Granny's Attic - complete!

It's done and I think it's beautiful and bright and so wonderfully perfect for someone else's forever home! My evenings are free again!

I had the Granny's Attic afghan on my list of projects I wanted to do, but not for myself. Most afghans don't feel modern enough for me, but I still love the colors and patterns of all of them.

It really wasn't until it was complete that I can appreciate how much the colors pop, especially with a bit of sunlight coming in the window.

The afghan is a good size. and would be great as a large throw for the sofa or on a single bed. It almost fits my queen size bed as it is.  I think 4 X 6 squares would make a nice comfy sized lapghan for the one person. Chico's is 4 X 4 and it's wide enough, but I'd want it a bit longer if I was going to use it for myself.

 
I really hope Gina is happy with it and her daughter loves it.

ABOUT THIS AFGHAN

17 colors / 8 color combos  + black / 48 squares
Border: single crocheting through both loops, a row of single crochet around plus 2 rows of double crochet
5'4" X 4'1"
WEIGHT:
52 oz (a bit more than that, but close enough)

• 48 squares to round 6 (including tails) = 2.82 bs / 45.12 ounces
• 7 oz  black for joining squares by single crocheting through both loops, a row of single crochet around plus 2 rows of double crochet for the border.

COST: TIME
Approx 40 hrs

1 square (to round 6) takes approximately 35 minutes (without tying in tails)
24 tails to tie in per square = 10 mins

48 squares X 45 mins = 36 hrs
joining and border = 3 hrs

COST: YARN
 52 oz / 7 oz per skein = 7.43 skeins
7.43 X $10.11 = $ 75.00 (includes tax)

Granny's Attic 18 squares and counting

I'm 18 squares mostly done since my last update just over a week ago.  Sure, the pic shows 20, but I think the two on the right are going to be history.

I'm not feeling the grey and white. I like this combination, but I don't want another 6 squares with a white half, so I'll replace that with a green square combo.

The tan and creme I do like, but I'm not liking the yarn for this project. I don't know what brand it is, but it has a different feel than the RedHeart. Dyana had left it here. She used it to make me an awesome beautiful scarf.  So, I'll use the tan/aran yarn I have for Jace's Hex afghan.

In actuality, I've made 26 squares so far, but I'm not happy with 8 of them. A few had a mix of Bernat Premium and Red Heart With Love and it made the squares a bit uneven.

Also, a couple of colour choices just didn't work for me, so I dropped them - Grey/Creme, Yellow/Creme, Red/Bubblegum, and HotPink/Bubblegum.

Buying Yarn - To drive or not to drive...

I don't live in a place where I can run to a local store and grab some yarn. The closest place to get Red Heart or Bernat yarns is 1.5 hrs away where there is a Fabricland (with limited Red Heart With Love colours) or Wal-Mart (limited Bernat Premium / Red Heart Super Saver colours).

I prefer using RH With Love, but Fabricland is overpriced at $8.85 a skein.  The Bernat Premium is great yarn and $4 CHEAPER, but I prefer using The With Love yarn for afghans since it's thicker yarn - although they are both Worsted Weight (4). This also makes making an afghan more expensive sadly.

I needed more colours for the Granny's Attic afghan, but I didn't want to spend a day driving plus $60 in gas to get yarn, so I did some math and checked buying online. I don't need the yarn today, so it wasn't a rush.

I created a chart for comparison.

I left out DUTY because of NAFTA - I shouldn't have to pay duty on US made goods and RedHeart Yarn is made in the USA, (imported goods I buy from this site, I should be charged...that's my understanding, anyways), but If I was buying something else, I would get charged it at RedHeart.

I chose to go with Herrschners although RedHeart appears to be cheaper - and the key word is 'appears' - with Herrschners, I know what I'm being charged.

• No duties on anything on the site
• Billed in Canadian Dollars
• Delivered by Canada Post
• Returns processed in Ontario
• Prices
• Great Selection 

Redheart

• Billed in USD
• Does not show correct tax before final checkout (see chart - should be over $6)
• Does not mention duty charges (if I was buying non US made items)
• Until my Credit card gets charged, I don't really know the real cost after duty/exchange rates.

Umm...and I don't know why DISCOUNT shows as blue in the table below :) I'm talking about Yarn here...not worried about fighting with HTML!

SHOPPING COST COMPARISON

Table Header	FABRICLAND	HERRSCHNERS	REDHEART
PRICE @ 1 skien	$ 8.85	$ 6.24	$ 5.49
PRICE @ 12 skiens	$ 106.20	$ 74.88	$ 65.88
DISCOUNT	20% = $ 84.96		20% = $ 52.70
TAX (GST @ 12%)	$ 10.20	$ 8.99	$ 3.53
SHIPPING		$ 13.95	$ 17.95
EXCHANGE @ $1.26			$ 93.47
GAS	$ 60.00
TIME	4 hrs	7 - 14 days	10 days
TOTALS	$ 155.16	$ 97.82	$ 93.47

* RedHeart was an online discount code - so this would not be reflective of buying there on a regular basis.
* I have a yearly Fabricland Member card which is $25 dollars - it gives the %20 discount.
*You can get a yearly membership card for Herrschners for 25$ that gives 10% discount on all orders and free shipping on first order, but they don't state the conditions - just *free shipping

Once I get the yarn in, I'll post an update.

Grannys Attic for Gina

I have a love hate relationship with this afghan!

I love the design and colours, it reminds me of stained glass, but I really hate the amount of tail ends to deal with! It's like baking, I love making the food but I don't want to do the cleanup :)

I knot and weave in the ends. Some people only weave in the ends, but that makes me a bit worried. Little tails start to show with daily wear, washing, drying, finger plucking etc, and I don't want to look at something I've made or something I love and find a big hole where some stitches have been pulled out. I'd rather have a knot (or a tonne of knots) and feel secure in knowing my project can handle being loved. Sure, some tail ends will show, but they can easily be woven in again…it's not so easy to fix a hole.

The first square of this afghan was a bit frustrating, it would of been SO MUCH EASIER had they explained why they were switching colours where they do, but they don't, so I'll tell you why I think and what eased my frustration.

It seems easier to do the following 3 dc, 2 ch, 3 dc, 2 ch switch colour 3 dc, 2 ch, 3 dc, 2 ch, sl st closed, BUT…this is what I think - the reason they don't do this is because the slip stitch to close makes it almost impossible to insert the hook into the chain for the the next round of dc's.   Maybe I don't slip stitch correctly or too perhaps too tightly, but I'm happy with my reasoning.  Still not so happy with the amount of tails though!