Vikings Afghan

I can't express how happy I am this afghan is done! It is so big and heavy! I made it for my husband, a Vikings fan. More info can be found on Ravelry at http://www.ravelry.com/projects/nancyducey/michaels-minnesota-vikings-blanket

Pattern:

210W x 220H

Afghan Size - 55.125"W x 71.5"H - pic shows it on our Full Sized Bed. It fits the top of the bed

Tunisian Crochet - Afghan Stitch - J Hook

Chain 210

92 rows Spirit Yarn

1 row Red Heart amethyst 

2 rows Red Heart Gold

30 rows Red Heart amethyst 

2 rows Red Heart Gold

1 row Red Heart amethyst 

92 rows Spirit Yarn

1 row last row Bind off

For the border, I did single crochet for the first round. In the corners, I did single crochet chain one single crochet. I should have chained two. The second round was *three double crochet shell, chain one, skip one, single crochet, chain one, skip one, repeat from *. In the corner chain one space, I did a 3dc shell, chain two, 3dc shell. 

This afghan came about because my husband was complaining there is never any Vikings stuff in the stores. We live in PA (eastern) so this is not surprising.  We were on vacation in Ocean City, MD and I found a can cozy for him.  Of course it was knitted and he said I could knit something for him.  I found the "Go Team Throw" and thought that would be a good pattern. Finding the purple and gold spirit yarn was difficult. Everyone was sold out. I finally found it at Beverly's Fabric in CA. I ordered 10 skeins. I knew I had to make it longer because my husband is tall.  I showed it to him and he liked it. A couple of days later he said "Will it have a Viking on it?"! UGH! This pattern does not lend itself to adding an image to the blanket. So back to the drawing board.  I decided on the Tunisian crochet afghan stitch so I could cross stitch the Viking on it. So now I needed a band of solid color to do this and I needed to learn how to Tunisian Crochet! I got a hook, taught myself how to do the stitch while doing a gauge swatch. I then calculated how many to chain and how many rows. Now to find the right purple to do the solid band for stitching and I needed more spirit yarn. Long story short, I have many shades of purple in my stash now! I found the Viking pattern on Ravelry and graphed "Vikings" myself. I am very happy with the end results!

Create and be happy!

Nancy