Crochet afghan and knitted dog hat

When I started this blog, I mostly crocheted, now sewing has taken over my life. Once in a while I still do some yarn stuff though. Last year, I participated/ crocheted along with the CAL (Crochet ALong) 2015 of Jolanda and Tertia. I did not finish in September, the moment the last rows became available, but I finished it within a year after starting. On January 1st I made my last row (new year's resolutions and all).

The pattern is free and available in Dutch and English. I crocheted the afghan with a random selection of cotton yarns. I had/have a big selection of cotton yarn that I bought inexpensively because those particular lines had been discontinued. I paid around one euro per 50 grams ball, mostly from Phildar but also some other quality brands. At the end of 2014, I realized my stash had become very big, and I did not have any ideas how to attack it in the near future. I coincidentally came across the plans for the afghan and decided to participate it.

I decided to crochet the blanker for two reasons. The first one because it is a great opportunity to use 40+ knots and the other because I was curious if I had the persistence to finish such a huge project. I went through my stash and found an unconventional mix of colors that I thought was going to work well together, and I would have enough from for sure. When the blanket was about 80% finished my resolve got tested. I started to run out of yarn for several colors and the 300+ double crochet per side became boring. Coincidentally my family in law delivered me some old pink cotton (left over from a grand mother), right at the moment when I was debating either to just let the blanket as it was, or to continue with different color set. Although the color was slightly different than the one that I had been using, it was similar enough to continue the color mix that I had been using.

The afghan does not have a purpose. It is just laying around the living room, and the kids play with it. For me it is my persistence reward, I am also a bit proud of the fact that I actually followed the pattern. In sewing I am almost incapable of following the guidelines, with crocheting I do not really feel the urge. The blanket ate a lot of yarn, but I somehow still seem to have enough to create another blanket. Like I already said, the mix of colors is in line with my usual unconventional color combi's. I have seen many well balanced combinations, the fun thing is though that if you work on it for a year, after a while it starts to grow on you.

The blanket took a lot of time, the hat was done in a few hours. The pattern is from this book (also available in Dutch). Besides crocheting the eyes instead of using buttons, I did not change anything. I even knitted on the needle sizes that were required and used similar color of yarn as the example (bought at the Zeeman). It is just as cute as the one in the book.

I love to hear what you think of my creations. Feel free to leave a comment in the language you prefer (although Google translate might have to assist me if you choose something different than English, German, Dutch or Hungarian).