Chicago Bears Afghan Just Finished

Click on the photos to view it larger.

Well I have been working on this for 4-5 weeks. It is in Tunisian or Afghan St with a size M/13 Cabled Hook. I know now that I do like making Tunisian afghans especially with the cabled hook- it made things so much easier and the hook didn't get nearly as heavy as a long afghan hook.

This afghan was a special request. My husbands work partner had a son a year ago and I made him a baby afghan for the same team... and his oldest son felt left out and really wanted an afghan all his own as well. The recipient Rafael is 9 so he didn't want anything too baby-ish, so I thought the above afghan would work great for him.

The afghan started out with just the center piece, and was to be taller and the "Bears" was suppose to be above the bear head, however I graphed this out for regular crochet..... but in the last min I changed my mind and did it in the Tunisian st. So I completed the center piece then added the side pieces that contain "Chicago" and "Bears". I was shocked and amazed that I was able to add the side panels without it looking like I added it later.

This photo shows the front and the back.


This is of the backing.

So with the backing I decided to do it in orange. Originally I planned on using the blue for the border but I had messed it up pretty good and the orange part of the backing was too small... So I had to take it apart and then sewed the blue directly to the orange for a touch of color. I then layed out the afghan and started tying the afghan from the center out with thread. It would have been more professional had I used a color of thread that matched the backing... but again the child is 9 that is receiving this afghan and this is the first time I have ever backed an afghan.

After I finished tying the afghan I proceeded to do a blanket stitch around the blue fabric, being sure to match stitches around the afghan (so I can crochet the border). I also made sure to snag a back loop of the afghan while attaching the blanket st. Once that was completed I proceeded to crochet a half double crochet border around it, in soft navy, carrot, and white. Below you will see close ups of the blanket stitch and the tied portions of the afghan.

I choose to tie the afghan with thread because I knew that it wouldn't be noticeable from the front. Once I get time I plan on doing a tutorial on how I backed my afghan.