Hooked on Needles

Wednesday, January 20, 2016

What a surprise! Pattern for my very first afghan discovered!

A few months ago, probably when I should have been studying, I was roaming around the world wide web and almost fell off my chair when this picture came up.


I could not believe my eyes! Seeing this picture brought me right back to Walnut Creek, California when I was about 10 or 12 years old and I found this exact picture in a magazine. By that age, I had been crocheting for a few years already, but I had never made an afghan. So I showed it to my mother and asked her if I could make it. Keep in mind, this was 40 years ago and I am the fourth of eight children. Buying all that yarn for me most likely was not in the budget, but we went shopping and my mother let me pick out all the yarn for this afghan and she bought it! I don't recall how much it all cost, but I do remember thinking at the time that this was something very special that she was doing for me and that I really wanted to do a good job on this project.

I got right to work and quickly discovered that this kind of crochet was nothing like what my grandmother had taught me! This project is made using the afghan stitch, which I had never seen nor heard of at the time, but I now know it is Tunisian crochet. In fact, I have a number of video tutorials on this wonderful form of crocheting right here at Hooked On Needles. But back then it was unheard of, for me anyway!

I practiced with scrap yarn following the pictures and descriptions in the pattern until I had mastered the stitch. Even my grandmother could not help me since she had never done Tunisian crochet either! And then I made the afghan. What a project it was! It kept me busy and engaged for a long time, and when it was finished, oh what a feeling! You all know what I'm talking about, don't you? That feeling of accomplishment when you have completed a worthwhile task and have something useful and beautiful to show for your time and effort. I still love that feeling!

This afghan was well used and loved for years and years, finally becoming a cozy bed for our sweet and funny dog Daisy who loved it to death. Literally. Daisy was part of our family for 11 years, and when she was gone, the afghan was too. It had been her favorite cozy sleeping place for a lot of years and was no longer fit for anything but the trash. Too many holes, too many trips through the washer and dryer, pieces of it here, there and everywhere. It had served its purpose magnificently. It had been made with Red Heart yarn, which wears like iron, and it held up to all kinds of abuse for 30+ years.

I wrote briefly about it back in 2008 when I first began writing this blog, never thinking I'd find the pattern or a picture of it again. Click HERE to read what I said back then.

If you are interested in this project, click HERE for the pattern. It holds such wonderful memories for me, from my childhood well into my adult life. Maybe it will now for someone else. I hope so.

Happy Stitching!

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1 Comments:

  • This made me smile - I made an afghan stitch blanket back in the 70's and never made another one. I still have the long hook I used and still have the afghan packed away. Not only did I crochet the monster but then cross stitched a design on it - believe it was a strawberry theme. Now I have to go dig that project out see exactly how well I did. It was cream colored so has probably yellowed over all the years. It certainly will bring back memories just as your post did!

    By Blogger annemarie, At January 20, 2016 at 4:35 PM  

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