Story Behind Giraffe Afghan

My parents live in Tennessee, I live in Ohio and my brother lives in California. We recently had a bit of a family reunion-if you can call it that. I was looking through old pictures with my mother and we came across one of my brother-about 6 or 7 on his training wheel bike with an indian headdress on.
I asked mom if that was what my brother wanted to be at the time-an indian and she said. "No, he wanted to be a giraffe."
I though she was kidding. She wasn't. At the time he wanted to grow really tall and the tallest thing he could think of was a giraffe.
Funny how things like that stick in your mind.
With nothing else much to do I started an afghan. After getting the background complete and with that giraffe comment in mind, I decided to do a girafe afghan. By then my brother had arrived and asked what I was working on.
So I told him, a giraffe.
He said it didn't look like a giraffe.
Of course it wouldn't, I was working on the spots, which he said didn't look muck like spots.
Of course not, they weren't sewn together.

I'm use this this, because nothing I ever I have evered designed started out looking like the finished piece, but he just kept asking!

So Lanny, here is my giraffe afghan. See the spots?

See the Giraffe?

How about now?

What is 4 ply Yarn?

A new person to crochet recently asked me what the 4-ply yarn I stated I used in my pattern meant and if it had anything to do with gauge.
4 ply is the weight of the yarn or thickness and is also called medium . It really means 4 strands of thinner yarn have been twisted together to produce that yarn. You find the weight of the yarn usually just above the name of the yarn something like: Worsted - Medium - 4. Worsted means several strands of thinner yarn have been twisted together to make up the yarn. Medium is the over all thickness you'll achieve in your finished piece and 4 is the number of worsted yarns
4 ply is a weight more commonly used in crochet. One of the easiest to find brands of 4 ply yarn is Red Heart. Usually Wal-mart, Joanns, Michaels, etc have a large variety of colors . I always like to list the weight or type of yarn I used to make the item from the pattern so if it is a special type of yarn you know that up front.
There are of course thinner and thicker yarns available. If you substitute a thinner yarn like a sport weight--3 ply-- you'll end up with a smaller finished piece than what the pattern states. Like wise a thicker yarn will get you a larger finished piece, but I really don't recommend switching as not all patterns can tolerate the change and you may lose some of the details that attracted you to that pattern in the first place.

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Free Cabin Afghan Crochet Pattern

IN THE CABIN


Easy to make and fast. Time break down: Each block takes approximately 20 minutes to make. The required 42 blocks would average 10 1\2 hours. Then you needed 2 1\2 hours to sew the blocks into rows and the rows into the afghan. Finishing the afghan with the simple edging would again take about 2 1\2 hours, totaling the time invested to: 15 1\2 hours.

MATERIALS:
19 ozs. Red Heart 4-ply yarn in Claret, 18 ozs. Red Heart 4-ply yarn in Navy Fleck, needle to take yarn and J hook or hook needed to obtain gauge.

SIZE: 40" X 48"

Gauge: Motif is 6" X 6"

MOTIF:
ROW 1: With J hook and yarn, ch-20, sc 2nd ch from hook, sc across, turn. (19 sts)

ROW 2: Ch-3 (1st dc), (dc, ch-2, 2 dc) sa st as ch-3. * ch-1, sk 2 sts, keeping last lp on hook, 3 dc next st, yo and pull through all lps on hook (cluster st completed), ch-1, sk 2 sts, (2 dc, ch-2, 2 dc) next st (shell completed), rep from * 3 times, turn.

ROWS 3-9: Sl st to ch-2 sp, ch-3, (dc, ch-2, 2 dc) sa sp, * ch-1, cl around front post of next cl, ch-1, work a shell in next ch-2 sp, rep from * 3 times, turn. Fasten off at the end of row 9.

Make 21 blocks in Claret and 21 blocks in Navy Fleck.

With Navy Fleck yarn and needle sew the blocks tog in 7 rows of 6 blocks each alternating to get a checker board pattern. To emphasize the afghan’s texture, sew all Navy blocks turned on their side and the Claret blocks right side up.
Sew all seven rows tog to form the body of the afghan.

EDGING:
RND 1: With Claret yarn and J hook join in side of any block on afghan, ch-1, evenly sc around ea side and work (2 sc, ch-2, 2 sc) in each corner, sl st top beg sc, turn.

RND 2: Ch-3, dc in ea st around and work (2 dc, ch-2, 2 dc) in ea ch-2 lp, sl st top beg ch-3, turn.

RND 3: Rep rnd 2, fasten off.

RND 4: With Navy Fleck and J hook join in any st on edging, ch-3, dc ea st around working (2 dc, ch-2, 2 dc) in ea ch-2 lp, sl st top beg ch-3, turn.

RND 5: Rep rnd 2, fasten off.



Here is a close up of the blocks. I love the texture the stitches form and if you alternate the way you turn the blocks you can get a woven look to your afghan.

Enjoy!

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