I live in Oregon. I love it here. It's gorgeous year round. It also rains almost all year. So a prerequisite to living here, I have to like Grey and Green. No choice. I'm surrounded by it.
I also have a boyfriend who is ex-Army, but still a fan. Of course this also makes his favorite color olive drab. This basically ensures that whenever I ask him to pick a color for my next home-related project, his response will almost always be a shade of green. I had made him an afghan that he loves, pictured below, that is a perfect version of olive with a light sheen. In man-terms though, it's green. Good enough.
I love brown, orange, red, yellow, and blue. I know, the blue just throws the whole thing off.
When we moved in together, we tossed all his furniture and kept only mine. So our furniture is all shades of brown, and the decor in the bulk of the house is all shades of a deep sunset. Burnt orange, deep yellows, burgundy, and maybe some purples tossed in. This includes the afghan I'd made for myself years ago.
Everything has to match. When it comes to home decor, camping equipment, well anything really, it must match everything else it touches. If the colors or patterns don't match in some way, I can get a tad twitchy. I am not kidding. Up until last year when the wind destroyed our tent on a camping trip, ALL of our camping equipment matched. I am working on cycling everything now to match the new tent. Yes, I am pathetic.
Moving on. ;-)
Well, we recently purchased a new couch. This means all new afghans and blankies, right? I thought ahead and made sure the new couch had to be brown. And it was! A nice chocolate brown with cream accents. So it matches EVERYTHING already in the house. YAY! We don't have to buy new everything now! Wait, something is amiss here....
That darned afghan. *hmph* The afghan that might as well be neon green next to our nice new coffee and foam colored couch.
Hmmmm, how to fix this....
I took(more like gently dragged) the man to Joann's and said "Any color you want." He whined and complained a little with a bit of a stomp and shuffle and the typical "I don't wanna.... *pout*". Honestly, this I would expect any man to do when forced to select yarn for his significant other. I offered my desperate please-face, to which he then proceeded to grab the first green he saw within reach.
"No, it needs to be fluffy, and it needs to match the new couch." Secretly, I'm also hoping for acrylic, so it's cheap and easy to maintain.
He marched away with a little huff, but my man has always been good with the chore of picking yarn. Honestly, he's also normally very supportive of the trips to Joann's, although he will usher me through the store quickly to avoid me buying half the yarn section or spending 3 hours there just touching and comparing colors.
He knows what I like and what to look for and is also doing very well with the differences between colors.
For instance, they are not all purple.
Me: This is eggplant, and this one is plum. Those are royal, and that is lavender.
He: This is dark purple. This is light purple.
Hey, it's progress. If you ask him to find olive drab though, he'll spend 20 minutes looking for the EXACT shade, and he'll find it every time. Like I said, I'll take progress where I can.
Anyways, two rows over he's deciding between two colors. I convince him it needs to have brown in it to match the new couch, and 10 minutes later we've got a basket full of yarn and are on our way home. Little did I know how well his selection would work.
The Three Afghans
And Together
Anyways, moving right along. These are not your normal lapghans as they are big enough for two to comfortably cover up.
My tan afghan was made with Red Heart - Light and Lofty yarn in Cafe Au Lait and Pheasant Multi.
The green was made entirely with Lion Brand - Homespun in Olive.
The mixed, which is still in progress, I am also using Lion Brand - Homespun. We chose Olive and Herb Garden. Herb Garden literally looks like the Pheasant Multi, but instead of tan, it's green.
The Lion Brand - Homespun isn't as thick as the Red Heart - Light and Lofty, but it's definitely softer. Red Heart yarns have always felt scratchy to me, even the baby blends.
So on to the pattern. (*PATTERN HERE*)
This is a very simple pattern. Below is a summed up and slightly modified version of this pattern from Red Heart.
I used a size P crochet hook, which keeps it loose and fluffy. A size N crochet hook would be perfect if you prefer a tighter stitch.
CH (however many you want)
Row 1: SC in 2nd ch from hook, *DC, SC*, repeat to end.
Row 2: If you ended on a SC, CH 3 and turn, *SC in next DC, DC in next SC*, repeat to end.
Row 2(Alt): If you ended on a DC, CH 1 and turn, SC in top of DC, *DC in next SC, SC in next DC*, repeat to end.
Repeat Row 2(and/or alt) to desired length.
For striping: 10 rows of your primary color, 2 of secondary, 2 of primary, 2 of secondary, repeat.
Like I said, easy peasy.
Enjoy!!!
Probably shouldn't ask your guy for his opinion. That way its just easier on you. I want to know when "man", in general, decided that he should have an opinion anyway?"
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