Sample Afghan (Week 1)

Good Morning!  It is absolutely pouring outside my window right now and, while the rain is needed, it is going to make farm work this afternoon a muddy mess.  We are quite snug and comfortable in our home with a small fire keeping us cozy.  I am over the cold I acquired this weekend courtesy of Micheala, then Tessa, then Joshua.  I continued the trend and shared it with Samantha, and now Ashley.  At least it only seems to last a couple of days.

I hope everyone who is interested in joining me in crocheting the sampler afghan that I discussed last Wednesday has gotten their materials.  The first square was really easy, as it involved only single crochet.  By the time you finish it, you are an expert at the stitch.  Since crochet patterns are all basically variations of about 4-5 stitches, once you get these down you are good to go.  The instructions for single crochet can be found on the first page or can be found in a google search.

After hearing back from several people I decided to find some instructions for everyone to get started.  I have to admit that I've been crocheting off and on since 7th grade and am really looking to learn how to make more stitches.  I tried to get my older daughters to make one along with me, but they were less than enthusiastic.  But don't be intimidated by the looks, it's really very easy to learn.  Samantha(7) is currently working on small blankets for her stuffed dogs.  Here are some great sites for you to check out:

     youtube video on the slip knot
     youtube video on the chain stitch
     youtube video on the single crochet stitch
     single crochet stitch tutorial
 

My finished blocks look like this:

Square #1 for my room:

I apologize for the bad photography.  As you can see I have chosen delft blue for one of the colors in my room.  This will equate with the "green" blocks in the pattern book.  I am also using a separate color, white, to outline and join my squares; rather than using the third color.  These squares have already been blocked so that they are right ready to join when I finish.







Square #1 for Joshua's room:

The blue in this afghan is simply "blue", more in line with the NY Giants colors.  This also equates with the "green" blocks in the pattern book.  This afghan is using the third color, white, to outline and join squares.







Square #1 for Samantha's room:

The lighting does not really portray this in its true shade.  It is actually a very light pink called petal pink.  This does not equate to the pattern since I chose five different colors of yarn and will be simply rotating through a sequence rather than following the pattern book.  Each square will be outlined and joined in white.









Square #1 for the John Deere afghan:

This is done in Paddy Green and, once again, equates with the "green" in the pattern.







So, that is where I stand right now.  This coming week we will be working on square #2.  Be sure to comment and let me know how your afghan is going.

May Yahweh bless you in this new day!

Laurie

Sampler Afghan

Good Morning!  It's definitely winter here now.  The temperature outside is 15 degrees, by far the coldest night this winter.  Our experiment of not using our propane heat system and relying totally on wood so far has not left us frozen.  We've been quite comfortable.  The only problem that we have run into is that our small fireplace insert does not have a lot of room for ashes and, therefore, we have to let the fire go out rather often so that we can clean it out.  Then we have to totally rebuild the fire.  If you can time it right, this happens during the early afternoon and doesn't cause too much of a problem.  We didn't time it right today and the ashes have already built up so much that the efficiency of the insert is way down.  So I'm going to experiment with ways to take out some of the burned out ashes while leaving the hot coals.  If any of you have any experience with this please feel free to leave your advice.

This year I am embarking on somewhat of a large project....a 63 square crocheted sampler afghan!  And I'm inviting you to join me, even if you have never crocheted before.  All of the stitches are shown and most of the patterns use only the four basic stitches or a combination of them.  I'm going to be using this book available from Amazon.com.  This uses three colors:  green, rose, and ecru.  Because just making 1 afghan isn't enough of a challenge for me (LOL), I'm actually going to be making 4: 


                      
These colors will be for one in my room.  The white will be used for the second round of edging and to join the blocks.


              
These are for Joshua(9)'s room.


              
This one is simply because I have the yarn and I love John Deere.  It may hang in my kitchen.


                       
This is for Samantha(7)'s room, which is done in Disney Princess.  These are the colors in her fleece blanket.  I plan on just working through these on a rotation, rather than making a particular square with a particular color.  I will also be using white on the 2nd round of edging and to join.  We'll have to see how it works out.

My goal is one square of each afghan per week.  Next Wednesday I hope to be posting pictures of the completed squares.  So, get your book and yarn and join me in, hopefully, creating a beautiful heirloom afghan, or several.

May Yahweh bless you in this new day!

Laurie