make!

A crayon afghan.

I had found this pattern online some time ago and was very anxious to make one.  I now had the perfect opportunity!  What I love about this design is it is a great way to use up those extra skeins that we always seem to have.  Each crayon takes about one skein.  Any colors can be used.  Shades of pinks for a girl's room; shades of blue for a boy; bright bold colors for a Dora decor.

Here is the finished afghan.

It is a very easy afghan to make but here are a few tips that I discovered along the way while making it.

Practice changing colors if you have not done this before.  Here is a good Youtube video to show the steps of How To Change Color While Crocheting.

Align tops of panels to attac

When ready to attach the crayon panels, lay them out with the top of the crayons aligned.  Keep the tops aligned evenly, regardless of the length of the crayons.

While I used the same brand and type of yarn, the different colors resulted in different lengths of crayons.  I have heard other crocheters say that color does make a difference, sometimes, in the end result size.  This was not a big deal to me because after all .... crayons, when used, ARE different sizes, right?  Right!!!





Here is a photos of the finished blanket in the crayon-themed baby's room.  Even if the room is not crayon themed, it works very well in a bright color theme or a room decorated in primary colors!