Friday, February 9, 2007

Cozy Blankets

In the past three months I've crocheted six blankets for family members. I call them afghans, but they're really throw or lapghan size, so they aren't nearly as time consuming or difficult as one might think.

Four are pretty similar, except for colors and some different stitches. This is the latest, bright blue one that I just finished yesterday. I'll add pictures of the others, which have their own looks, later on.
If you're looking for a really easy, fast blanket, this one has the right idea. Just use two strands of any bulky weight yarn and pick any stitch to repeat. I made ridges by working in the back loops and eventually added a border of a larger stitch, which isn't in the photo. Mine ended up around 42" by 48", but, of course, there aren't really any limitations on size, right?
Without distractions, it can be done in a day, I believe.

I made up the other two as I went along. The striped one was really easy to do and is by far my favorite. It's a bulky Misti Alpaca yarn, the softest you can buy. Alas, I didn't make it for me, but I loved giving it as a gift. In the photo it's displayed at her house.
I just started making double crochets in one color until I ran out, then switched to another and decided on my pattern. It took 6 skeins of the Misti Alpaca, but there were leftovers, which ended up in projects I'll post about later.

The other was difficult, as I started with a base of white and then used intarsia to add squares and rectangles in red and a sparkly white. It wasn't easy, and the yarn was worsted weight; so with single crochet, it took forever. My patience wore thin after only a quarter of it was done. So basically, if I make one like that again, I'll find a better way to do it. Like the variations of the blue one, a picture of the intarsia one is forthcoming.

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