Hand crafted afghan incorporating personalized or commemorative indicia and method of fabricating same

A method of fabricating an afghan incorporating personalized or commemorative indicia at the point of fabrication and being of a type composed of individual pieces that are fabricated separately and then joined together to form a cohesive whole, said method comprising the steps of:

• selecting a person or event which the afghan will commemorate;
• selecting the specific indicia to form the message of the afghan;
• choosing characters that make up the specific indicia so as to express the message to be incorporated into the afghan, said characters selected from the group consisting of letters, numerals and symbols;
• anticipating the use for the completed afghan;
• selecting the size of the completed afghan;
• obtaining a set of instructions for the fabrication of an afghan of the selected size, composed of a plurality of individual pieces, and setting forth a method of construction, arrangement of the individual pieces, type and quantity of yarn and implement needed;
• formulating a first grid pattern wherein each unit of the grid pattern depicts one individual piece of the afghan, said grid pattern representing the number of units in the horizontal direction and in the vertical direction as set forth in the instructions and conforming to the arrangement of the individual pieces in the completed afghan;
• trying different arrangements of the characters until a desired arrangement is attained;
• placing the chosen characters into the first grid pattern to constitute the desired arrangement of the characters in the completed afghan such that the individual pieces containing the characters constitute a first portion of pieces and the remaining individual pieces constitute a second portion of pieces;
• selecting the colors of the yarn to be used with consideration given to overall appearance, purpose, event commemorated, personal taste of the recipient, and contrast of the characters making up the specific indicia;
• obtaining the necessary quantity of yarn and the implement as set forth in the instructions with consideration given to any additional yarn needed for the inclusion of the specific indicia;
• obtaining a second grid pattern containing the positioning of the characters within each of the first portion of pieces for use as a stitch by stitch guide in fabricating the first portion of pieces;
• fabricating the individual pieces that will make up the completed afghan following the instructions and the first grid pattern and using the second grid pattern to incorporate the chosen characters into the first portion of pieces;
• arranging the completed individual pieces according to the first grid pattern;
• and
• connecting the individual pieces together as indicated in the first grid pattern to form the completed afghan;
• whereby the completed afghan contains the desired commemorative or personalized indicia arranged in a cohesive, comprehensive and aesthetic whole.

A method of incorporating personalized or commemorative indicia into an afghan of a type composed of a plurality of individual pieces that are fabricated separately and then joined together to form a cohesive whole, the indicia being incorporated at the point of fabrication of the individual pieces, said method comprising the steps of:

• selecting a person or event which the afghan will commemorate;
• selecting the specific indicia to form a message of the afghan;
• choosing characters that make up the specific indicia so as to express the message, said characters selected from the group consisting of letters, numerals, and symbols;
• determining a number of the individual pieces of the afghan;
• determining an arrangement of the individual pieces in the afghan with regard to the number of pieces in the horizontal direction and the number of pieces in the vertical direction;
• formulating a first grid pattern wherein each unit of the grid pattern represents one individual piece of the afghan and setting forth the same number of units in the horizontal direction and in the vertical direction so as to conform to the arrangement of the individual pieces in the afghan;
• trying different arrangements of the characters until a desired arrangement is attained;
• placing the chosen characters into the first grid pattern to represent the desired arrangement of the indicia within the completed afghan;
• using the first grid pattern designating as a first portion the individual pieces containing the characters and as a second portion the individual pieces that are blank as to characters;
• and
• obtaining a second grid pattern containing the positioning of each of the characters within each of the individual pieces of the first portion for use as a stitch by stitch guide in the fabrication of the first portion of the individual pieces;
• whereby when all of the individual pieces of the afghan are fabricated, the individual pieces are arranged according to the first grid pattern and the individual pieces are joined together, the completed afghan contains the desired commemorative or personalized indicia set forth in a cohesive, comprehensive and aesthetic whole.