Bamboo Baby Afghan at 1 Week

The baby afghan for my grand-nephew due day after tomorrow is now 33 rows and measures 36 inches (or 300 stitches) by 6.25 inches. This represents 1 week of fairly dedicated crocheting. I seem to be averaging 4.5 rows per day.

My plan has been to crochet 205 rows for 41 inches. That last inch represents the extra blue row and the two extra rows of white at each end. I added these to the twenty iterations of the ten row pattern for aesthetic effect. I can't explain why but I wanted each end framed with two whites and a blue.

As of yesterday though I am seriously considering making it square at 36 X 36 or 185 rows. That would be two iterations less and thus four days less.

Another option would be to make the rows go the long way on a 36 by 30 inch rectangle which would mean 150 rows and thus 10 days less to finish. This would mean having a chance to get it in the mail by the second week of February. Depending of course on how long it takes to put on the fringe which is to be 5 fringe pieces in every inch on all four sides or one per row and one every other stitch.

But I've already bought all the yarn for the projected 40 inch version at one ball per 15 rows. So the 36X36 would give me one extra white ball and insure I don't need to dip into the second of each of the pastel (umm depending on how much the fringe takes). But I guess that's not really a drawback seeing as before this project I had only acquired one each of blue and white of the bamboo thread. Now I have four more pastels and a fifth on its way in the Joanne.com order due this weekend (coral) and three shades of brown and tan (twig, mushroom, natural). This means I can do variations on each of the six or seven bookmark patterns with each 1, 2, 3...10 color combinations I now have available. Fun!

But as I was laying this out for the picture I flashed on an idea. What about a detachable hood? I think it would need to be approximately 7X14 inches folded in half the long way with one side sewn together and several buttons sewn onto the two short sides that could be buttoned onto one of the corners of the blanket. This could serve as a sun shade and extend the usefulness of the smaller blanket for several months.


Well this would be at least a five day project so if I decide to do it, I won't wait until it is done to mail the afghan to my niece as it can always be sent along later. She probably wounldn't need it before April anyway.