Cal9: Cosy Blanket. Ta Dah!

This blanket follows Lucy’s Cosy Stripe blanket Crochet Along (CAL), changing the colours slightly so that I could use what I already had. This really is a lovely pattern using Stylecraft Special DK. The way Lucy balances the colours is truly beautiful so I stuck as close as I could to her colour order. Her colours have an autumnal feel, mine are a bit more summery I think (my colour list is near the end of this post).

I started way back in ….. November 2014 – oh, so only just over a year! I thought it was longer!

In my last post about this blanket, I was still working out the edging. The edging was added as, halfway through making it, we (my daughter A and I) decided to change it from a throw for a single bed, to one for her double bed.

Laura on Ravelry, had used a border of African Flower Squares, (click on the link to find an excellent tutorial). It looked so pretty, so off I went, not quite realising how working out the colour sequences and lengths to fit, would turn this into such a marathon project.

I wanted to create a random sequence of flowers, set within the three different greens. I do make life complicated!

11 squares were needed for each short side (including one each at the corners) and 13 for each long side. 48 squares in all.

The easiest way to attach the squares was to join then in a long line first and then, sitting on a cushion on the floor, mattress stitch the line of squares to the edge of the blanket. I realise now that it would have been much better to have blocked the squares first – I was far too eager to see how they looked sewn together.

After sewing on the squares I did a row of single crochet (US) in the Lime green, making sure to keep the edges tight by not adding stitches at the seams between the squares

And this is how I worked round the corners:

Then after all that sewing, and working things out, and going around once to create a foundation for the outer border, I could relax into a few rows of speedy crochet before working the final edging.

Lucy’s edging seemed just a little bit too narrow for this size of blanket so I tried a larger variation so that A could choose which she liked the best

Lucy’s pattern goes horizontally across the top, my variation on the left.

A chose my adaptation (Let me know if you would like more details about how to do this edging). I wanted to finish in time for A’s birthday in October……

But ……. I didn’t.

I really enjoyed the feel of the weight of the blanket over my knees as I worked on the edging, such a relief to be making good progress, with the end in sight.

Then after a few more ends to sew in – just the signature heart needed in one corner …..

and

TaH DaH!

It was finished in time for Christmas!

 Hurray! Round of Applause! and Party Poppers!

What a relief! I feel a huge sense of achievement and it is SO great to have finished it. I haven’t managed to take a photo of it in situ yet, but A took this photo with her phone and emailed it to me. She absolutely loves it and it makes their room so cosy and bright.

It does look right at home in that log cabin!

~

Joining in with Ginny’s Yarn along

Book: ‘Heidi’ by Johanna Spyri, this was one of my favourites as a child, I read it to my daughter and I have just started to read it to Miss E. Such Joy!

~

Here follows the nitty-gritty of how to make the bedspread:

The width was the same a Lucy’s pattern, which is a width for a single bed.

Using Stylecraft Special DK, and a 4.5mm hook, make a foundation chain of 198, and work 78 rows for the body of the blanket. (This is a little shorter than Lucy’s pattern)

Here are the colours in the order they were crochetted:

The colours in bold are the same colours as Lucy used, although not necessarily in the same order (I have listed the colours I have substituted in Cal4):

Petrol, Meadow, Saffron, Spice, Bright Pink, Lime,

Khaki, Wisteria, Magenta, Clematis, Spice, Raspberry,

Denim, Bluebell, Khaki, Petrol, Spice, Lime, 

Saffron, Spice, Bright Pink, Magenta, Clematis, Bluebell,

Denim, Meadow, Saffron, Clematis, Raspberry, Spice,

Saffron, Lime, Petrol, Magenta, Wisteria, Khaki,

Clematis, Meadow, Denim, Bright Pink, Saffron, Spice,

Raspberry, Bluebell, Lime, Saffron, Denim, Magenta,

Spice, Meadow, Bright Pink, Clematis, Saffron, Khaki,

Spice, Wisteria, Petrol, Bluebell, Raspberry, Spice, 

Saffron, Lime, Bluebell, Magenta, Spice, Saffron,

Meadow, Petrol, Raspberry, Bright Pink, Khaki, Denim, 

Clematis, Wisteria, Spice, Magenta, Lime and Petrol.

 

I had fun mixing and matching the colours for the border as you can see from these previous posts :

Cal5

Cal5 decisions and choices, where you can see many of the squares as well as the ones that Miss E and my daughter chose as their favourites

Cal7, where you can see more squares and me trying to work out how many for each side. I realise now that I did not need to add any rows at all as the seam lines add sufficient extra length to the squares to fit.

If you want to know any further details about this bedspread, let me know. There are over 500 variations on Ravelry, so plenty of inspiration for other colour combinations.

It was an absolute joy to make!

I might just have to make another one.