Sunday, March 4, 2012

giganto afghan

Look at me posting so many times in one week! :-)

I just had to talk about this Giganto Blanket. I saw it on Pinterest and could not resist doing some investigating. Yes, I know it is knitted, not crocheted, but still ... Can you imagine how huge this must be? Heavy and warm. Not for me in Louisiana, of course! I have my A/C on right now.

Anyway, I found her FAQ (previous link) and then I went to her Ravelry and Etsy shops (slightly cheaper on Ravelry) where she has the pattern. She says there it is really a tutorial as the pattern is simply knit and purl stitches. I think the pattern itself tells about the felting process - step by step things. I haven't actually seen it.

If you don't have the upper body strength to hold 6# of super duper bulky yarn on a 1 1/2" pipe, but can't do without this afghan, you can purchase it for $449 at her Etsy shop. That is the price listed today. $25 shipping in the states.

Laura gives you all the info - you can get the yarn at Sheep Shed. $15.50 per pound and you need 6# for the size Laura makes. You could probably get less and make it smaller. This tempts me, but how ridiculous would it be to have a bulky afghan in Louisiana?

She uses 1 1/2" PVC pipe. I went online and found that this is the diameter. If you want to know how large this is, you can measure a glass or something. This site says a 1 1/2" pipe is 6" circumference (around). For your reference:
For Steel Pipe or PVC Plastic Pipe
3.25" (83mm) = 3/4" pipe
4.00"(102mm) = 1" pipe
5.00"(127mm) = 1 1/4" pipe
6.00"(152mm) = 1 1/2" pipe
That said, I cut out a 1 1/2" cardboard circle and it was 5" circumference so until I can actually measure a piece of PVC pipe, you're on your own there.

I went looking to see how large a crochet hook I could find. The largest I found was 28mm V hook at StitchDiva (made by Ed Jenkins at Jenkins Woodworking).

Now to figure out how 1 1/2" pipe corresponds to crochet hooks and knitting needles. The largest I have is a broomstick lace pin which is a #50. Jenkins says this is 25mm. I measured it around and it is 3 1/4" circumference. So this pipe is much larger than that. A conversion chart tells me that 1" is 25mm so 1 1/2" is about 38mm.

I doubt I will attempt this because the expense would be ridiculous for the use I'd get out of it and besides that, I don't knit. I had a lot of fun investigating it, however, and watching this video of Laura working.

She does say that the unspun roving sheds a good bit so if you have allergies might not be the best project to try.

Happy crocheting!
Sandie

3 comments:

  1. In my opinion the circumference of a circle is same as the perimeter that is the distance around the outer edge.
    The formula of circumference is = 2 pi r (pi's symbol)
    where r = the radius of the circle
    and pi = 3.14(Approx)
    Parallelogram Definition

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    1. You are correct. To put it more simply it is 3.14 (pi) x diameter. I have that info on my tutorial on working in the round. However, I have not found it to work overly well with fiber circles as they are stretchy, but it would give an approximate measurement, which would be helpful. It would work well for a cardboard circle though and for the pipe. For a crochet hook, it is solid and generally not flat so that would also be approximate. I'm terrible at measuring even though I know the specifics of it. I'm always off! Thanks for the info!

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