The present

It was a labour of love.  About 60 hours of work and a few more doing charts from the tiny ones in the book.  I also had to order the wool from the USA because three years ago (I don't know about now) there was no aran weight yarn in a nice golden yellow, it was either neon or pastel.

The starting row, 14 balls of wool and some charts.



If you're consistent when crossing yarns at colour changes you get this sort of ladder effect that untwists when you work back.  Yes, in tunisian crochet every row is actually worked out and back.  196 stitches wide.


Row 1 was completed within a couple of months of starting the afghan.


Row 2 wasn't done until a year later.


Then it languished.  I wasn't very creative two years ago, Preston was taking its toll on me.

Some time late last year it was pointed out that this year would be Dad's 60th birthday.  What a good reason for finishing!

Row 3:


The ends:



Row 4:


Row 5:


Row 6:


All seven rows done!


After weaving in the 200 and something ends I could finally see what I had left.  One tunisian hook and some extra yarn (I had to convert from the originally suggested yarn, so my numbers were a little off)



Next was separating the flags.  A little embroidery later:


Finally I went around the edge twice doing double-crochet stitch.  It was then washed and hung to air in the Tiree breeze.  It's a little over 3 feet wide and approx 5 foot long.  It's also a dense fabric.



Madam doglet was not impressed that I moved her bed to take photos!


Finally, an arty shot of it draped over my rocking chair:


60 hours, about 1.2kg of wool and lots of love.  Oh, and about 8,000 stitches!  Sooooo glad I worked that out after I made it!

That's Dad's present.  It was presented on Saturday and much loved already.  I also darned Dad's gloves that I knit for him about 4 years ago.  Got to love the durability of wool!

TTFN