If you’ve followed my blog for a little bit then you know that I crochet blankets for Project Linus. I try to make quite a few of these every year so typically I don’t get too excited over crochet patterns for blankets, afghans or throws. Then I subscribed to the Special Issues put out by Crochet! Magazine and received this in the mail last week:

(Please excuse my pictures. It’s been a long day and I’m looking forward to getting together with my bed in a little bit.)

To complete the picture, I’m also not a big fan of mandalas. Or round blankets. Do you remember when I attempted the Cathedral Rose Window Afghan?

(This afghan is also in this issue)

Needless to say, when I sat down to thumb threw this issue I figured I would take a quick look and then put it off to the side. WRONG. There are a couple of patterns in here that I’m itching to try. In fact, I already have one on my WILL BE CROCHETED list. I won’t show you a picture of that one because I’m pretty sure the recipient looks at my blog now and again. Anyway, the first one I came across was the Celtic Mandala Throw by Bonnie Barker.

My picture really does NOT do this afghan justice. It is rated at a #4 Intermediate level and calls for #4 worsted yarn. According to the pattern it is 47″ square when finished. Looking at this I really want to see if I can actually learn all of those stitches. Is it as complicated as it looks? If I were to make this I would give it to my sister as she LOVES Celtic items.

The next throw that caught my eye is the Six-Pointed Star Afghan by Sandra Jean Smith.

This one is listed as a #5 Moderately Challenging piece and calls for #4 worsted yarn. The final size is 69″ in diameter. Usually I feel that the gray/white/black scheme is a bit too contemporary for me, but it really intrigues me in this rippled afghan. It reminds me of the Big Dream Panel by Hoffman that the quilters love to use.

This panel comes in all different shades and colors, so I might actually use one of them to find a different color scheme for this crocheted afghan.

The next afghan I’ve been eyeing is the Alegria Afghan by Priscilla Hewitt.

I’m not a fan of the color, but the design is interesting. This pattern is listed as a #4 Intermediate and calls for #4 worsted yarn. It is 58″ in diameter and they used a self-striping yarn so that they weren’t constantly changing colors. It calls for 15 skeins of yarn, the 5oz Red Heart Super Saver Stripes. That seems like a LOT of yarn, but there are a LOT of post stitches and they usually eat up a lot of yarn.

The last one I was interested in is called Honey Bunch Blanket by Priscilla Hewitt.

It’s the many different textures that intrigues me about this blanket. It is considered to be a #4 Intermediate and calls for #4 yarn. Except, this is a baby blanket so it’s only 36″ across… and uses 7 balls of 3.5oz yarn! Maybe that’s not a lot, but to me it seems like a lot. To be fair, the amount of texture requires a lot of yarn, but holy smokes… it’s only 36″ cross?? It’s beautiful, but I think this will be at the very bottom of my list.

There are a lot more throws in this issue, but I will let you click on the links I provided to go look at the rest of them.

I haven’t just been drooling over patterns, though. It took me a month, but I finally got all of my mill ends spun into balls!

I opened up all of the bags and sorted out the colors so that I could match the yarns.

I would then wind them onto my swift, knotting the ends together, and wound them into cakes. This way when I have a project the yarn is ready to go and I don’t have to procrastinate even more with the task of winding the yarn together. Also, it makes it easier to see what colors I have. The mill ends up above wound up into this ball:

It reminds me of sorbet. lol

I have done some actual crocheting, but I don’t have any pictures to share. Maybe next time. 🙂