Afghan-along

pictish · Afghan-along

I was so cold today I really wanted something to snuggle up in on the sofa and couldn't find anything so I think I might knit myself a throw or afghan. I have the yarn to make a Colinette Perugino throw but not sure how warm that would be - are they maybe just for decoration?? Or maybe something you make in squares over a long period like the Great American Aran Afghan.

I just wondered if anyone else is making anything like that at the moment??

Fi

Made a huge blanket/throw over the summer hols.

Its in a super chunky which was about 75% wool, we love snuggling up in it together.

I would definately make one.

Nevisknitter

I'm doing the Great aran american afghan, done 7 squares so far. The beauty of it is that you only have one square on the needle at a time so its not heavy, Need to get on with this as I'm hoping to give it to my friend for christmas.

pictish

Ooooh what pattern did you use Fi?? And Hilary that's what I was thinking about the GAAA but a lot of the squares look hard!! I DO love it tho. It will be a lovely present Razz

Fi

I kinda made it up as I went along.

I cast on about 210st, using 10mm needles and garter stitch to give a firmer fabric.

As I had some balls in beige, some in chocolate and a random ball of cream I did a wide stripe pattern (2 balls pale, 1 ball chocolate and the cream in the middle).

To add to the home knit effect I was not choosy about joining yarn in on the same side just where it landed ifyswim.

It was a lovely sit and relax knit, but rather warm over summer.

pictish

That sounds gorgeous!!!! And it would knit up quick on 10mm needles Razz

Nevisknitter

Pictish, if you have done a bit of cabling before you should be fine with the squares. the book has the patterns charted and written out too so if you are not sure about reading charts you dont have to.

After this afghan I fancy doing a crochet one for myself, I have Jan Eatons book of 200 crochet squares and might do one useing patterns from there.

ygymraes

I've done both - a perugino throw and a great american aran afghan. I'd say the perugino is more decorative but definitely not one if you're allergic to mohair Sad

The GAAA is great but a beep for sewing up all the squares - I spent all day last christmas eve sewing up the squares and remember every single stitch. I won't be repeating the experience any time soon. Wink

the perugino was great cos once you cast off that's it. Job done. No sewing up. Smile

ygymraes

Meant to add that DS prefers the GAAA for snuggling up in. It's knit in Aran weight and is lovely and warm.

Wildpurl

I love throws and as you say with this cold weather it is lovely to snuggle up under one on the sofa. I'm doing the Babette blanket, which is lots of fun if you like crochet - it's very simple crochet in fact. I also fancy doing like Hilary and making an afghan from the 200 crochet squares book.

I did a throw from Toast & Marmalade last year, in Giotto, just a simple waffle stitch, and that is warm enough to snuggle under. There are lots of nice throw patterns in the book, and they all knit up quite quickly, you could try looking through it? I do also have (ahem) two Perugino kits and I'm sure I'll get around to knitting them one day.

There is an Afghans group on Rav, and they have information about free patterns of all kinds, might be worth a visit?

Binty

This is the one I am making at the moment - its for OH as he chose the yarn and the colours Rolling Eyes

I have the GAAA and looked at doing that but the thing that put me off was that all the squares are not the same size or done on the same needles and I thought that I would really struggle putting it together as Im really really fussy about things lining up and looking "true" Embarassed

Glynis

That's lovely Binty!

I also like the Lizard Ridge one.
http://www.knitty.com/issuefall06/PATTlizardridge.html

Or the Tree of Life
http://www.lionbrand.com/patterns/70122AD.html

pictish

Oooh thanks everbody!! Some great ideas there!!

Binty yours is lovely - are you just doing the squares and sewing them together?? And I LOVE the Lizard Ridge one lovehearts

but not the price - maybe you could sub with something cheaper tho Wink

I have enough cream aran weight to do about a half size GAAAA - I might have a look in the Rav afghan group and have a look around Cool

And get my Perugino kit out. I think basically I want to make both Razz

tho not at the same time.

And talking of mohair I've just remembered DH had a mohair throw which we packed away - might just get that out for the moment cos it is baltic here this morning Evil or Very Mad

Thanks!!!

franney

I loved the big chunky afghan in the IK Holiday mag when i saw it last week, it is gorgeous heart

I tend to crochet blankies cos i like quicker results though Wink

Pictish, i think Binty's blankie is made like Blossom's sock yarn blankie, where you pick up and knit each square, i can kind of see the decrease ridge along the middle diagonal of each sqaure Confused

blueadt

In the short term do you have a spare duvet?

