Grad afghan progress day 8

The original graph

8 days progress. almost done!

Only another day or 2 to finish this graduation present!   It's going a bit faster now that the color blocks are larger and I don't have to change color every few stitches as I did in a couple areas.  I'm almost done with the picture on the design, then to finish off the purple area of the background and add a border.  I'm playing with the idea of making the border designed as well instead of just a plain stripe.  What do you think? 

Grad afghan day 7

I only got a few rows done this time (I started washing dishes and scrubbed my whole kitchen! What is it about springtime that makes us do these things?) You can still see progress though. I may be a little behind schedule, but that's not a big deal on this project.  I have one more number to go to complete the 2015 and just to narrow the cap to a point. 

Grad afghan progress Day 6

Well, 6 days in and I'm about 2/3 done. Right on schedule!  But look at that tangled mess of yarn on the right!  Ugh!  It's going to take a while to fix that. I have about 8 strands attached at this point. A few more rows and the 1 will be completed and I can cut the white and have an easier time untangling that knot on the right. I'm wondering whether I have enough white left to complete this project, I may have to start another skein.  I'm using Red heart yarn. 2 purple (I think the actual name is "amethyst") "pounder" skeins, 1 white "pounder" and 2 black 7 oz skeins that still have plenty more yarn on them. It's looking pretty good,I think. minus the messy yarn on the right, of course.

Grad afghan Progress day 5

Halfway done!

I've reached the peak of the cap now! I have 7 strands attached at this point. You can see how it's coming together from the side. Only a few more days and it'll be done and ready for the washing machine!

Grad afghan progress, Day 4

the original graph

This is the original graph I'm working from.  I'm using 2 dc per graph square to make a throw.  My hook is a size H.

finished product

This is the first version of the afghan. The next version has a white cap. 

my progress so far

This is 4 day's worth of crochet.  I work around 2 hours a day on it (with several breaks to do laundry, wash dishes, and other domestic chores). I am now 40 rows in and you can really tell what's going on here now!  I have a new length of yarn for each color break, unless I only have a few stitches to carry the color under.

This photo also shows what I mean when I tell my inquirers that I work the afghan from the side.  Imagine working all those color changes in the numbers in the same rows!  Yikes!

Grad afghan progress, Day 3

this one is going to have a white cap instead of a black one.

Day 3 did not go nearly as well as days 1 and 2.  In fact, I had to unravel the last row of day 2 because the black border around the numbers was supposed to have been started and I didn't notice it. Then I worked about 4 more rows before I remembered the cap was supposed to be white in this one!  So I had to unravel all my day's work and start over.  There was a pile of unraveled yarn on the floor and it's gotten a bit tangled.  I can only hope I can keep it straight well enough not to know it up.  At a later point I realized I had worked over one of my strands that I wasn't supposed to cover so had to unravel another row to uncover it and make it usable again.  So today's progress isn't nearly as noticeable as it should be.

See all those strands at the top of the photo?  They're attached to skeins of yarn.  I count 12 different strands hanging from the work.  I do carry over, tapestry style, if there are only a few stitches and if the colors don't contrast sharply (for example, I try not to carry black or white over each other because it is very visible and not pleasing to they eye).  The first time I made this afghan I started at the bottom and had so very many strands hanging (just look at every time I had to change colors in the numbers when I worked it horizontally!) it was impossible not to get tangled up and I had to cut the yarn to unknot it. it was horrible!

I hope this visual helps with anyone trying to do colorwork.  I enjoy it but it can be a pain if I'm not careful.

Grad afghan day 2

the finished blanket

Progresss Day 2

Today you can see more of the tassel forming (and also my feet! oops!) I added a second skein of black yarn so I wouldn't have to carry the color too far through the purple. I'm only using one purple though, because I only have to carry it under a few black at a time.You can see the picture taking form!

grad afghan progress, Day 1

the graph from which I'll make the afghan

the finished product

Here is my graduate afghan graph.  I made one afghan in these colors already, (as you can see  - sorry about the blurry camera phone photo, I promise I'll do better next time!)
and have started another one (except this second one will have a white cap) and the first day's progress is shown below. 

the first ten rows, day one

I'll work on it again tonight and show day to day progress as this one grows. I've had questions about how I make my afghans from graphs and I think this will help clarify things.

I'm working this graph from the side so I will come to the tassel first (the black bit near the middle) and work through the 2, then the 0, etc. It's a lot easier than doing all the numbers at the same time from top to bottom or bottom to top because of all the color changes needed.  I know some people think the stitches in an afghan need to be vertical when looking at the design and if that's important to you, just make sure to keep your yarn untangled with each turn of your work.  Otherwise on something like this you'll end up wanting to cut out the knots that form and making more ends to weave in, thus weakening the integrity of the blanket.






I will post my progress from today tomorrow morning at least that's my plan!).  I worked about 2 hours total on this much of it, so I can calculate my time to finish from this much.  There are 100 rows across so that means 10 days of 10 rows (if I keep up the same rate) and 2 hours a day x 10 days is 20 hours to complete this afghan.  Let's see if I'm right!