Tuesday, March 20, 2012

The never ending afghan

Thank goodness we’ve had a mild winter with unseasonably warm weather the last month since I’ve been home from our two winter vacations. Not because I can’t function in cold weather (although I do pretend that is the case if it gets me out of doing something unsavory), but because my younger son didn’t actually need his birthday gift back in mid January. afghan 1 The poor neglected baby didn’t have his parents home on his birthday. We were gallivanting through the Polynesian Cultural Center in Hawaii while said goodbye to 31 and hello to 32. I really need to work on him and his brother (who is older by 22 months) to start lying about their ages. I can’t possibly have children that old!

Billy, the birthday boy, painted his living room last year and hinted that a new afghan would be nice. When he saw a picture of this afghan in these exact colors, he declared this one perfect…if it wouldn’t be too much trouble. afghan 2 Do you crochet? I do, but I don’t like doing miles of single crochet, especially in ripples. I made too many ripple afghans back in the 70’s and am still burnt out, but I couldn’t say no. The afghan is 235 stitches wide. There are 10 plain single crochets to the hills and valleys with either 3 stitches in next stitch to form a peak or two skipped stitches at the bottom to form the gulley.

Normally I like a mindless project to work on while TV. This wasn’t mindless, it was mind numbing! I’m not really bashing crochet, this is just my personal angst after all those ripples done years ago. I could have knit this, but one “live” stitch on a crochet hook is easier that 235 of them on knitting needles, especially when you’re working and then quickly hiding the project when the recipient pops in unexpectedly. This was originally going to be a surprise gift while we were gone. It was a surprise alright, he got it unfinished!

These photos were taken in my family room. The afghan will go to Billy’s later today or tomorrow where in all likelihood it will look like the following photo unless he knows I am coming over. afghan 3 I bet this hadn’t been done an hour when Billy called me from work to ask how long it would take to make a baby afghan for his favorite coworker. The people at work are throwing her a small surprise shower.
In ten days. th_faintthud

5 comments:

SkippyMom said...

So does this mean I can start calling you Crochetty? heehee

I love the colors and you aren't kidding about finding the afghan on the couch in a lump. My kids too. That's funny. :)

Have fun with the baby one. You're so sweet.

Sewconsult said...

You are an amazing woman who plays with hooks. I learned to make such a afghan when I was in college. Mine was in 4 shades of blues. It's still here somewhere. I washed it in hot water once, so it drew up to half its size. I still love it.

Good luck on one for the baby.
Beckie

michelle said...

I think all of us kids have a knitted afghan in that same pattern from my mom.:) The one I have was put away for safe keeping when we got the dogs and cats.

Rudee said...

Your hook must be smokin'! It's a beautiful afghan.

Ummm....how long has your son known his coworker to be pregnant? My guess is longer than a day or two.

You could tell him he could head up to The Yellow Door in Berkley where he can find hand made baby items that are knit, crocheted or sewn by Michigan artisans. It's a great store if you've never visited beautiful downtown Berkley. It's either that, or you get the chunkiest yarn you can possibly find and get hooking!

Debbie said...

Well, mind numbing or not, I really like it.

I once made a never ending granny square. I never finished it. It never ended.