Jake, Jack and an Afghan

Jake and Jack have been friends since kindergarten, since they were 5 years old!

Now they are both 19 and in college.

Both of their birthdays are in June and 9 days apart.

What a pair!

My son Jake is up in Fayetteville, Arkansas. This is his second year there.  Jake is also a cheerleader, he is a Razorback through and through.  Go HOGS!!! WPS!

Jack is now attending Stephen F. Austin in Nacogdoches, TX on a basketball scholarship.  He’s now a Lumberjack.

Arkansas and SFA don’t compete against each other in football, but they do in basketball, so when that time comes, Jake will get to see Jack play for the Lumberjacks, and Jack can watch Jake toss girls into the air.

Jack’s family is from Illinois originally, they are Bears fans.  My husband, Jake’s daddy is from Wisconsin, so of course we are Packer fans.  We live in the same neighborhood and we love Jack and his family, despite the fact they follow the Bears.  It has been a fun rivalry for years.

When Jack graduated from high school this last June, I wanted to make him something special for his birthday and graduation.  I thought an afghan in his new school colors would be fun.  I ran the idea by Jake and he thought Jack would like that.  So I set out to find and simple crochet pattern since I’d never made anything as big as an afghan before.  Up until this point I had only crocheted dish clothes, or squares as Jake would say.

I found a tutorial on YouTube, which by the way is how I learned to crochet, via YouTube.  The tutorial was for the C2C afghan, or Corner 2 Corner, meaning that it would be square not rectangular.  You literally begin with one tiny square in the corner and work out from there.

There were times where I thought I had bitten off more than I could chew.  But I persisted…and crocheted in my sleep almost.

Two things I learned with this crochet project; it will be awhile before I do another C2C full sized afghan and purple is a hard color for me to photograph.
Sorry for the dark photos, if I were to lighten any more, the white and gray are washed out.

This blanket had to be big because it has to cuddle with a 6’2″ SFA Lumberjack Basketball player.  When I laid it out on Jake’s bed to get the full effect of the stripping, I was amazed that it completely covered the entire top of his full bed.

Mission accomplished.

It turned out so much nicer than I had imagined it would.

When I took Jack’s blanket down to him I was a little worried that he would feel uncomfortable, you know how it is?  Somebody gives you something and if by a small chance you don’t like it or it’s just not your cup of tea, you graciously smile and say thank you.

But there was only genuine appreciation for his handmade gift.  Either he really, really loves it, or he will win an Oscar.

All kidding aside, he did love it.  So did I and I am so glad I persevered, because there were times where this little project went untouched for days.

From the time I started this afghan, I started and finished a baby blanket for our nephew, another full sized afghan as a thank you gift for the family who let Jake stay with them a week in July,  and several other little projects.

All in all it took me 3 months to complete this afghan but now it’s done and hopefully making Jack feel cozy in his new dorm down at Stephen F. Austin.

While proof reading this post I begin to tear up, which turned into to full out cry.  They are all grown up now.  After all the soccer games, track, football, sleep overs, gaming until the wee hours of the night and silly things these two could dream up, I can’t help feel a little sentimental.

Now college, next careers, girl friends, marriage and babies some day.  Man my crochet hooks and knitting needles are gonna be smok’n!

peace. love. rust.