A Bedspread Reborn

Back in February 2015 I made a bedspread for Little Miss M

She loved it but sadly it got too close to something hot and looked like this

I could not bring myself to throw it away so I folded it up and put it in a bag and forgot about it …. until now. In my new bid to sort out WIPs and UFOs etc I washed it in the machine, dried it and chopped out the damaged bits.

The rest, I have unpicked and rolled into balls. It is making its way into another scrappy blanket. Inspired by Mrs Snail, I just tie the ends together with a reef knot and leave them showing.

Little Miss M now has this blanket

You can see more photos of this Mandala Blanket on my Throws Page.

The pattern is Mandala Madness, by Helen Shrimpton, a free pattern.

~

Joining Kate and other Happy Scrappers for Scrap Happy Day, the 15th of every month.

Kate , Gun, Titti, Heléne, Eva, Sue, Nanette, Lynn, Lynda,
Birthe, Turid, Susan, Cathy, Debbierose, Tracy, Jill, Claire, Jan,
Moira, Linda, Chris, Nancy, Alys, Kerry, Claire, Jean,
Joanne, Jon, Hayley, Dawn, Gwen, Connie, Bekki, Pauline, Sue L,
Sunny and Kjerstin

 

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Karoo Vintage MAL

On I trundle with the Karoo. What a challenge and an adventure.

Part 6 is complete

I’m now halfway through Part 7 and then there is an edge.

These colours felt strange in the middle of a heatwave a few months ago, but I’m so enjoying working with them now.

Yesterday afternoon, I was sitting in the Park whilst my grandchildren played with their friends after school, the autumn leaves were falling around me, my blanket on my lap whilst I worked on it, and the warm October sun on my face. That to me is a slice of heaven right there!

The design is by Jen Tyler of Hooks n Tales. Stylecraft Special DK and a 4.5mm hook.

Pattern on Ravelry.

You can find the list of colours on my Ravelry Page.

This pattern is not for the faint-hearted! and there are literally 100s of ends to sew in, but I do really like the result.

I’d like to make this pattern again in different colours, but I’m not sure when I will be ready to dedicate so much time and attention to such a big project again.

It is very demanding!

Whist sewing in all those ends at home in the evenings, I listen to the radio – this fabulous music programme keeps me company – available on iPlayer for the next 29 days.

Joining in with Ginny’s Yarn Along

 

Yarn Along: Land, Sea and Sky

I have SO enjoyed making this blanket.

I usually have 3 main projects on the go at any one time.

One that is Work, one for Rest and one for Play.

This has been my ‘Rest’ blanket that I have been making when I need a break from complicated patterns that require focus and concentration like the Karoo Vintage Mystery Along (a Play project) and the Dreamcatchers. (Work projects as they had to be done by a certain date).

I have made this ‘Land, Sea and Sky Blanket’ in odd moments, in the evenings, whilst waiting for appointments, when I have felt too tired to do anything else and when I’m out and about with the grandchildren.

Lucy’s Cosy Stripe Pattern is the most relaxing pattern to make, with just enough interest so that it does not become boring and stitches (double crochet -US) I can do without looking at it for a lot of the time.

From the left the stripes start with sky, then go to sea, sand, land, sky, sea, sand, land, sky.

I made up the sequence and colour choices as I went along.

Mostly made in Stylecraft Special DK yarn with a 4.5mm hook.

Colours: Cloud Blue, Sherbert, Denim, Teal, Storm, Aster, Cream, Buttermilk, Camel, Silver, Grey, Cypress, Sage, Meadow, Mocha, Pale Rose, Soft Peach,

and a variegated yarn and pale turquoise from my stash that I had used in this blanket.

This is the sort of project I make when doing other things, so it takes no time at all and is using yarn from the stockpile in my loft. I’m sad to see it come to an end as now I have to do the edging and finish sewing in the ends, so it will briefly fall into the ‘Work’ category.

It has been a delight.

Joining in with Ginny’s Yarn Along .

Ginny asks us to include a book we are reading. I rarely read nowadays but I do listen to a lot of Comedy and Drama on Radio 4 Extra which I believe is possible to access from other countries. This is a nice bit of silliness: Revolting People by Andy Hamilton.

Cosmic Bedspread Complete

Tah Dah!!!       Drum roll please!

At last it is finished

This has been a really fun project to make. The journey began back in April when Helen Shrimpton’s Crochet Along started and I finished the CAL back in June, but I wanted to do a few more rows to make it bigger and work out how to make a scalloped edge.

The bedspread, shown here on a 5′ wide double bed, had to wait patiently in the background whilst I made a couple of dreamcatchers for birthday presents, and then it was hard to pick it up again.

