name afghan

Coke has this new gimmick called Share a Coke where each bottle of soft drink has a name written on it. Of course this makes folks look for their name and the names of family and friends. Cute gimmick, but there are some folks who can never find items with their own names for whatever reason. Perhaps they are spelled differently than the majority of folks with that name or just not in the top 250 name list they used. Find out if your name is on a bottle here.

My own name, for example. My full name is Sandra. My nickname is Sandie. I am almost always able to find items with Sandy (Coke has it) but rarely Sandie. I can sometimes find Sandra but it's not on this particular Coke list. I don't drink Coke so no biggie for me.

Anyway, all this to say that a sweet relative of mine mentioned that she can never find anything with her name on it so I decided to make her a name lapghan as a surprise so she could have something with her very own name. Here is the result. (Guess what her name is. heh)

The yarn used is leftover skeins purchased for Doctor Who scarves.

The edging is Red Heart Burgundy. The two tan colored solid stripes are Vanna's Choice Taupe. Some of the other skeins did not have labels but here's what I remember (if my memory can be trusted).
Bernat Waverly Gypsy Gold
Red Heart Soft Wine
Vanna's Choice Honey, Eggplant, Toffee, Rust
Knit Picks Dublin, Sienna, Eggplant, Currant

There is a grey but I don't know which it is.

The yarns were all worsted weight but not necessary all equal in thickness. The RH Soft is slightly thinner than the rest and the Bernat Waverly is a little thicker. It all came together pretty nicely except when I went to work the edging.

I ripped that edging out at least three times. LOL I could not get it to lie flat and I do attribute this somewhat to the thinner yarns. I finally settled on one round of single crochet, then one round of (sc, ch 3, sk 3) which I adjusted along the side that was giving me trouble. Then for the final round I worked (3 dc in each ch-3 loop, ch 1). I think it came out pretty well.

I might give an additional tip if you decide to do this and use that edging. When working the ch-3s you need to extend those chains to match the length of the stitches beneath them or you will have puckering there. In other words, work loosely and pay attention.

The strips are joined with a whipstitch. The lettering is my own design, but basically is just square lettering. Easy for anyone to do. I used 3dc mesh. The letters are 5 squares across and 9 down.

[update] I'm unable to update the web site currently, but if you want a filet alphabet chart Pinterest is a place to start. You can also google "filet alphabet chart" and will get a number of hits. I'm happy to send my alphabet chart to anyone who inquires as well. Just send me a note via the contact form. One caution - some of the alphabets I saw did not design each letter to be the same size. If you are making squares and need them to be the same size, make sure you choose a chart design that does this. In other words, all the letters being the same number across and the same number down. For example, all my letters in the chart used here are 5 across and 9 down. In order to get a "center" you need an odd number. I also have a larger chart which includes lowercase letters but I have not tested it in a project yet.

That's all for now.

Happy crocheting!
Sandie