I've just brought two spare single duvets downstairs for snuggling up under on the sofas.

Binty

pictish

I had forgotten that one franney thanks!!!! And Blue I am going on a duvet/throw hunt in a minute Razz

It is soooo cold here - even with our heating on full it seems chilly as there was a very hard frost this morning.

And thanks Binty!!

Aknita

Do you remember the Ab Fab throw I knitted for mum? She uses it to wrap over her legs when she's sitting down ( goodness knows why, it's like a blooming greenhouse in he sitting room ) and it's lovely and warm.

I have a Perugino throw kit too, I keep looking at it but that's as far as it goes Wink

Oblonsky

Pictish, I feel like making one too ! I've got the Debbie Abrahams books - blankets and throws - ( sorry don't know how to do a link).

That's a square at a time too, but if you're following one from the book you know what square comes next, so you can pick up stitches to start new squares. Then you have long strips to sew together, not loads of little squares.

Glynis

I'm sort of working up to trying the Tree of Life afghan because I think it is beautiful.
I guess I'd use some kind of aran weight yarn, but I've only got pure wool and I think pure wool would make it quite heavy. I thought of Wendy Mode aran which is 50/50%

Bu-u-ut, then I'd need to go and buy some more yarn, when I've got stuff here to be knitting up Embarassed

In my defence I'm knitting some of Ali's destash sock wool at the moment and making a baby jacket with stashed yarn.

Auntie Noo

I made a Hemlock Ring Blanket out of some leftover New Lanark and that's lovely as a lap blanket, and also small enough to wrap around your shoulders as a shawl if folded in half.

I fancy a bigger one too though, and am thinking of using the New lanark I got from Debs in the pink........... at least with a blanket you don't need to hand wash so often! Embarassed

Glynis

I just went and looked out my aran Jacob wool, and I think it would be fine for a Tree of Life...don't know why I thought 1970 yards would be too heavy really. After all, my Hemlock Ring was pure wool aran.
I expect I put my stash-enhancement hat on this morning by mistake instead of my stashalong one Laughing

pictish

Wildpurl

Knitwell have Wendy 100% wool aran in cream in 400g balls for some ridiculous price at the moment

pictish

Do they now?? Wink

malteser

I started knitting mitred squares in Noro silk garden/kureyon to make an afghan earlier in the year. In theory I was knitting one ball of yarn a month (each ball makes two squares). I have managed 8 squares so far - I probably have another 4 balls of yarn to knit up.

It was my own version of the patchwork blanket but I chose yarn where the colours reminded me of the month.

pictish

That sounds lovely Anne - I like the idea of the colour changing by the month. And I hadn't thought if you're doing it by squares and different colours you could buy a bit each month and the dye lots wouldn't be as important.

KnittingLadybird

I might have a go at this Pictish entrelac afghan. These days I seem to be liking either aran or 4 ply and my DK is getting hardly any use (all those odd balls that just 'appear' ykwim Wink

).

editted to add Rav Link

And i've just learnt how to knit backwards so I don't have to purl Very Happy

pictish

That's lovely - a bit like Lady Eleanor Razz

KnittingLadybird

if you have aran in stash Wink

I like this one too leaf Afghan

knittingnanny

Oh I love the entrelac one - I did that for a sweater YEARS ago - it was white, baby pink and baby blue Shocked

Big batwing sleeves Shocked

I think it must have been the early 80's Embarassed

Mmmmm

odd leftovers might be put to use here, instead of the granny squares

but not until 2009

Nevisknitter

I reckon we should have an afghan along at this rate. I have loads of DK oddments that I could use in an afghan.

pictish

Sounds a good idea!!

KnittingLadybird

it could be a 'knitalong a long time' project...mine will be acrylic (my blankets usually end up poorly blankets and inevitably end up getting puked on Laughing

).

but I guess if we say what bits were using (good old stylecraft - works with kids) we could do a bit of swapping of colours and make a 'my forum friends hug' aghan. Very Happy

Nevisknitter

We could do it as a year long project for next year. I
I think I will be using acrylic too as it needs to be washable.
think I will do a crochet afghan and have loads of white acrylic 4 ply so might use that. My tensions always way out with crochet, I did a baby blanket in DK and my 4" squares were nearer 6" .
I like the lizard ridge afghan too and now there seem to be loads of varigated yarns around to suit different budgets, but sadly I dont have any in stash.

knittingnanny

I only have variegated in sock yarn or laceweight - far too "nice" for a blankie!!

