Yay! I’ve been wanting to make the Great American Aran Afghan for a while now. I got the book last year and I’ve been lurking at the KALfor it. I was hesitant to fork over the $$ for yarn though.
But WEBS is having a great sale, so I couldn’t pass up Plymouth Encore Worsted in color 1231 (sage green). I figured that would be light enough to show the patterns, but it’s in my parents’ color. The box just came today - I can’t wait to get started.
:shock: What have I got myself in for? I have so many things to do right now!
Hey…Welcome! :waving: I too just recently started the GAAA. It’s sooo pretty! LOL :rofling: I thought the same thing…“OMG Now what am I going to do??” “Am I going to be able to do this?” UGHHHHHHHHHH :shock:
I’m currently on my 2nd square. I also bought from WEBS. Plymouith Encore in Soft White 146. Got a discount too!
The pattern calls for 20 balls of yarn. I bought 23…or 24 LOL not sure Wait…I believe 23.
Before I started when I was waiting for my yarn to come I was reading everything I can from the GAAA along blog site. I read every post month by month over and over. I cut n paste (info.,posts, tips) that I thought would be important or help me out once I started. (I’m glad I did…I’ve refered to those notes a few times).
It’s been fun to work on…When I finished my 1st square…I was like…“Which one should I do now?” :happydance: It’s challenging, have learned some things already!
What lovely colors u both have chosen That afghan is just beautiful!! I’ve bookmarked the KAL for future reference…I have to design an afghan for Lonnie before undertaking another…but I can’t wait to see yours :cheering: :happydance:
I ended up buying 20 of the sage for my parents’ afghan and 2 purple for a pillow for me. I already have 4 dark green and one oatmeal heather that I got at a lys closeout. I think I’m going to use the oatmeal as my trial-&-error yarn.
I need to read and re-read the KAL blog before starting to make sure I don’t need more skeins. Now, I’m worried I won’t have enough for a full size afghan plus border. Knitbit, what was your first square?
I love Ulla’s personal square and I think I’ll do one for mine too, but probably in a combo of Ogham& runes.
Isn’t that the afghan Silver did? My recollection was that it took her about 1 skein per square, give or take…but she may have been doing a different afghan! :??
Yes, she did do that one. I’ve seen and admired it before, but I forgot she did give the total skeins it took her, “17 plus a bit of the 18th.” Which is good - very, very good!
Ya, that’s cool how Ulla made a personal square. I’m not that experienced yet to design a square LOL! ACK! :shock: I’m doing good to follow some of the instructions I’ve had to figure out. heehee! :rofling: This is my first VERY challenging type of project. I’ve done cables once before for a hat, but that’s it for cables. It was just a simple twisted braid look around the hat. So…It’s definitely a learning experience.
The first square I did was the Ann Strong on pg. 34. It came out really nice. Looks like it came up a bit small. Not too bad… I read on the GAAA blog site that most squares measure in between 11x11 to 13x13. When it’s blocked looks like it’ll be 11x11. So a tad small. Other than that all went well.
Just gotta pay close attention to the charts/directions. I had to frog some of the current square I’m on (only 1/2") cuz I noticed I was reading the WS row as if it was a RS row…Then I thought back a few rows and was like, “Did I read the other rows like that too??” :?? I couldn’t remember if I did or not…GRRRRR!! :wall:
So, I thought it was best to just FROG and start over…Now all’s well…and am on row 9 of my first repeat. WHEW!
Good Luck…Which square have you decided to start with??
KNITBIT :XX:
Yes, she did do that one. I’ve seen and admired it before, but I forgot she did give the total skeins it took her, “17 plus a bit of the 18th.” Which is good - very, very good![/quote]
17-18 total. Hmmm…I bought 23. I figured if I had extra I could make hats or some warm socks. So…LOL ummm…more socks, and hats I guess! LOL! :roflhard:
LOL! I’m NOT sure I have the stamina either!!! :roflhard: It’ll probably take me 3 yrs. to complete. The good news is my first square took exactly 3 wks. :happydance:
LOL I’ve read the KAL so many times! GEESH! So informative and helpful. So I’m right there with ya!
Ya…maybe I could do some pillows. You’re right,…If I’m able to get thru all the designs in the afghan I should be able to figure something out. I gotta remember that…
I had thought about doing the Hannah Burns square for #2 but then went with the Ann McCauley. Maybe for #3?? Hmm…
LOL I’ve read the KAL so many times! GEESH! So informative and helpful. So I’m right there with ya!
Ya…maybe I could do some pillows. You’re right,…If I’m able to get thru all the designs in the afghan I should be able to figure something out. I gotta remember that…
I had thought about doing the Hannah Burns square for #2 but then went with the Ann McCauley. Maybe for #3?? Hmm…
Wait…I believe 23. 
What lovely colors u both have chosen 
