TaDa!

I have finally declared my first crochet afghan FINISHED!

I began last winter and I wasn't 100% sure that I would even have it in me to finish a large crochet project, but I did it! I was inspired by this afghan when I saw it on Pinterest I thought to myself "I want to try one like that. By changing stitches often I won't likely get bored with it." Not having $80 to invest in yarn all at once, I grabbed a skein of red that I had already and decided that I would use it up and when I ran out I would go buy another colour.

Teal came next, then hunter green dark purple, grey, fuchsia and orange. This is where I really began to like my work and became a little bit picky. The orange I bought I didn't really like how bright it was in comparison to the rest of the colours. I left it after only one row, though I do enjoy the contrast right there.

I also didn't like the first section of red I did. The colour was nice, but it was a different texture than the rest of the yarn I had used and it was bugging me. On a whim I ripped it out. This almost wrecked my afghan! I was freaked out for several hours as I tried to salvage what I had done. I managed to save the blanket and replaced the red with chocolate brown. The seam between the two colours is horrendous, but my "fix" turned out kinda pretty as I crocheted a thin row of lilac right over top.

Chocolate brown then red (in the same brand and texture of yarn), cornflower blue and lilac finished the bottom. After the orange came navy and light green to finish the top. I then did a single row of kelly green to begin a border and finished with the dark purple. The process of this blanket was fun for me. I loved making it up as I went. Somewhere in the new red section, I got a book, Crochet Stitch Dictionary and my rows became even more thought out and fancy. Up to that point I surfed Pinterest and YouTube to decide my next stitch and often learned new stitches for a change. My favourite section (for detail, not necessarily for colour) is the cornflower blue. I love how it turned out. I added a little heart to the corner and eep!

I've come a long way in skill since I first began and you can visually see the difference in the skill level throughout the blanket. It's also quite a bit wider at one end than the other, though blocking did help some. I am so proud of the project, though and won't change another bit of it. The lighting wasn't great for these pictures and so, the flash kinda skews the colours, but I couldn't wait to show you, so these will have to do. Just for one, I've added one with my newest model, Hannah...

I turned off the flash so I wouldn't blind her, so it looks really dark here.