John's Birthday Afghan

John's birthday is coming up and I want to make him his very own cozy afghan! I've been working on Gramma's with the Lion Brand Wool-Ease Thick & Quick and I've decided this is my FAVORITE yarn (and the Hometown). So I'm going to establish a pattern and go with it. I've made a "project starter" sheet for my notebook. I want to write the pattern in crochet speak and sell patterns on Etsy. I also want to do this for the Hometown, I love the silky sheen of the acrylic!

YARN: Lion Brand Thick & Quick Wool-Ease-Super Bulky 6-80% acrylic 20% wool
SKEIN: 6oz/108yards-18 skeins
COLORS: Grass (6 skeins), Lemongrass (4 skeins+2 skeins border), Cranberry (6 skeins)
HOOK: purple plastic 10.5??
STITCH: double-crochet
BORDER: border with 2 skeins Lemongrass
RECIPIENT: john

BUY: On Sale-Joann regular price $6.99/25% off $4.46 per skein=ended up with 18 skeins at $5.60 each with tax, ship and sale price and extra 15% off=$100.80
WASH: Machine wash. Initial water temperature should not exceed 40C or 105F. Dry Clean, any solvent. No bleach product may be used.
DRY: A machine dryer may be regularly used at the hottest available temperature setting. Item may not be smoothed or finished with an iron.
PROS:
CONS:

THINGS I LEARNED MAKING THIS PROJECT:
-1st time doing fringe, do I like it? prefer border?
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Christmas Gift-Vi

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I am going to use that afghan pattern from knotsewcute on Etsy for Gramma's Christmas gift. I was going to use Cranberry to match the living room, but she mainly sits on her chairs in the nook to read her Bible. Grampa sat in the living room to watch tv. The Fisherman will go anywhere in her home. Too bad there's not a lavender. So I'm going to buy another 13 skeins, here goes! Where am I going to store all this yarn? Maybe behind the sofa!

YARN: Lion Brand Thick & Quick Wool-Ease-Super Bulky 6-80% acrylic 20% wool
SKEIN: 6oz/108yards-13 skeins
COLORS: Fisherman
HOOK: white plastic N??? did I use this one?
STITCH: single-crochet
BORDER: no border, tassels
RECIPIENT: gramma

BUY: On Sale-Joann regular price $7.49/30% off $4.89 per skein=$69.61 with tax, free ship coupon
WASH: Machine wash. Initial water temperature should not exceed 40C or 105F. Dry Clean, any solvent. No bleach product may be used.
DRY: A machine dryer may be regularly used at the hottest available temperature setting. Item may not be smoothed or finished with an iron.
PROS:
CONS:

THINGS I LEARNED MAKING THIS PROJECT:
-1st time doing fringe, do I like it? prefer border?

New Project-Friend's House Warming Gift

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I purchased a beautiful afghan pattern from knotsewcute on Etsy for $3.99 today. I love it! Needs 12 skeins of Lion Fisherman Wool-Ease Thick & Quick-yay 30% off! This should be a total breeze! And it is gorgeous! This would be excellent in Cranberry, too.
YARN: Lion Brand Thick & Quick Wool-Ease-Super Bulky 6-80% acrylic 20% wool
SKEIN: 6oz/108yards
COLORS: Fisherman
HOOK: white plastic N??? did I use this one?
STITCH: single-crochet
BORDER: no border, tassels
RECIPIENT: thomas family

I was excited to teach myself the border. It MAKES the afghan. I'll be putting borders on my other afghans! I think I'm doing the stitches correctly now!

BUY: On Sale-Joann regular price $7.49/30% off $4.89 per skein=$69.61 with tax, free ship coupon
WASH: Machine wash. Initial water temperature should not exceed 40C or 105F. Dry Clean, any solvent. No bleach product may be used.
DRY: A machine dryer may be regularly used at the hottest available temperature setting. Item may not be smoothed or finished with an iron.
PROS:
CONS:

THINGS I LEARNED MAKING THIS PROJECT:
-1st time doing fringe, do I like it? prefer border?

Afghan Checkerboard Patterns with 5 Panels of 5 Colors

Math is everywhere! I finished 5 pink, 5 yellow, 5 blue, 5 white and 5 brown panels for Sarah's Birthday afghan. I was looking online for a program to show me all the combinations (permutations) of the 5 each of 5 colors in a 5x5 grid. But alas, I didn't know how to search so I didn't find it. So I put her to work! Each time she finished a pattern I told her to do another!

After looking at all these photos, she decided she actually wants a different combo...click here for final choice.

Afghan #4-Gift for MB's Birthday

I planned to use the Rise and Shine afghan pattern on the Lion Brand website. I ordered the yarn and then changed my mind. I didn't want to do all the counting for each panel, so I just double-crocheted each skein. I love this afghan! Though the Hometown USA yarn is 100% acrylic, it has such a nice heavy weight cozy feel. Since this blanket is intended for use at UW football games, I didn't put fringe but a double-crochet border.

