Large Afghan Tutorial

I am super excited to share this project with you all as it is one of my favorite gifts I have ever made/given! 

One of my friends was unfortunately diagnosed with cancer shortly before medical school graduation. I spoke with one of my family friends who is now 5+ years cancer free to ask what she appreciated most when she was undergoing treatment and if there was anything that she wished people had done for her during those hard times. She told me that it was wonderful when people made food for her family and she appreciated a nice pashmina a friend had given her to keep her warm during chemo. I tried to find the masculine version of a pashmina and settled on making an afghan for him as a reminder of all of the friends and family who care about him and as a practical gift too.

I popped across the street (literally! I love it!) to the library to find some knitting or crochet patterns for afghans. I was leaning toward crochet as it is oftentimes faster and I hoped to get it done in the few weeks before Christmas. I was greeted by a bunch of patterns straight out of the '80s and a few newer looking ones. Finding one that looks masculine and modern was a tougher bill than I thought but I eventually found this book and this pattern. I loved this book - it includes instructions for each of the stitches, how to change colors, finish off, patterns and more. 

Here's the pattern and directions:

Here are some videos to show you how to do the stitches:
Slip Stitch (sl)
Single Chain (sc)
Half Double Crochet (hdc)

Double Crochet (dc)
Triple/Treble Crochet (tc / t-ch)

I did end up changing the patterns little bit because my friend is over 6ft tall so I made it 173 chains tall and I added a few additional rows to the width. With these adjustments it ended up being 5ft x 4ft.  In all, I used 2.5 skeins of the main color (MC), 1 of each of the other colors. 

A few weeks and 7 seasons of Monarch of the Glen (I can't wait to go to Scotland after watching it!) later the final product was done and ready to be shipped out! Here it is:

Thanks for reading and be sure to check back for more posts!