the amazing afghan.

The story of the amazing afghan started when I learned to crochet.  I make like a zillion scarves, and stuffed things for the kids.  Then A (the hubs) said that he was feeling left out and could I make him a blanket? I think there were puppy eyes and pouts.  He's such a quiet guy that I knew that this was serious.  After interrogation...it had to be the perfect "blanket," I found that he wanted a giant afghan... I was terrified, but determined, I got like 7 skeins of cheapish yarn...being my first big thing, I didn't want to spend a ton.  I proceeded to crochet.  I did stripes of a whole skein of one color then the other, all in double crochets, nothing fancy.  It took a year, yeppers a whole year.

the story comes in when we found out he was going to deploy for a second time.  I had just started the monster afghan and put it down for three months.  I couldn't crochet, my escape, and think about him and how our lives were going to be changed...again.  It made me too sad.  When I'm making something for someone I like to sort of meditate or pray about them when I'm making it, hoping to actually impart my love for the person in their finished thing.  It was just to hard to detach and get this thing done.

Sometime later he sits down to watch something stupid and I'm making something else.  He looks at me all sad, and asks why I'm not working on "THE BLANKET,"  I cry.  I say that it is like the odyssey and I'm afraid that if i finish it He will be declared dead and I will have to live a life I hate.  I'm a totally irrational superstitious person, and a bit of a freak!  he laughed at me, the nice kind where he thinks I'm so cute with my girly self.  Also he wants me to be done before he leaves, so he can take it with him.  Blech, so I get hooking and finish the stupid blanket, he doesn't die, and all is good.  Except, when he got back, I can't even look at that stupid thing without crying.

Stupid blanket, in the Iraq.