Christmas Afghans Scrapghan Block

So the title for this post looks like a mouthful, but basically this block is a hybrid of the two afghans I made for Christmas gifts this year.  I was going to post pictures of the afghans anyway, but thought it would be more fun to make another scrapghan post at the same time.

(Please excuse the somewhat poor photos that I took in a rush before wrapping!)

No matter how many fancy afghan blocks I've done, I'm always drawn back to the classic and traditional granny square.  There's something so simple and so perfect about it.  I chose nine colors that felt the most "adirondack log cabinish" to me for my aunt and uncle (and their log cabin).  With all the colors besides the beige, I made granny squares with four rounds (ch1 spaces between clusters and ch2 corners), and joined them all together with another round of beige.  I'll admit, before I added the beige I was really nervous the blanket was going to look like something out of the seventies... but the beige really made it!

Once all the squares were joined with the beige round, I added three rows of (3dcs, ch1), and then a round of reverse single crochet for the border.  I love that stitch for a border!

My sister made two super cute pillows to match the afghan!  I think she did a great job in finding the perfect fabric colors/patterns!  Pretty good tag teaming I think.

Remember my "Forget-Me-Not" scrapghan block?  Well, I decided to make an entire afghan with the pattern.  I was really liking this color combo; it's nice and bright!!  I think the colors were inspired by all of the lovely Cath Kidston inspired afghans I've ever seen.

The afghan is made of 25 squares.  Each time I went to block one out, I was sure it wasn't going to stretch to the 14 inches of the one before it, but it always did.  The entire blanket ended up fitting on the top of a king sized bed; it was bigger than I expected.  I loved how it turned out, but I doubt I'm going to be making that block again any time soon!

My sister also made matching pillows for this blanket too.  Gorgeous fabric!!!  I'm jealous of her mad sewing skills.

So for this scrapghan block, I used the colors from the "Forget-Me-Not" afghan, and constructed it like the granny square afghan.  I was going to stop after one granny, but just couldn't, making it a rather large block...  But incidentally, it is just about the size of one Forget-Me-Not block.

For the scrapghan block I used the border in reverse colors from the Forget-Me-Not afghan.  Very simple and pretty.  I will definitely keep it in mind for future projects.

So this starts some of the Christmas craft sharing.  I'm afraid the pictures don't really do the afghans justice, but you get the idea.

Don't forget to enter to win my Pay It Forward Giveaway if you want!