In this new blog series, I chronicle my long-term project of knitting or crocheting every afghan in a vintage Columbia-Minerva Afghans book from 1960. Although the book I am using is out of print, surviving copies are not particularly rare, just search for “Columbia-Minerva Afghans Book 742,” on EBay or Etsy if you’d like to join me on this vintage knitting journey.

I think my Blue Sea blanket unlocked the blanket knitter in me, or maybe it was just moving to a drafty old house in Chicago because suddenly I find myself planning to knit as many blankets as I can. Specifically, every blanket from the Columbia-Minerva Afghans booklet, first published in 1960 (although there do appear to have been subsequent editions republished until around 1975). 

This booklet includes 17 different afghans, both knit and crochet, some with techniques I’ve never seen before (several have cross stitch motifs applied to their squares after knitting).  Here’s a selection of some of my favorites (click on the arrows to cycle through the images).

There is one major difference in construction here from the Blue Sea blanket (and indeed many modern blanket patterns).  The knitted afghans in this book were designed for working on straight needles.  Circular needles certainly existed by 1960, although I haven’t been able to ascertain if the ones available then would have been long enough to knit a blanket. Regardless Columbia-Minerva clearly believed most of the knitters in their audience would be more likely to be comfortable using straight needles.  As such, instead of working any of the knitted patterns in one big piece (as my Blue Sea blanket was), each was divided into smaller sections that were seamed together afterwards.  These could be squares, long vertical strips (basically like knitting a bunch of scarfs and then sewing them together), or triangles seamed together to create rectangular shape.  Many of the crochet blankets are modular as well.

Most of the first of these afghans will be knit for my drafty Chicago home (the idea of always having a knitted blanket within reach during the winter is very appealing), but I suspect some of these will be gifted to family members, or potentially donated.

After some consideration of just where to start in this amazing book, I decided on the Feather and Fan Afghan (No. 742-5) because it would be a relatively familiar place to start (I have a much loved shawl knit partially in feather and fan). Additionally, my husband is jealous of how staff kitty Yuna will sit on the Blue Sea blanket no matter where it is located (including on my lap when I am knitting even though she’s not much of a lap cat usually) and has asked me to knit him a blanket for our basement gaming room in hopes that Yuna will hang out with him more.  So the first Afghan Project afghan is designed for the basement gaming room.

This afghan is being knit in Knit Picks Brava Worsted (which is acrylic) in the colors Persimmon (orange), Wine (dark red), and Cobblestone Heather (gray), which match the colors in the rug we have in that room.  I chose acrylic for ease of care – the game room also doubles as a guest room and I wanted to be able to easily wash the blanket anytime there were guests coming.

The Feather and Fan afghan is knit in four triangles that are then seamed together (with the stripes then making a series of rectangles). It’s a pretty easy pattern to memorize and, since you cast on the maximum number of stitches and steadily decrease towards the point of the triangle, you quickly pick up steam on each piece. Thanks to the Olympics giving me lots of reasons to camp out in front of the TV and knit for two weeks, I have one of the triangles already completed and have started on the second one.  I really love the texture the stitch gives to the fabric.

I’ve also put the finished triangle out for a Yuna test, and she happily settled on it without a lot of convincing, so fingers crossed it does the job of convincing her to spend more time in the game room.

I’ll be back with my next update when I’ve finished the Feather and Fan and I’m ready to choose my next project.  In the meantime, have you encountered this afghan book before?  If you could knit anything out of it, which one would you pick?