Most Expensive Afghan I've Ever Made

I came across this afghan on Lutter Idyl’s blog (http://www.lutteridyl.dk/2013/04/haeklet-lappetaeppe-i-ka...) and was just so inspired by it. My husband liked it a lot, too, and so with two "yes" votes, I decided to attempt it. (She offers the basic square pattern for free on her website.)  I have become very familiar with Danish abbreviations and Google translate! It’s really very simple though. The art is in the choice of colors and arrangement of squares. I admire her work greatly.

The challenge for me is presenting itself in the form of yarn choice. It appears that Ms. Idyl used some nice Kauni wool in lovely colors, but I don’t have the exact same resources available.
My primary concern was replicating the colors without sacrificing the quality of the yarn; afghans take a lot of wear and tear and I didn’t want this beautiful afghan to fuzz and shed after a while.  Also, I wanted to be consistent in the brand and line of yarn so that the individual squares would look homogeneous, but that meant that whichever line I chose, it also needed to have all the colors I wanted. (I’m no stranger to coming up with my own color schemes, but I grew really attached to this one.)

I started out looking at the Martha Stewart Crafts Extra Soft Wool, because the Winter Sky colorway was just spot-on. I also spied the Patons Silk Bamboo next the MSC yarn in the aisle and liked the appearance of the yarn. It had a lot less yardage, but I thought I’d try making a square of each to see how I liked the feel and drape. Both of these choices have colorways that would very closely match the original choices.

I worked up the Silk Bamboo first and then set to work on the MSC Wool. I didn’t even finish the wool square! The Silk Bamboo square was so soft and pliable; the stiffness of the wool square couldn't compare. I pondered on the luxury of having an entire (rather large) afghan made of this and made my decision.

The next task was to see how many squares the single skein of SB would allow. Welp, I got two. :/ There is still some yarn left on the spool, but I figured I could use some of that on the squares that also have a bit of pink, orange, or brown in their centers.

Still. It’s $6.50 a skein/spool. This afghan, if made exactly like the one designed by Lutter Idyl, requires 140 squares! I'm glad I get so many coupons from JoAnns! A skein here and there is how I’m going to do it. A background project, not a “get-this-done-asap” project, as I usually do.

Link to my Ravelry project page: http://ravel.me/sguyer80/meaiem