Progress Report: Frozen Colors Afghan

I made a bit of progress on the crochet afghan I am stitching for my granddaughter for Christmas, so it seemed like the time for a picture update. 

First picture - taken within about 48 hours of starting on November 13.

The pattern is called “With Love, Granny” Afghan Pattern designed by Crystal White-VanCleemput, of JolieKnotsCrochet.  The word ‘Granny' is a reference to the Granny Crochet stitch that makes up the heart patterns in the blanket.  The ‘With Love' reference is a nod to all the hearts in the pattern. But I love how when you put all the words together in the title it can be understood as a gift from a loving grandmother - which my afghan actually is.

Several days later.

I am glad I decided to crochet this instead of knit it.  There is no knit stitch that covers this much ground this fast based on the speed at which I knit and crochet (which isn’t fast.)

I am pretty happy with the faint suggestion of the heart pattern in this design.  Checking Ravelry, one crocheter called it “Watermark.”  And that is exactly the impression the hearts give - like a watermark on paper. You know it is there but it doesn’t demand the viewer’s attention on the simple background of double crochets.

A few close ups of the design.

Based on how much yarn has been sucked up by this project so far, I had to once again purchase additional skeins of yarn to complete the afghan based on the order I am using them.  Since it is a corner to corner design, the light blue and white are falling into the part of the pattern that is the widest and based on my planned use of the design - there will be more rows of the colors in the wider center ... and therefore needs more yarn.  Thankfully I could get extra skeins and colors I needed at Joann Fabric’s shop near me.

After the light blue is completed, I have a pink that will fall into the center of the afghan.  It will have more rows than any previous color.  Then I will begin to decrease, going back to the light blue, and then the white and then the lavender, etc. etc. etc.  

So based on those plans I think I am about 1/3 of the way through this pattern - only 1/3 because the closer I get to the center the wider the stripes are.

And I gave some thought to the border. 

Designer’s picture from the pattern.
I don’t care for the open lacy border of this pattern.

I don’t care for the border that came with this pattern, and I planned to do something that had a picot edge.  And then I stumbled upon a border called Whipsiderry Border designed by Dedri from her blog called  Look At What I Made.  Although I am always going to be primarily a knitter, Dedri manages to drag me into crochet time and time again with her beautiful designs.  She does the most stunning crochet, and her website is full of her free designs, beautiful pictures, exceeding detailed written and pictorial instructions and links to her YouTube step-by-step video instructions (a must for me with crochet.)  

The Whipsiderry Border I plan to use.

I love the solid look of this crochet border. It is wider than most with a solid foundation of double crochets that match the double crochet background of the hearts afghan I am working on ... and then is topped off with an appealing crochet lace pattern.

This border will add considerable extra work to the afghan once I complete the body (ha!  Just what I need with a tight deadline. Not!)  Other possible designs would have made for a quicker border, but now my mind is settled on this design so it is what I will use - and if it isn’t quite done for Christmas, I will just give it to her after Christmas. 

(See?  I can be flexible.)