contributed by Shawn
A long time ago a couple of my friends announced their wedding date. I decided to make them an afghan as a wedding gift, but didn't want to spoil it for them. I asked them what colors they liked and I decided to make the Swirl Afghan with Berroco Comfort yarn.
After my color consultation,
I quickly knit up the first hexagon for the Swirl Afghan of 2011 using Berroco
Comfort yarn.
This was one of the patterns I've wanted to try since the book Berroco Comfort Knitting & Crochet Afghans came out.
Meanwhile back at the knitting design ranch I enlisted
logic minded associates to help me with another facet of the project. The original pattern is written for a
hexagonal blanket the size of a baby blanket. I had two issues.
- I wanted to make mine larger.
- I didn't want any hexagons to share a side with another hexagon of the same color. With 6 sided hexagons and 5 colors in the afghan, it was far beyond me to figure it out. Once I started going larger than the original pattern, I couldn't find a way to arrange the colors so that it would work out. Because these hexagons are attached as you knit, I needed to figure this one out pretty quickly!
So on a campout this summer, I had some sodoku brained people help me figure this out. It kept them busy for a while!
Original afghan pattern (left) with expanded chart (right) |
I admit I got distracted on this afghan and neglected it for a while. But I pulled it out again as fall
approached and realized that the wedding was nigh. (No, I didn't make the deadline. I had plenty of hexagons left to finish at
the end of September.)
But once I got close to the end, I couldn't wait to fit the last
pieces together! When I finished
the last piece I decided it needed a border.
I pulled out my crochet hook and added a row of single crochet and then
a row of double crochet to finish it all off.
It might be January 2012, but the finished piece is
amazing and lovely. And the recipients
LOVE it!
Now my other friends have started asking when they will get
their afghans. I've told them all that as soon as I get the invitation to their
weddings I'll get started.
1 comment:
fabulous! You should be very proud.
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