Winter is for Afghans

As I said previously I have been doing Craft Shows for 30+ years and the one thing that has remained constant has been my afghans.  I love, love, love making Afghans.  With winter being what it is this year in just about every state, they have been very popular.  So nice to snuggle under when chilly. 
   I do both knit and crochet afghans but I think the knit ones look richer although I have some crochet afghans that I love also.  Knitting takes much longer to do than crochet.

This afghan is done in strips and them must be put together and in most cases fringed.

Then afghans like this one are knit all in one piece.  Nice thing about that is when you are done, your done.  That is unless it has a fringe also.  This is a new one for me and doesn't have a fringe.  Probably my least favorite thing about making afghans is putting them together.

Here is a picture of this one finished and ready to mail.  I just listed it on The CraftStar yesterday.  Here is the link to this item.  https://www.thecraftstar.com/product_details/143115/knit-afghan-in-cables-and-pebbles-by-the-needle-house/

This afghan in made in strips and put together and fringed.  It is by far the best selling afghan I have ever made.  I have never gotten sick of making it either.  The first one I made was for my mother and I think she used it for over 20 years and I finally made her a different one.  I figured she had used that one long enough.  The link for this afghan is:  https://thecraftstar.com/product_details/141802/knit-afghan-in-patchwork-by-the-needle-house-in-aran/

I wish over the years I had kept track of how may afghans I have made.  I have been aske many times but I just don't have a clue.  I have given them as gifts for birthdays, weddings and anniversaries as well as selling them.  I hope you have enjoyed reading about my afghans and keep warm the rest this winter.

My Story from the beginning

I am going to tell you a little bit about my beginning into the craft business.  We were on a camping trip with friends.  After eating a good meal we were sitting by the fire and chatting, we were both doing daycare at the time and since we both liked to crochet and I also knit we thought perhaps we should start to do craft shows and support our habits.  It took awhile to establish ourselves and really decide what we wanted to do.  After several years of playing around with stuff and I made afghans from the start.  This is like 32 years ago.  Gee am I old?  I don't think so.  I decided I wanted to get a knitting machine so we both went shopping and each got one.  I started out making stocking caps and scarves.  When going to craft shows we had a pickup truck full of totes.  With caps you need sizes.  It was a lot of hauling, but I was younger then.  It was a pretty good business selling stocking caps and afghans and we did quite a few fall shows.  Then the company I was buying my acrylic from quit making it and I couldn't find another quality that I liked as well.  Now where do I go.  I got wind of the dishcloths and it has been dishcloths ever since. 

Here are a couple pictures of the cotton I use for making the dishcloths in my knitting room/yarn room.  This was after my current shopping trip and I will be making another trip probably in February and March then the shelves will for sure be over flowing.  My son helps me with them and we take the plain colors and twist them together to see what would make a good combination as you will find two tone dishcloths in my shop.  www.theneedlehouse.thecraftstar.com

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Then we go on so you can see what it looks like when working on the machine.  Many think it is a machine that you can turn on and walk away.  Sorry it takes arm muscle and since my row counter is broke you must count the rows so you know when to change pattern and when you are done so you can bind off.  Many work the ends in on the machine but I don't feel that is secure enough so I work both ends in by hand.  Takes a bit longer but I feel well worth it.

 

Once this is all done they are put on a shelf and ready for sale.  Besides my on line shops, I do 3 or 4 craft shows a year and I wholesale to a gal who in turn also sells them at craft shows.  Have a lot of empty space right now waiting for the new combinations to be done.

 

This has gotten a bit lengthy so I think next time I will tackle telling you about the afghans and other things I have in my shops.  Hope you enjoyed reading about this end of my business.