I think mine will be called oddball, as that's what the box contains - odd balls and leftovers, all in DK.

Do you think we'll all be able to wait until next year?
It would be good to do it at a leisurely rate after all the Christmas knitting though.

Linda

malteser

That is a good idea. I will join in as an incentive to do something on my Noro throw. I have also scraps of sock yarn to do the sock yarn blanket.

I have a Mothercare cot blanket as my poorly blanket though DS started complaining about being wrapped up in a yellow blanket with a rabbit on when he was about 12.

franney

I am going to frog my BPT as i don't really like how it's come out and use the three 400g balls to make River and Woods i think, i am just in love with it Rolling Eyes

Of course, by the time next year comes i will have changed my mind several times and be totally in love with something else! Laughing

Blossom

My sock yarn blanket is coming along slowly! I picked it up for a week last week and did a few squares! We were using Ben's Spiderman blanket to snuggle up under until the weather turned colder last week...now it's on his bed and he says it staying there! We have an ikea fleece blanket downstairs and a Cat in the Hat quilt we use, but I did buy the 200 Crochet Blocks book last week and some DB Baby Cashmerino to to have a practise with...expensive I know but there were these five colours that just looked WOW together! Smile

pictish

I think the idea of a slow/yearlong KAL is a good one cos some of us are going to do a square at a time as we fancy and others who are wanting to do a quicker one can join too - they'll just be finished sooner Cool

I think I'll start it now (I'll change the title of the thread and ask a mod to move it over Wink

) as some peeps have already started but everybody just join as and when - I'm still thinking which one - there are so many gorgeous ones (I was looking at the Debbie Abrahams books in Twistfibre yesterday). You can always make it a 2009 project if that's what you fancy.

cazzie

I'd be up for a KAL especially if it is a year long one Very Happy

I've got a crochet one on the go with sock yarn which I have fits and starrts on.

Somewhere I have a pattern for squares in all different patterns - years old - think it was out of Family Circle magazine - off to dig it out. Also admit to having the Debbie Abrahams books.

pictish

I've asked Noo to move it to the KAL section but knit or cochet it doesn't matter which Cazzie Cool

cazzie

Quite fancy doing a knitted one - this is the pattern I may follow:

I knitted a jumper using the squares a number of years ago - in Jaegar Monte Cristo

Wildpurl

I'm doing Babette at the moment, and will definitely do another throw or afghan when that is finished, as I have really enjoyed having simple squares to do. I might do a hexagon blanket - I have just ordered the book from Japan - crochet in Japanese should be a challenge Rolling Eyes

I also fancy an aran one - I've got one that is knitted in panels or I quite fancy the GAAA approach where it is knitted in squares. They do look so gorgeous when finished, in cream, and I imagine are lovely and warm. And then there are those three Colinette yarn packs for afghans that I seem to have in my stash Embarassed

I think what I mean to say is - count me in!

franney

dreamcatcher

I'm planning a doing a Hemlock Ring blanket fairly soon, using some Welsh pure wool aran in stash Very Happy

I was thinking of doing a simple blankie from odd skeisn and leftovers but I think I might do a "scrap" shawl with those instead.

I do like the bold log cabin blankets like in the original Mason Dixon book so may well join in the KAL with one of those Very Happy

Auntie Noo

Hang on - we're moving!! Wink

Auntie Noo

Phew - I think we all made it.

pictish

Thanks Noo!!! Razz

That's a lovely one Cazzie Cool

There are some lovely ideas - it's going to be fantastic seeing all the different types of afghans growing on here!!

I think I am wanting to do the GAAA in my BFL aran and am thinking I might get in touch with Bluefaced.com and see if they have another pack of the stuff I bought from them a couple of years ago - that would be enough for a full size one. But I'm also going to do my Perugino one - not a proper kit just a mix of Giotto and Mohair in plain cream and Marble - but it will look like the Latte colourway - tho I may need an extra hank of Giotto in Moss and some more plain cream Mohair. I don't think it would take long to make either.

cazzie

Oooo they sound lovely colours Pictish Very Happy

ygymraes

Ali, from what I remember when doing a few GAAA squares, some of them only take 50g so you can get 2 out of a 100g ball. Hth. Smile

Nevisknitter

I am using the big 400g balls of stylecraft aran with wool for GAAA and think I got 6 or 7 squares out of a ball. You could always knit the squares out of one dyelot and then do the border in another.

Wildpurl

pictish

franney