But I did it!!

I can highly recommend Helen’s patterns and this one is FREE and comes with a video tutorial.

To see other amazing Cosmics, join Helen’s Hookaholics on FB and go to the Photo Albums. If you ever need inspiration for colour combinations there is surely no better place to go.

I made this Bedspread with Scheepjes Whirl and Whirlettes and a 3mm hook:

2 x Rosewater Cocktail Whirl

1 x Jumping Jelly Whirl

1 x Citrus Whirlette

1x Blueberry Whirlette

I really enjoyed mixing up the Whirls and playing with the gradients in the colours to get the effect I wanted.

It measures 1m 41cm – 1m 35cm.           or             4’6.5″ x 4’5″

Blog posts showing progress:

Making a start. Parts 1 and 2

Parts 3 and 4

Parts 5 and 6

Parts 7 and 8

Part 9 and beyond

I am so happy with my zingy bedspread!

Silent Sunday in the Karoo

Cosmic Cal Parts 7 – 8

With Part 6 of the Cosmic Cal completed,

doesn’t it look perfect with this chair covered in a luxurious fabric by ‘Timorous Beasties‘…..

…….. on to Part 7 in which we meet the dastardly Cosmic Stars!!!

Helen’s You Tube tutorial for Part 7 is  here.

Continuing with the Jumping Jelly Whirl until completing Round 78, I worked Round 79, the first part of the Cosmic Stars, in Citrus Whirlette.

I don’t know if it is because I am left-handed and following a right-handed video, or because I was using a 4 ply cotton yarn which has no give, but I just could not get the placement of the spokes right – stitch markers to the rescue!

There was much chat on the FB groups about these stars and I was near to giving up on them when one wonderful person suggested working into front posts instead of front loops and this worked much better for me. Phew!

By the time I had worked along one side I was down to only needing the bottom middle marker to show me the way

Finding the ‘eye’ of the star in the completing row was tricky, so I employed a knitting needle to make the hole big enough to get my hook through

I was so relieved to get to the end of those Stars, knowing I would never have to make them again!

However, lots of people said they loved them and are making several more Cosmics including the Stars.

Mercifully Part 8 was delightfully relaxing as I continued into the orange section of the Jumping Jelly.

Part 9 to come.

Crochet Progress

A bedspread in the making for one of my twin Granddaughters.

I am mostly following Helen Shrimpton’s wonderful Rosslyn Pattern. This is a paid for pattern and worth every penny!

It is a wonderful pattern to follow and very relaxing to make. Well it would be if only I could stop myself making a few additions, changes and adjustments as I go – the creative mind is never at rest!

The 5 Changes I have made:

1. Surface sunrays were added over 2 rows
2. The popcorns are closer together than in the pattern – this happened by accident, but I decided to leave them in
3. There are some breaks in the row of popcorns, with some plain stitches
4. There is a colour change in this row
5. 8 colours have been used instead of 5

I was wondering if I was making the pattern look too ‘busy’, but I think I will stick with my changes. What do you think?

The yarn is Stylecraft Special DK, the hook 4.5mm.

The 8 colours:

Soft Peach, Buttermilk, Duck Egg, Pale Rose, Cream, Raspberry, Lincoln, Storm.

At this stage it measures 28 x 28 inches or 72 x 72 cm.

Have you made any of Helen Shrimpton’s patterns? If so please leave a link, I’d love to see them.

And if you enjoy a good old natter, pop along over to Cathy’s place for Knit and Natter Friday.

Coastal Cosy: WiP Wednesday

This is so relaxing to make and I’m enjoying making up the colour order as I go.

I started from the top of the picture with sky:

Cloud Blue, Sherbert, Cream, Soft Peach, Sherbert, Cream, Buttermilk, Soft Peach, Silver, Cloud Blue.

Then the sea:

Denim, Petrol, Storm, Denim, Aster, Cloud Blue, Petrol, Aster, Cloud Blue, Sherbert.

Breaking waves in Cream, Sherbert, Cream

onto a sandy beach: Buttermilk, Camel, Buttermilk

and one row of pebbles in Silver.

All in Stylecraft Special DK (acrylic) and a 4.5mm hook.

Pattern: Cosy Stripe by Lucy at Attic24.

I have made this pattern before when I joined in with Lucy’s Crochet Along (Cal) and I’m loving making another.

Graphite rocks will come next and then some grassy cliffs, followed by more sky …………

and so to choose more pink for the sunrise/sunset

Soft Peach is in the first bit of sky. Do I keep it calm and soft and gentle by just adding Pale Rose

Or liven it up with the corals of Pomegranate and Blush

Or go wild and vibrant by adding Fushcia Purple and Pomegranate

Which I think would require a more colourful sea beneath it, so I would add Empire into the blues. That Empire blue is much more vibrant in reality – you can see all the colours on the Wool Warehouse website here. But even there it is difficult to see the true colour. Blush is much more peachy pink than it looks on the website.

