My First Lighthouse Afghan

Intro: My First Lighthouse Afghan

Hi there and thanks for taking the time to view my instructable. My name is Barbara and I have been crochetting for about ten years now. I have always loved doing this as a stress releaser (although some of my projects instill yet more stress than others) either way...I keep going for the sheer fact of making someone else happy because of my hard work.

I was asked to make a lighthouse afghan for a friend's mother a while back. I agreed but was unsure of whether or not I could accomplish it. I took on the task and am now so happy that I did.

This afghan is made with Lion Brand yarn worsted weight (although I am not to sure of the color's) I simply take the papers off and discard them for fear of hang ups later during the process (especially when you are at the last few yards of yarn). This afghan was a single picture chart dated back in the 2001. It called for Mary Maxim Worsted Weight Yarn, but I was given the material already and they were all Lion Brand skeins. It asked for size 5 and 6mm hook sizes (the smaller hook for edging). This afghan was done with a single crochet changing colors in odd numbered rows (although I may have forgotten my place a few times during the process...all and all, it was a pretty thrilling experience since I had never worked on an afghan that showed pictures of objects.

Comments

[ellbates]

Maybe I’m missing something, but I thought I was downloading a pattern. All I got was this page with your description of the project and all the comments. Is there an actual pattern?

[lpalta]

My daughter's MIL knits and has been looking for this MM pattern. She does not have a computer, but I know she would love this pattern. She has been knitting for years and I am sure she could convert it for knitting. I know this is an old post, but hoping you read it and would be able to scan it for me. Thanks so much.

Lucy

My addy is [e-mail]

[sasunshine]

This really is fantastic! Did you find a way to get a pattern? I found a lighthouse kit in Mary Maxim but it was knit and on backorder. My sister and I both love lighthouses and this would be a wonderful Christmas present.

[babakers5]

I am so sorry...yes, I have actually found the pattern and will scan a copy of it to my computer (I forgot all about it, I do appoligise). I will do my best to have it done by tomorrow evening and will post here to let you know. We'll figure out how to get it to everyone that wants the pattern.

[suzypostal]

hi babaker5 been looking for a knitted lighthouse afghan but would love to get the instructions for a crochet lighthouse afghan i am from the coast of maine so would look good on my spare bed thanks again  Sue PS if you have a knitted one please send those directions all thanks again

[peggy1220]

I am not the best crocheter and I was trying to follow the instructions for the Spiderman blanket. I was doing very well until it the instructions end with round 9. Although the instructions say to increase the number of DC between the CH2 and to increase the number of sk st. I don't know by how many of either and when. Can someone help me? I am trying to complete this for my 2year grandson. Thanks!

[bevneal01]

bevneal01 say's: What a truly amazing afghan,you should be very proud of yourself! I am a lighthouse freak, I have them everywhere, and I crochet.I sure would love to have the instruction's for this lighthouse afghan! This is my first time being in a contest to! My stuff is at Bev's Crocheted Item's. Great Job!

[babakers5]

Thank you for the lovely comment. Honestly...I wish I could give you the instructions, but there were none. It was just a picture chart. It gave the list of colors needed and the only instructions given were to change colors on odd rows (which is pretty difficult after a little bit). Another bad thing about this is; I dont have the picture chart any more. When I completed the afghan for the lady I did it for, she got the picture back (since it was her's). I wish I could help. Maybe I'll see if I could use the picture chart long enough to add it as an additional picture with this instructable.

[Goodhart]

Very very nice.

[babakers5]

Thank you very very much...I really do appreciate your comment. Barb

[Goodhart]

My Mom appreciates "all things lighthouse" as it were, so I will have to find some time to do this for her. She would just love it. Being I am not quite retired yet though, I am a little short on the commodity of time :-)

[Zontee at Lion Brand]

Really amazing! The detail is great!

[babakers5]

Thank you...could you imagine, at one point in making this afghan I had 12 strands of yarn hanging. That was the toughest part of the afghan, but it all worked out for the better. After finishing it I could say "WOW...you really did it!!!" Now on to the next project...wish me luck. I'll post it when I'm finished.

[babakers5]

Thanks a million...I can actually say that I am proud of myself after this one and to think; after all the stress I delt with for months over it, it only took me a total of five (long hour) days to complete it.

[Michelej7]

Wow!! That is some serious detail work.

[babakers5]

Thank you so much for your comment...yes, it took a lot of work to get that lighthouse to show the way that I wanted.

[kcrespy]

Beautiful work! I love it!

[deadalchemist]

wow, thats absolutely stunning! the color changes are amazing! how do you change color? for complex patterns ive come up with the following method: with color A, stitch until about 6 stitches away from color change. Cut yarn 2 times long enough to finish last 6 or so stitches, and fold in half. Stitch over the folded piece of yarn, and on the 6th stitch, sc (or dc depending on the stitch) only until last two loops are left on hook. pull your folded (but stitched over strand) to get all the slack out, and then yo with your new color and complete the stitch! then with the new color, B, stitch over your new loose end, so basically you stitch over your loose ends and they cannot be seen, because your stitching over your current color. its fast, easy, useful for common color changes, and eliminated weaving in ends at the end of the project! however, if your color change is very short you cant use the cut and fold-over method. it gets tricky, but you CAN use the instructions i wrote for color B. haha, it sounds confusing probably.

[babakers5]

It is confusing but all of us crochet(ers) understand perfectly. Yes,what I do is: never cutting of the main color (in this case, the sky blue) I just leave it running underneath the white parts since there is so much changing of colors taking place. I simply single crocheted while holding the blue (underneath my white crochet) when I change back to the blue I just pull from the crocheted area so that it doesn't bunch underneath and leave to much of the blue to be noticed. I hope I'm not confusing you now. Okay, lets try again; (my husband says I tend to confuse everyone I talk too...maybe cause I'm around my kids (only) all day long. while working on the clouds and other objects of the afghan I simply added the color being asked while not cutting off and weaving in the other color at all, I just kept right on trucking with the main color in hand being crocheted into the other. Such as the white and blue. when working on the white I was dragging the blue underneath in the single crochet itself, when I got back to the part where I needed the blue again I simply dropped the white only to continue with the blue as if it were never dropped at all. the only color I was ever dropping was the white, the blue never got cut at all. I know it tends to use up a little more of the blue than I would have liked but I would prefer to spend a little more money than time when it comes to a project like this...saving time is the most important issue... Hope that was easy enough to understand...I kind of confused myself there for a little while. Let me know if you got it.

[deadalchemist]

yeah i understand! that was the method i used mostly until i made the checkmate crochet afghan (it's one of my instructables if you want to take a look). the colors were really really light, and when i used your method for color changing, you could clearly see my pink underneath the blue and the blue underneath the pink, and ESPECIALLY the black underneath any other colors. I did that for the first 3 rows, and it was so obvious what I had done that I needed to find another way. A lot of crochet instructions for color changing say: st until last 2 lps remain on hook, yo with new color to complete the stitch. So I did that for a little bit and then realized...hey...i can do the exact same thing but hide my ends at the same time. So all my pink ends are hidden in pink, all my black ends are hidden in black, etc., etc. And now the blanket looks amazing. Try it sometime! Your method I generally use for darker colors. And for the record, your first paragraph was not confusing at all. ;-)