The Afghan Stitch

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Several weeks ago I discovered a croquet stitch called the Afghan Stitch. I am mostly a knitter and have never done much croqueting before. One of my friends was working on a project using this stitch and I found it very interesting, particularly since it is so simple and easy to do quite successfully with minimal experience. Seeing my interest, my friend immediately showed me how to do it and gave me some extra yarn to try it out. It was indeed quite easy, but of course, within a couple of weeks I forgot since I did not start my own project right away. So yesterday, I finally got on youtube and looked up a how-to video for it and re-learned it. I only wish I had not waited so long to figure it out again. This is perhaps the most user friendly stitch in existence. Yes, it is easier and faster than knitting, but has a somewhat different application. The Afghan stitch, as the name implies is unquestionably a great stitch for Afghans and other larger blankets. I made a regular garter stitch knitted blanket a few years ago, (double strand worsted weight with size 20 needles) and one thing I noticed right away was that while it is warm, durability would be an issue if I was not very careful with it. The stitches are relatively flexible, so it would be easy to catch the yarn on something or otherwise stretch it out of shape. For that reason I did not put it on the back of the couch as a throw as I had intended, but have only used it as an extra blanket on the bed in winter. The Afghan stitch produces a much tighter weave that is significantly more resistant to being tretched out of shape. One notable limitation has to do with the availability of Afghan hooks. I have not been able to find a hook larger than 6.0mm. This is the correct size for worsted weight yarns, which are the most common and affordable yarns anyway, but since the hook is only large enough for a single strand, one is limited in how thick a blanket one can make with it. Regardless of this limitation, I have already begun thinking about colors and quantities for an Afghan stitch blanket to match my couch. Most importantly, the factor that has me totally hooked (pun totally intended) on the Afghan stitch is how fast and easy it is to do. You'll have to look up a video for yourself to learn how, and you totally should, it's so worth knowing. For my first project with this stitch I am making a wide scarf for snowy days. It is 10 inches wide, and in just one afternoon I have already done 7 inches in length. I have in no way spent an excessive amount of time on this. And no, I am not really sure how much time I did spend on it since I was not watching the clock at all. But considering that if I had knit it, I don't think I would have done much more, and this is my first day working with the Afghan stitch, I am pretty confident in saying that within a week I will be able to croquet a project with the Afghan stitch in quite a bit less time than I could have knit a project of the same size.