Which pinks would you choose? I’d love to know!

As Miss E would say when she was about 2 “cany’elp me?”

Joining today’s Daily Post: Lines

 

Squirrel Nutkin Woodland Blanket

Nearly finished!

All the motifs sewn on – I just need my Grandson to try out the finger-puppet to decide how long the cord needs to be.

Pattern for the blanket is by Lucy at Attic24:

Woodland Blanket CAL: Random Colour Order

With additions:

Patterns by Lucy: Autumn Leaves and Acorns 

Pattern by Charlotta for the larger Oak Leaves.

Pattern for the Larger Maple Leaves by Michelle

Pattern for the Squirrel Motif and Finger Puppet by me.

Pattern for Old Brown, sewn on as a pocket to hold Nutkin, is an adaptation of this cute little owl by Jacquie at Bunny Mummy. Jacquie has kindly given me permission to share my adaptation – coming soon!

I stopped after the 89th colour row (each colour is 2 rows) and this blanket measures.

1m19cm (3’11”) wide

1m 64cm (5’4″) long

Using Stylecraft Special DK, I mostly followed Lucy’s Random Colour Order, substituting Mocha with Walnut and changing the order a little here and there.

4.5mm hook

Foundation Row: Lime

Ch 239 to start.

1 – 18

Cypress, Meadow, Mustard, Tomato, Spice, Storm,

Duck Egg, Copper, Walnut, Gold, Pistachio, Grey,

Lincoln, Silver, Tomato, Gold, Lime, Lincoln

19 – 36

Grey, Walnut, Copper, Spice, Mustard, Pistachio,

Duck Egg, Meadow, Silver, Cypress, Gold, Tomato,

Meadow, Storm, Lime, Silver, Mustard, Pistachio

37 – 54

Spice, Copper, Walnut, Cypress, Duck Egg, Lincoln,

Mustard, Spice, Meadow, Silver, Linciln, Storm,

Walnut, Tomato, Gold, Lime, Cypress, Duck Egg,

55 – 73

Pistachio, Grey, Copper, Gold, Meadow, Cypress,

Tomato, Storm, Duck Egg, Mustard, Grey, Silver,

Lime, Copper, Spice, Walnut, Pistachio, Lincoln,

74 – 89

Cypress, Gold, Tomato, Copper, Walnut, Meadow,

Duck Egg, Pistachio, Mustard, Silver, Storm, Lincoln,

Spice, Gold, Meadow, Cypress

 

Edge

Lime, sc

Mustard, blsc

5mm hook, Walnut, bl slip st

5mm hook Tomato, bl sc

 

Wow! I have so enjoyed making this and am excited to show Little Bro (5) this weekend.

 

 

Afghan, Boyghan or Manghan

At last my blanket for Master R is finished!

My daughter thinks it looks a bit wizardy – I see what she means, the designs could definitely be magical symbols used in an 8 year old’s incantations – he’s reading the Harry Potter books at the moment.

The blanket measures 1metre x 1m30cm, just right to snuggle under on the sofa, or to go over his duvet on his top-bunk bed.

Master R is now aged 8. He was 5 when I started it. He wanted a blanket in purples and greens, not colours I would choose to put together.

I usually LOVE co-creating things for my grandchildren and bringing their ideas to life, but this has been my most challenging project to date.

Back in July I wrote of the journey thus far showing some of the early ideas, experiments and samples that had been rejected by my co-designer.

Together we arrived at these Squares and colours, he knows what he likes!

On the whole I feel it is important to encourage children to make as many decisions for themselves as they can – but I have to admit this one took me to pushing past my own resistances to make something I personally did not love! It languished in the W.I.P. pile for far too long at times.

However I’m thrilled with how it turned out and to know Master R will get what he wanted is very satisfying indeed.

The square patterns are from the Nuts About Squares crochet along.

Master R’s choices:

Esme’s Winter Cottage by  Dedri Uys

and my variation

Denna by Polly Plum

Bavarian Beauty by Heather Gibbs

Made in Stylecraft Special DK and a 5mm hook

Colours

Emperor, Wisteria, Violet, Khaki, Pistachio, Meadow, Lime, Cypress, Midnight, Silver, Grey

I made up the border design

Starting with the surface zig-zag as shown in Esme’s Winter Cottage, then a row of double crochet (US) in Emperor; a row of Single Crochet (US) in Khaki; a row of double crochet in the back loops only, in Meadow; a row of SCs in Khaki; then a row of back loop DCs in Emperor; finished with a row of Crab Stitch in Emperor.

