My dear Grandma, who is responsible for teaching me to crochet (after much begging..... that's another story), made beautiful afghans that she churned out, she had them all around her house and her friends homes too.
I was so thrilled at the ripe age of 16 when she offered to make one for me (I think I may have even squealed) ... she even allowed me to pick out my own colors (this might have been a mistake on her part). I don't remember where we went to purchase the yarn, but it was her favorite place that carried a vast color selection of Red Heart, yes dare I say Red Heart. Red Heart is an acrylic yarn, its known for its durability but not its softness. Back then, wool was not as easily attainable as it is today and Red Heart was the obvious choice. Thank goodness times have changed.
At the tender age of 16, I did not have much of a color sense but clearly I was in need of some pink in my life..... I chose baby pink, cotton candy pink, red and burgundy. I watched her work on it (which thinking back now, my color choices were probably painful for her to work on) but I fell in love with it instantly.
It has been with me ever since, even though my color sensibility has matured (thank goodness), I will always cherish it. It hasn't always been treated with care, it even has a fairly large burn mark on it where it got too close to a space heater when I first lived on my own. Yikes! I thought I died that day.... I ruined my precious afghan, the afghan my Grandma made just for me. Its been stowed away because it was marred, but not any more.....the burn mark is just part of the story.
So this past winter on one of those very chilly days, I pulled it out of the closet and my daughter saw it and said that she loved that afghan and wanted to make one. I have always thought it would be fun to make these afghans too, but really didn't know the pattern.
Katie knows how to knit but has never crocheted, she signed up for Beginning Crochet lessons and we decided that to have a afghan-a-long, this is where we would both work on our individual afghans together. Katie now crochets beautifully, my Grandma would be so proud and I dusted off my skills and found the pattern that matched the one she made.
So we selected our wool, that's right, wool....since we are making heirlooms, we want them to be heirloom quality and Red Heart won't due, but rather some beautiful Cascade128 superwash merino wool. We started are afghans at the end of winter but put them aside when the temps got too warm to work on a big and heavy project. We have both pulled them out again to start working on them.
Katie chose to make hers in three colors, a beautiful marine blue, a fresh spring green and natural.
I chose to make mine mostly in a natural color with small accents of caramel.
We are having such a good time, Katie is loving the idea of making a retro blanket and I am thoroughly enjoying the fond memories I'm having of my dear sweet Grandma while working on my new Retro Ripple Afghan.
