Aran-esque afghan

This is an afghan that I busted my butt on. It was easily the most advanced I have done to date. It was crocheted in strips to resemble an aran type pattern. There's only so much I'll put up with though, as it was done with double stranded worsted yarn. Things are slow enough with big yarn, I'm surely not going to use small yarn for an afghan... *L*

After I went through all this work, I was sorry that I had just used Red Heart Super Saver for it, but it is hard to afford better yarn for something this big anyway...at least in the last decade or so. *L*

DH's aunt got married recently and I parted with it for a gift for her. Not expensive in terms of yarn, but still a big commitment and she and her new hubs appreciated it a lot. One thing about super saver, they can actually use the thing and not worry about it, and wash it easily in the washing machine (I'd at least use the delicate setting myself, but maybe that's because I know how much work this was.

I'm a speed demon crocheter but this still took a while. Learned a lot of new stuff including front post/back post, a nifty cable, and something that a different book called the shrimp stitch which is worked in the opposite direction of most crochet stitches...

If you are looking for speedier afghans, try "afghans on the double", a nifty book in this genre, where all the patterns are with double strands of worsted weight. This afghan came from that book, and is not the only one I've made from that book. It helps if you have color imagination and can see beyond the somewhat basic cheesy color combos in the book. It's not a new book, but is a very practical way to kick out some decent to nice looking afghans in less time...

Oh, yeah, that's the diva cat, princess Amanda...otherwise known as Mandy. She was very miffed when this thing was packed up and mailed away...