13th Birthday means an Afghan from Nana!

And on May 29, 2014 it meant TWO afghans because Max and Sam both turned 13.  We were in Seattle to celebrate however the afghans were just in the process of "becoming" at that time.  So bags of 13 items, each beginning with the first letter of their name had to stand in as a gift.  The way this works, and has worked for years, is that the birthday kid gets to choose their favorite colors and I make the afghan. I've encountered a variety of color combinations from pink, yellow and blue (Trisha, niece); red and black (Matthew, nephew); grey and black (Richard my godson), white (Shayna, niece), black, blue and yellow (Michael, nephew), red, white and blue (Jake, nephew).

Max has always loved red, black, orange and purple.  When I asked him what colors to use in his afghan he dropped the purple and focused on the red, black and orange.  I spent the most time finding just the right pattern to showcase his color choice and found it in the ripple afghan.  I love it and it will be very warm for Max as it is made of single crochets.

Sam hasn't wavered in all the years of having a favorite color so I wasn't surprised when he selected blue and green. I started this afghan when Bill and I spent a few days in Napa on a holiday (thanks to my sister Holly). You can imagine my shock when I realized I was making an afghan that would circle the planet.  It was HUGE!! So, I unraveled and started anew, perhaps two times before finally getting it right. Needless to say, it will keep my Sam cozy on cold Seattle days.

I love working with yarn and patterns and taking a color combination and trying to find the right fit for it. When we were in Seattle for Cousin Jeanne's 70th birthday, we got to celebrate birthdays and I finally gifted the boys their afghans....only five months late but just in time for the crisp autumn days.