Ok guys, I finally finished that afghan I mentioned in my last post. It’s not that it takes terribly long to do, it’s more that in the last few weeks I’ve been doing waaaaaaaaaayyyyyy more reading that anything else (other than working, but then again…maybe even more than working lol).
This afghan started because I had left over yellow from the Granny Hexagon Baby Blanket. I bought more of the yellow because I really liked the shade and thought it would be great for another baby blanket. Well, that baby blanket evolved into an afghan that would easily cover a twin bed.
I based this blanket off chevron patterns I’ve seen floating around Pinterest, a lot of which are made with single crochet. I like the look of the sc blankets, but I found that when I tried it, it was a bit too dense, a bit rough, and used up more yarn than I would have liked (remember, that yellow yarn is Vanna’s Choice Baby, which I was super bummed to learn was discontinued at my normal yarn supply store. Which meant I started out with a limited amount of yellow yarn I could use. But I’m happy to announce that I found the yarn in stock at a different chain craft store). So, I decided to use half double crochet in my blanket – not quite as loose/hole-y as double crochet, but still soft with a nice drape.
Now, I don’t know about you, but I’m not the biggest fan of that little gap you get in hdc or dc at the beginning of the row when you “skip” the first stitch of the previous row because your chain 2/3 counts as the first stitch of the new row. It needs to be done to keep the stitch number the same and keep the edges straight, but sometimes that gap just really irks me. And after a few rows of this afghan, that gap was really bugging me, so I devised a way around it.
After chaining 2 to start the new row, rather than skipping the first stitch and hdc into the next stitch, I did a decrease into the first and second stitch of the row. By working into both stitches, you eliminate the gap as well as work into the “correct” stitch so that the stitch count isn’t affected and every thing lines up as it should across the row.
Notice the gaps in the grey? I started using the decrease in the yellow, and voila! No more gaps!
Chevron Afghan Pattern
Size: approximately 50 x 84 in (just over 4ft by 7ft)
7 balls Color A – Vanna’s Choice in Silver Heather (3 oz)
6 balls Color B – Vanna’s Choice Baby in Duckie (3.5 oz)
5 balls Color C – Vanna’s Choice in White (3.5 oz)
Note that the Silver Heather is a smaller skein than the Duckie or White, so an additional ball is needed. Also, I wanted the same progression of color from the ends, so the center stripe is white, bordered by yellow on each side, thus only 5 balls of the white.
Size US K 10.5/ 6.50mm crochet hook
This pattern is a repeat of 25 + 5*
Special Instructions
Starting with row 2, each row will start with a decrease: insert hook into 1st st from hook, draw up loop, insert hook into 2nd st from hook, draw up loop, yo, draw through all 3 loops on hook.
With Color A
Ch 180
Row 1: hdc into 3rd st from hook, sk 1 ch, *1 hdc in each of next 11 ch, 3 hdc in next ch, 1 hdc in each of next 11 ch, sk 2. Repeat from * 6 more times. At the end of the row, sk 1 ch instead of 2, 1hdc in each of last 2 ch. Ch 2, turn.
Row 2: Decrease across 1st 2 st, sk 1, *1 hdc in each of next 11 st, 3 hdc in next st, 1 hdc in each of next 11 st, sk 2. Repeat from * 6 more times. At the end of the row, sk 1 st instead of 2, 1hdc in next st, 1 hdc into top of chain. Ch 2, turn.
Repeat Row 2 until 8 rows in Color A are completed. Follow color order below, completing 8 rows of each color.
Color Order is as follows:
A – Grey
B – Yellow
C – White
A – Grey
B – Yellow
C – White
A – Grey
B – Yellow
C – White
B – Yellow
A – Grey
C – White
B – Yellow
A – Grey
C – White
B – Yellow
A – Grey
I love this afghan! The yellow is so cheery! And its nice and soft and cozy.
As always, I’d love to hear from you! If you make your own, I’d love to see pics of how it turns out).
*Correction (2/28/16): pattern is a repeat of 25 +5, not 25 +6
yarn over and bake 