This is the first blanket that I’ve crocheted for Project Linus. This pattern was a simple one that I found as a freebie somewhere on the internet. To be completely honest I can’t even recall what this pattern was called or where I found it. Once I was able to continue to crochet without looking at the pattern I put it in with the dozen other patterns I had printed off. It was easy, but very dense.

I used Red Heart yarn in the color ‘Bon Bon’. It’s a variegated yarn that I thought would make a really pretty blanket. I had managed to crochet the first six inches when I thought, “Man, if I make the ENTIRE blanket this solid color it might drive a person crazy.” I felt that it needed something to break it up a bit so I bought a blue that went really well with it and made stripes on each end. The finished blanket is around 40″ wide by 48″ long, or thereabouts.

I also have another fleece blanket with a crocheted edge to show you. I found the mint green fleece as a remnant at Hobby Lobby. They had a bunch of yarn on clearance so I picked up a few skeins of this pretty pastel-colored yarn for the edge. This blanket will be given to Dresses for Missions. The fleece blankets aren’t as bulky to pack as the ones that are fully crocheted. I don’t like to take up space in a box with one blanket when we could fit three or four dresses in its place.

The next Project Linus blanket that I want to make is a ripple pattern. It will help to increase my crocheting skills by worrying about increases and decreases. The problem was that I didn’t have a whole lot of yarn in my stash yet and so I would have to go out and buy some. That’s when my mom told me to go ‘shopping’ in her stash before doing that. She used to crochet all of the time, but over the last several years she’s been nose-deep in quilting. If she does crochet most of it is baby stuff.

I didn’t touch any of her baby yarn and this is what I brought home:

I used two tall kitchen garbage bags to stuff this into so that I could haul it home. I think there are about four afghans-worth of yarn here. The sad thing is that I didn’t even put a dent in my mom’s stash! As you can see I grabbed things with certain color-ways in mind.

I think that I can get two afghans out of this:

Blue is my favorite. As I looked at this I think that most of these is what my mom used to crochet the afghan that she made me:

As you can see, Chester likes the afghan, too.

My mom must have been given these colors:

I say that because I can’t think of anybody who would have wanted an afghan made with these colors. Project Linus asks that you make blankets using colors that children would like, but I think that you might have a weird kid or two who would actually like an orange afghan. It definitely wouldn’t be me, but there has to be somebody out there who does.

And finally colors for my sister:

Not all of these purples really go together, but I think that I can use most of it for a couple of afghans. I just need to keep my eyes open for really good yarn sales so that I can supplement and add some more colors that will go with these.

Thankfully yarn squishes so I was able to store all of it into one tote. I am finding that I need to organize my sewing room to accommodate my newest hobby and the accoutrements that go along with it. It would be a big help if I could get rid of the futon that currently sits in the way. I just hate to toss it, though. It’s still in decent shape. Do you know how hard it is to give one away? Oh well. I’ll figure something out.