YARN: Lion Brand Hometown USA-Super Bulky 6-100% acrylic
SKEIN: 5oz/81yards
COLORS: Minneapolis Purple, Pittsburgh Yellow
HOOK: purple translucent plastic P (11mm)?
STITCH: double-crochet
BORDER: double-crochet, 1.5 skeins
RECIPIENT: mb

I was excited to teach myself the border. It MAKES the afghan. I'll be putting borders on my other afghans! I think I'm doing the stitches correctly now!

BUY: On Sale-Joann regular price $4.79/30% off $3.39 per skein, I think I bought 5 purple and 6 yellow=$37.29
WASH: initial machine wash below 105degrees, machine dry on highest heat ok, no bleach

PROS: yarn has gorgeous slip and sheen, love the weight, not quite as heavy as Wool-Ease TQ
CONS: skeins are SHORT!, if yellow is super bulky 6-the purple is a 5.5

THINGS I LEARNED MAKING THIS PROJECT:
-how to do a double-crochet border, 3 stitches per corner

Afghan #3-Gift for Sarah's 8th Birthday

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This pattern is from the Lion Brand website found here: Easy Square Baby Throw . The kids LOVE this yarn and who wouldn't because it is SO super-soft! I told each child I'd make them their own blanket BEFORE I noticed the price! These skeins are so short! And HAND WASH! I will NOT be making another item with this yarn, but we'll enjoy these once they are finished! This one is for Sarah.

YARN: Lion Brand Quick & Cozy-Super Bulky 6-100% nylon
SKEIN: 3.5oz/55yards
COLORS: Raspberry, Blueberry, Vanilla, Lemon, Espresso
HOOK:
STITCH: double-crochet
BORDER: 
RECIPIENT: Sarah

Espresso is very grayish, not the deep brown coffee I was hoping. I need to make some adjustments on this pattern for Dan's.

BUY: On Sale-Joann regular price $7.49/30% off $5.24 per skein, bought xx skeins
WASH: hand wash! NO dryer! no bleach

PROS: gorgeous yarn, super soft, awesome to work with and works up quickly
CONS: skeins are SHORT!, very expensive, HAND WASH!, one skein only makes about 1.5 panels

THINGS I LEARNED MAKING THIS PROJECT:
-first time finishing a project with panels

Afghan #2-Gift for Matt & Angie's 10th Anniversary

I made this afghan in March 2011 after starting my first afghan. This yarn is FABULOUS! It makes a gorgeous medium weight afghan that's cozy and drapes nicely.
YARN: Michaels Loops & Threads Country Loom-Super Bulky 6-100% acrylic
SKEIN: 5oz/104yards
COLORS: Landscape
HOOK: white plastic N (11mm)
STITCH: single crochet (my way!)
RECIPIENT: matt & ang 10th anniversary
When I started this project, I only knew how to do the single crochet stitch! And in fact, I was doing it incorrectly! Instead of going through the two loops that make the chain, I was going through only one strand of the loop...that's why there's a "decorative line" on the back side! I think this afghan would be amazing in double crochet and I'm planning one of those for Daniel.

BUY: On Sale-14 skeins at $2.50 each=$35
WASH: Machine wash warm, gentle cycle. Machine dry, low heat, delicate cycle.

My First Afghan-Afghan #1

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I started this afghan in January 2011 after making hats with the Knifty Knitter.
YARN: Lion Brand Wool-Ease Thick & Quick, Super Bulky 6-80% acrylic/20% wool
SKEIN:6oz/108yards
COLORS: Cranberry, Raspberry, Lemongrass, Fig, Blossom
HOOK: white plastic N (11mm)?
STITCH: single crochet, each row is a skein
RECIPIENT: me
When I started this project, I only knew how to do the single crochet stitch! And in fact, I was doing it incorrectly! Instead of going through the two loops that make the chain, I was going through only one strand of the loop...that's why there's a "decorative line" on the back side!

BUY: purchased at Michaels, I think
WASH: initial machine wash below 105degrees, machine dry on highest heat ok, dry clean ok, no iron, no bleach

Crochet For Beginners

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In December 2010, a friend's daughter made hats for a charity. She used yarn from Michaels with the Knifty Knitter. I wanted to help and was amazed that I could create hats from yarn by using the Knifty Knitter. After doing 4 hats, I had a great desire to make an afghan. I tried looking for afghan patterns to use with the Knifty Knitter. Since I didn't know how to read crochet or knit patterns, I thought I might be able to do this afghan pattern for the Knifty Knitter.

But I decided that because of carpal tunnel I didn't like the Knifty Knitter.

So I decided to learn crochet so I could make an afghan.

YouTube is terrific for learning crochet! Another thing that really helped was a Klutz crochet kit. I spent a lot of time at Michaels looking at yarn. And then took at trip to Joanns. Then I became overwhelmed!

UPDATE 06/06/2011:
It has been working best for me to choose a pattern, print it out and put it in my crochet notebook. I'm finding that I really like Lion Brand yarn. Joann.com has great offers and I can select my pattern and order the yarn for future use. This allows me to plan ahead and then select from a variety of projects when I get in the mood!