…I’m crocheting. an afghan. with 13 colors. because* stash.
I bought in big to both of Rowan’s Pure Wool Worsted Mystery Afghans last summer/fall. “Big” as in I bought the yarn (18 skeins, 17 colors, nearly 4,000 yards) for the first one, and then swapped out a few colors so I had yarn to knit the second one. Yeah, yikes! I think it was 27 or so balls, in 25 colors. Unfortunately, as much as I love both of the finished projects, I realized too late that I don’t have the patience to knit – or sew up – either one. That’s close to 6,000 yards of worsted weight yarn sitting in my stash. It’s been nagging me for months.

So last Wednesday when I stumbled across 70 Sunday, I thought I’d found the answer. But 36 hours later and a few wonky test squares (with even some great advice in Ravelry’s Granny Squares forum) later…I was still looking.
Gotta love Ravelry! I searched crochet, afghan, more than six colors…and stumbled across the Vintage Crocheted Afghan. We’ve had a black and white sample in the shop for ages and I’ve always admired it. My friend Melody crocheted one for her mother last fall and it landed in my favorites.
Saturday morning I dove in. The pattern calls for seven colors; I’m using 13. (in short, I’m using two colors for every alternate color that the pattern calls for…I’ll report back on how successful that is!) I laid out the colors for the first repeat and liked it.

Then spent way more time than I wanted being sure I could remember which color was which and which order they appeared. (note that all this work hasn’t been that useful – I mixed up the 5th and 6th colors…but I can’t imagine it matters!)



Not that I think an afghan is going to happen in a week (or even a month) – I still have about 80 rows (and a LOT of ends) to go. but this is a good start. and hey, flying pigs are always good for a smile!
…and P.S. because I’ve forgotton to post about this for weeks (oops!) my leftover Ulura is in the mail to Bonny. I only hope this little bit of winter yarn isn’t the reason winter is holding on tight to y’all up North!

Bonny, I hope you like it – and I hope it’s too warm to wear your Polar Opposites when you finish it!
*huge thank you to Kym for sharing this most-necessary grammar news update last week!
I love your organized approach to this! It's going to be a beautiful afghan.
I'm going to enjoy watching this one grow!
Woo! That's going to be something!! I think that a random order here and there won't make any difference at all. It's going to be EPIC!
You're going to end up with a beautiful afghan!
So if my math is right [which you know is always questionable!], then I could have left a yarn trail from the beginning to the end of my walk today. That's ALOT of yardage, but know this is going to be a beautiful and well loved afghan when it's done. Something cozy for snuggling with Charlie.
and you crochet, too! will look fwd to seeing this one done! colors are yummy!Cheers~
Your afghan will be wonderful and a great way to use up some stash! It looks almost like Fox Paws to me, but I hope it's easier going. Thank you for the yarn! I'm always excited to receive yarn in the mail, and will start it as soon as it arrives, in hopes that knitting a winter accessory will make spring finally arrive. We're supposed to get some snow on Friday, so spring can use all the help it can get!
This is beautiful! And I love your cheat sheet. 🙂