Finishing Projects

One of the pleasures of crocheting is to finish a project. If the project had been for someone else, I enjoy seeing her happiness at receiving it. My daughter-in-law was very happy to have a finished afghan for her couch. She does spend lots of time with it wrapped around herself.
I have another project started last year, a plarn beach bag. I planned to finish it next. Instead, she asked if I could make a pair of fingerless gloves for her...
We HAD been discussing what to make that would use some of the left over yarn from her afghan. It IS winter. She had some patterns on her Pinterest. So I made a pair for her. She's worn them a lot. She said that her co-workers raved over them and wanted to try them on. Hearing comments like that is another great pleasure of crocheting.

Afghan: Finally Finished! (Filet Hearts pattern)

Granted, I'm not here year-round to work on projects, it still seems too long to take a year to finish an afghan. Really, I've only worked on it a little over 3 weeks.

12 stripes: black, white, red, repeated. 12 rows in each stripe, for 144 rows, plus a 3 row border, white, red, black. (White would really show dirt, so I put it inside.)
Chain 237 stitches.
Row 1 :  Dc in 4th stitch from hook and in next 26 stitches, *work ch 1, skip next stitch, dc in next st over next 26 stitches, work dc in next 27 stitches. Repeat from star across. I have a closed block at each end, so I had to repeat the dc over 27 stitches once more. The open squares have closed hearts, the closed squares have open hearts.
Row 2: closed squares, dc across,
Open squares, 13 open squares.
Row 3: closed square, dc across 13 stitches, ch 1, skip next stitch, dc across next 13 stitches.
Open square, ch 1, skip ch, dc in next dc for 6 spaces, dc in next sp, dc in next dc, ch 1, dc in next dc for 6 spaces. Alternate closed squares and open squares across row.
Row 4: closed square, dc across 11 dc, ch 1, skip next stitch, dc in next dc. Ch 1, dc in next dc. Ch 1, skip next stitch, dc across next 11 stitches.
Open square, ch 1, dc in next dc for 5 squares, dc in each of next 7 stitches (dc and ch). Work open squares across next 5 squares.
Row 5: closed square, 9 dc, 5 open squares, 9 dc.
Open squares, 4 open squares, 11 dc, 4 open squares.
Row 6: closed square, 7 dc, 7 open squares, 7 dc.
Open squares, 3 open squares, 13 dc, 3 open squares.
Row 7: closed square, 5 dc, 9 open squares, 5 dc.
Open squares, 2 open squares, 15 dc, 2 open squares.
Row 8: repeat row 7
Row 9: closed squares, 5 dc, 4 open squares, 3 dc, 4 open squares, 5 dc.
Open squares, 2 open squares, 9 dc, 1 open square, 9 dc, 2 open squares.
Row 10: closed squares, 7 dc, 2 open squares, 7 dc, 2 open squares, 7 dc.
Open squares, 3 open squares, 5 dc, 3 open squares, 5 dc, 3 open squares.
Row 11, closed squares, dc across.
Open squares, 13 open squares.
Row 12: repeat row 11.
For next stripe, work open squares over closed squares and closed squares over open squares.
I used 3 colors so that the pattern wouldn't repeat in the same color every time. I like this enough to use it for my February afghan. Now, I just have to decide on the colors.......

My son, the practical joker

 I came to visit my son for Christmas. While we were opening presents, they brought out a big box. No, a BIG box. My son pushed it across the floor to me as if it were really heavy. All I could think was, "Oh, no, how am I going to get that back on the plane?!" So, I opened it. It was full of plastic bags. My son and his wife, and her parents, had saved their bags for the whole last year. I think that was my best present, at least I was glad to get all those bags. For two weeks, I've spent hours a day, cutting bags, tying strips together and rolling them into balls. I'm not finished yet! At last count, there are over 200 of just tan bags. Maybe that'll be enough to finish a beach bag and a rug for them.

I'm not just working with plarn. This afghan wasn't finished when I left last year. I thought it needed 3 more stripes and a border. I haven't been including these projects in my wip count. That's OK, it gives me a variety to work on for the rest of my visit while my son and his wife are at their jobs.

Rug started

Using an H hook and plarn, ch 106.
Turn. In 4th ch from hook, work dc. Dc across. 103 dc.
This makes the 2 foot side.
Turn, ch 3. Work dc across.
Repeat until rug is desired width. (3 feet is usually well proportioned.)
It twisted and rippled for several rows. By the 8th row, it was lying flat.
5 rows make 2 inches. This will take about 200 bags. Changing colors will make stripes. Make the stripes as wide or as narrow as you wish - this is your creative art! Make it uniquely yours!
I'm making this one for my son's back door, inside his garage. He doesn't care about color, just that it stops some of the sand and dirt from being tracked into his house. It will do that, but it will take some time to make. It will probably take over 30 hours just to cut the bags!