Since I promised my girls that I’d make them each a sweater and one of them lives in Texas, she opted for an afghan instead for her couch.
That said, the pattern she picked out is done with 2 strands of worsted weight, I’m using Encore, and since she doesn’t want the fringe on the ends I am going to put a simple border all the way around. There isn’t any border posted with the pattern.
My question is, since the body is done with 2 strands do I need to do the border with 2 as well or can I just do 1? I’m not sure I’ll have enough yarn left to do 2 strands all the way around.
The afghan is 2 colors, one section is large granny squares with puff stitches and the other section is more open with puff stitches and chains. The sections are alternating so will alternate the border colors as well.
Border for crocheted afghan
Of course you can do this any way you want to; it’s just a matter of how you want it to look. You might try doing a swatch, or attaching a “mock” border after your first granny square is complete to see how it looks. Just be sure NOT to cut your yarn so you can reuse it.
If you decide to use one strand of yarn for the border, you might consider making it somewhat ruffled; that might hide the discrepancies between the yarns better because the border will be “poofier.”
Otherwise, yeah, swatching it up will probably tell you what you need to know.
If I knit or crocheted something with two strands held together, I would do the same for the border, unless I was working a small attached i-cord edge. An i-cord edge is very unobtrusive, barely noticeable by its size and presence unless you work it in an outrageous contrasting color.
The single strand attached i-cord uses very little yarn. It uses two dpn’s, and it is ‘knitted’. It would be worth anyone’s time to learn, both crocheters and knitters.
If you cannot do the i-cord , and don’t have enough yarn for double stranded crochet border, I’d crochet just an overcast edge, not even single crochet, something less noticeable than single crochet, nothing that will emphasize the thinness of the yarn.
And I like Anatares’s suggestion, too!
I’ve done i-cord for sweater buttons, but not as a border. Is there a video that would show me how to to this as a border?
There are many You Tube videos for “applied icord edging”. That’s how I learned. Some videos are better than others, or easier for me to get. But that’s to be expected. Just type [B] applied icord edging[/B] in You Tube search.
Here’s one that’s my favorite:
Here is a brief view of my Earth, Wind & Fire mitered squares blanket with the applied icord edging:
And closer up:
This is the blanket that needed the subtle icord edging: