Granny Stripe Afghan: Finito, Benito!

After months and months and months I am FINALLY finished my granny stripe afghan. While I do still love the colors, I am so very very tired of working with them. You may remember that this blanket started out as a tunisian entrelac blanket (a blanket that looks like a whole bunch of interlocking strips), but I had some tension issues so I had to rip it out. I figured out how to make the blocks larger, and had tension issues again, so out that came. Now, I am hard-headed, but I'm not so stubborn that I can't recognize a losing battle so I decided that a new direction was needed. I used Lucy's granny stripe tutorial and stitched away. And now I'm done. It wasn't as just-like-that as I make it sound--this, too, took quite some time. But it's finished, washed, and draped across the back of my sister's couch (the afghan I made her years ago is looking quite....loved :) ....and this new one fits in well with her new color scheme). So--wanna see it?

This blanket isn't huge, but it's a great sofa size. I love the bright colors, and how the tan mutes them a bit. I was so tired of it all, though, that I just did a very narrow border to neaten up the ends a bit and called it a day. Plus I didn't want to add any more weight to this--it's quite the leaden blanket.

The simple granny stripe is one of the easiest stitch patterns you can do--it's all chains and double crochets (treble if you're from the UK). However, it does get a bit boring. There is no change in anything at all to lend any variety to what you're doing.

I made sure to weave in the ends as I went. It really does make the finish so much more enjoyable. There's nothing worse (well, yes there are worse things, but I'm talking strictly crochet here) than putting in those final stitches and realizing you have a gazillion ends to weave. This one doesn't look like it would be terrible, but I had squillions of small balls as I was working from when I had ripped out my previous attempts. Instead of two ends on some stripes there were up to six in several spots.

When I decided that enough was enough and it was time to finish this off, I still had four balls of colored yarn left, but not enough tan, so I exchanged the colors for tan at the store. As per my usual, I overbought that, so I gave the remainder to my aunt as she had fallen in love with the color and I was just feeling done with all of it.

This washed up so snuggly and soft--I used Vanna's Choice (Cheery Cherry, Duckie, Aqua, Fern, and Linen). I've used it for several projects now, and it really is quite a nice yarn. Great range of colors, easy care, not too pricey. I've had my next afghan planned now since about two weeks after I started this one, and I placed my yarn order tonight. This next one is for Zach (it's been a long time since I made him one--I think he was about two), and I can't wait to get started.

Have a happy Monday!

I'll be linking up to these parties:

Sundays: Sunday Showcase, Think Pink Sunday,  Submarine Sunday

Monday: CraftOManiac Monday, Making Monday Marvelous, Market Yourself Monday, Made By You Mondays, 

Tuesdays: Take-a-Look Tuesday, Show Me What Ya Got, Homework

Wednesdays: Your Whims Wednesday, We did it Wednesday, Whatever Goes Wednesday

Thursdays:  Catch a Glimpse, Craftionary

Friday: Link Party Palooza, Frugal Friday, Weekend Bloggy Reading

Saturdays: Show and Tell Saturdays