Seashore Afghan

by Linda

Saw the yarn in the store, looked at it, petted it, hugged it, loved it!

I originally chose a taupe colour, intending to do a solid colour afghan. After making a couple of strips, I realized I probably wouldn't have enough yarn to make it as large as I wanted to (I bought up all balls in that colour). So back I went and picked up the last few balls of the same yarn another colour, a blue, that would coordinate with the colour scheme of the intended victim's home, I mean intended recipient's home. :) Lastly, I grabbed a few balls of chunky weight smooth yarn, in a soft white colour, for edgings and joining.

Make sure you use nice, slippery needles for this one, acrylic boucle can have the tendency to want to stick to the needles sometimes.

Oh yeah, the name? Well, the taupe and blue colours reminded me of the sand and the sea, so... :)

bulky boucle or nubbly acrylic yarn, 700 g (25 ounces) taupe, and 280 g (10 ounces) light blue, both heathered or with coordinating nubs if possible
smooth bulky weight acrylic yarn in a soft white, 200 g (7 ounces)
8.00 mm needles, pair of single points or a circular
5.00 mm crochet hook
gauge is about 12-14 sts per 4 inches in pattern stitch, but is not crucial, as long as you have enough yarn
finished size is about 57 by 70 inches (145 cm wide by 175 cm long) but it stretches quite a bit...

Wide Strip - approx 13 inches (35 cm) wide - With taupe, cast on 34 sts.
Next 5 rows, knit across, turn.
Work 3 rows in stocking stitch (knit one row, purl the next, knit the next), then knit the next row, forming a purl ridge on the stocking stitch side.
Repeat these 4 rows 46 times.
Work next 5 rows in garter st as in the beginning, casting off on a right side row.
Make 3 strips like this in total.
Narrow Strip - approx 4 1/2 inches (10 cm) wide - Work exactly the same as first strip, but cast on only 12 sts and use blue yarn.
Make 4 strips like this in total.
Assembly - The strips will be arranged as below, with W signifying the wide taupe coloured strips and N the narrow blue strips.
N W N W N W N
With the smooth white yarn, loosely single crochet along the one long edge of each of the two strips you're about to join. Work about 3 or 4 single crochets into the garter stitch borders at the beginning and end of each strip, whichever looks best to you, but stay consistent from strip to strip. Work about 2 single crochets for every 3 stocking st rows, skip the purl st ridges that occur every 4 rows.
With the right side of the strips facing each other, single crochet (or slip stitch) the strips together through back loops only. These will be the loop that's closest to you and the loop that's farthest from you as you work your way across.
Once all strips are joined, check to ensure you haven't accidentally single crocheted with white on the side edges of the afghan (the left hand side of the leftmost blue strip or the right hand side of the rightmost blue strip). The only white yarn you should see at this point is where the strips are joined to each other.
Again with white, single or half double crochet around all outer edges of the afghan. Add another row of sc or hdc if you're so inclined.
Work in those loose ends, and tada! You're done!

If you want to make a larger throw, here are some guidelines. About 5 ounces (140 g) of boucle yarn will produce 4 narrow strips, approx 7.5 ounces (200 g) will produce a wide strip.
You may decide to join the strips together in a different way. For example, to make the white edging stand out more, single crochet or half double crochet around all edges of each strip with the main yarn, then sc or hdc all around again once or twice more before joining. Then work extra rounds of white after the afghan is joined together. You could also sc the strips together from the right side to form a ridge.
Sew the strips together if you prefer or if you absolutely cannot crochet to save your life. :) Sew together with a coordinating smooth yarn to have the join almost invisible (this is not easy with boucle yarn), or get a really long circular needle to pick up and knit a couple of rows in white for the edgings, then sew together with white from the wrong side to join the strips.
Any of these alternate joining methods or a change in overall size will of course use a different amount of yarn, always buy extra just in case...

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