weather or not

What is the deal? that's all i can ask. yesterday we had snow. i meant to take a picture of it. may 10, snowing, -1 Celsius at NOON!!! Today, it's sunny and 4 Celsius, tomorrow it is supposed to rain and be 20 Celsius! Stupid weather.

I blame all those Calgarians who gloated about the 20 Celsius weather we had in January/February. It's their fault.

Anyway, enough of that. Honestly, if talking about the weather is a sign of a boring conversation, what does that say about a weather discussion in my blog... no, don't tell me.

Past-project time. Today's topic: Crocheted afghans.

(yes, i crochet TOO)(not often)(mostly afghans)(i'm not a big fan of crocheted clothing)(no offense intended if you are a big fan of crocheted clothing)(it's just a personal choice)

This past fall I wasn't working. So I had lots of time on my hands and not so much money cluttering up my bank account. I decided to start thinking about Christmas presents EARLY for once, and decided to crochet an afghan for my nephew. I had made one for my Dad a few years ago and my nephew loved it. Then, I got the BRILLIANT idea to crochet an afghan for each of the nephews and nieces.

That's 5 kids for those of you keeping count at home.

It was October, so I had plenty of time. I started one afghan, then started another, then another. Then I started a knitting project (a gift for my friend -- tell you about it later) then I started a sewing project (a bag for my sister-in-law)... and so on.

Soon it was November.

I had several partial afghans, but no complete afghans. I had part of 2 completed knitted gifts for friends and the cut out pieces of the bag for my sister-in-law.

Then I found work. As much as i loved trying to find places to cram all the buckets of money they paid me (did i mention sarcasm in my initial post?) it was SERIOUSLY cutting into my crafting time.

Somehow I managed to get all of the afghans (it turned out to be 4, plus 1 fleece blanket for youngest nephew), all but 1 of the knitted gifts, and the sewn bag completed BEFORE Christmas! I'm amazing. And humble.

So, for your viewing pleasure, I present:
The Awesome Array of Afghans (sorry)
#1 - oldest nephew, Tyler

The colors/pattern are almost identical to the one I made for my dad. Tyler was very close with my dad, who passed away in 2003. (i will write more about my dad at a later time. I'm at work and while sobbing while typing on my work computer may be cool, it's just not appropriate)

#2 - oldest niece, Nichelle (random Lori's Family Trivia: Nichelle is named after an actress from the original Star Trek)

I originally started out making the stripes horizontal. I realized after a while that it was going to be huge. I was running out of time. What to do? So, I made the stripes vertical, and added a border on the top and bottom.

#3 - 2nd oldest nephew, Jesse

I crocheted large granny squares in shades that corresponded to the shades in the Bernat Camoflage yarn. Jesse is a "boy"... into sports, dirt, being tough. An afghan has to look tough.

#4 - youngest niece, Jordyn

I started by crocheting the green background. I found the flower pattern on the Bernat website (can't find the link at the moment). After the background was done, I started doing the border and did rows and rounds until it was big enough. Did i mention how completely girl-y Jordyn is? Her comment when she opened the gift was "MOMMY! It's a blanket and it's PURPLE!" She vaulted over the carnage (gift wrap and boxes) and hugged me. "Did you KNOW I like purple?" How could I not?

The final nephew, Talon, received a fleece panel that I made into a blanket. It was printed with a farm scene with a barn and a tractor. My brother is farming on our family farm and Talon, 3, is completely, unequivocally, a farm kid. For weeks now he has been talking about nothing but going seeding with his dad. He loved it.

If you have been keeping track, 4 crocheted afghans amounts to... Who am I kidding I have no idea how many stitches it was. SO SO SO many.

This concludes todays "Past-Project Post". Join us next time when we discuss little kids sweaters and how just because it's a little sweater doesn't mean it's a quick knit.