Posted by camille – July 16, 2008 10:41 AM

Guest Blogger: Nan Harless, Crafts Editor, DIY Network.com

I never really intended this blog to be strictly for knitters, but that's how it's beginning to look, so this week I'm going to feature something for all the crocheters out there.

I admit that I'm not very good at crocheting — my mom and my grandmother crocheted, and they taught me how, but I never became too proficient at it. One thing I really regret, though, is that a beautiful afghan my grandmother crocheted for my aunt got away from us when my aunt went into a nursing home. It was just a simple granny-square afghan, but it was worked in shades of rose and joined with black, and I always loved it — it was just the girliest thing ever! Unfortunately, it got lost in the shuffle of the estate sale, so someone else now has an afghan that was crocheted with love in every chain. (If you went to an estate sale in Foley, Alabama, a couple of years back and bought such an afghan, it may well be the very one! I hope you love and enjoy it for many years!)

That's the great thing about afghans: they can be used over and over again and still be nice enough to hand down to the next generation. Mom always used acrylic yarn because, first of all, it was readily available back before our town got any "fancy" yarn stores, and secondly, it could be tossed in the washing machine and the dryer and come out none the worse for wear. (Reminds me of when a friend used to knit for her four college-age stepsons: she never used anything but acrylic yarn because, as she put it, "Can you imagine an 18-year-old boy reading a care label, much less understanding it?" But that's a story for another installment….)

My project of the week is actually two projects this time, because I think anyone who crochets (or wants to crochet) should see these two afghans that were featured on past episodes of the Carol Duvall Show, which has long been a staple of both DIY and our sister site HGTV. These, in my opinion, are two of the prettiest afghans ever (and they may well make me grab a hook and start trying my hand at crocheting again):

Both of which capture the spirit of that afghan that got away from me. If there's someone in your life who adores girly stuff (and that someone could also be yourself, you know), maybe one of these will be the perfect way to tell her how much she means to you. I can still remember the look on my aunt's face when she opened the box on Christmas morning and saw that beautiful afghan that her mother had made for her. Imagine being able to give that to someone dear to you! Aren't we lucky that we can (and love to) create beautiful things?

That settles it -- those crochet hooks are hidden somewhere in my house, and I'm finding them this weekend!