I’m enjoying my Ta Dah! moment!

Joining Nancy Merrill’s Photo Challenge: PURPLE

W.I.P. Wednesday

Going back to the dark side!

The squares are arranged in rows of  like squares at the moment – this will not be the final placement.

I needed to crochet all this:

before I was ready to return to Master R’s colour choices.

I’ve decided to leave it at these 12 squares and do a wide border – I just know it will languish for far too long in the UFO pile if I try to make myself crochet more squares!

Are you struggling with any WIPs at the moment? Leave a link in the comments and we can share your pain!

A Bedspread for Master R

This has been my most challenging project yet! It turns out that co-designing with a 7 year old boy is not easy!

First of all he asked for SQUARES – not my favourite things to crochet. Secondly he asked for the colours to be PURPLES and GREENS – not an easy colour combination for me to enjoy.

I started this project in July 2016 when he was just 6 and in my mind young children like bright colours so I set to work creating squares that combined purples and greens with other colours (of course, now I realise it is me who likes bright colours!)

I didn’t like the look of this and neither did he. I scoured Pinterest for inspiration.

So next up, a selection of smaller squares, grading the colours

Master R did not like them, he was very polite about it and spent some time explaining his reasons …….. I knew that this idea had to be abandoned …….. so, what to do? ……

In the process I have amassed and huge pile of squares!

They will probably go into a blanket for refugees, I know Mrs Snail is contributing to the 60 million trebles project, so they might go that way.

I was at a loss to know how I was going to come up with something for Master R that he likes and I like well enough to want to make it. His two sisters have blankets they love: Miss E has this one

and for Little Miss M I made this one, which, of course was perfect for all those occasions when you want to be a ghost, or a monster.

Both were made with nice easy relaxing ripple stripes – but Master R is set on having squares.

How could I make the colour combination work – I looked to garden design – there was a lot of purple and green at Chelsea and now this Hampton Court Flower Show garden is a beautiful example. Photo taken from the BBC website.

Then, like a knight in shining armour, galloping over the hill in February, along came the Nuts About Squares Crochet Along (CAL) 

Hurray! Something I would enjoy joining in with and a blanket made of squares.

The patterns are quite complex, I would learn new things. Some excitement about the project began to creep in.

Week 1 – Esme’s Winter Cottage by Dedri Uys

Master R’s loves this square. He tells me he loves “the design and the texture” – he knows what he likes!

I’m not so keen on the diamonds so I made this variation – thankfully Master R thinks this design is ok.

Although he doesn’t really like the introduction of the Cream colour, his favourite colour after purple is khaki green – Oh lawks! Can I bear to stick to only dark colours!

He is pushing me way out of my comfort zone here.

Work in Progress! On we go!

Moorland, more and more

I am so pleased to have joined in with Attic24’s Moorland CAL. The whole experience was made so much richer by following the thread on Facebook, both on Lucy’s Attic 24 FB page and a new Page set up by Clare, especially for the Moorland Cal. Such camaraderie is a joy to find.

Lucy chose the purples, greens and browns of the Yorkshire Moors for her colour palette, but a few of us chose colours from our own environment.

Jan chose sunset colours :

I took my inspiration from Dorset summer hedgerows and found this photo on the internet to show you the sort of thing I had in mind,

and came up with this palette.

My grandson seemed to like it whilst it was being made

I am very pleased with the finished article.

and it is already much appreciated by my niece who will take it back with her to Uni

If I was to make the blanket again I would substitute the dark green Khaki for the lighter green Pistachio and would use Lucy’s Cosy Stripe pattern, which I find much more relaxing to make.

Update: The edging I used was one row of single crochet (US) in Meadow, one row of Double Crochet (US) in Duck Egg Blue and then a row of Crab Stitch.

Hedgerow Edge

Finished!

Well the body of the Dorset Hedgerow (Attic 24’s Moorland Cal) Blanket is anyway – and all those pesky ends are sewn in.

It has been a joy to make, enhanced by joining a delightful dedicated Moorland Cal Facebook group – what a wonderfully supportive group of fabulous women from all over the world. Crochet could save the world!

Now I have just the edge to do.

Help!

Decision time.

Should I do the edge in pinks and greens

or

Blues?

Any ideas? What would you choose?

I’d really appreciate your thoughts.

Joining in with Ginny’s Yarn Along.

Ginny asks us to share a book we are reading. Last weekend I was staying with my son and his family in London and he was reading ‘Black Box Thinking’ – he was so enthusiastic about it, I started reading it myself……. in between making yet more seahorses, which were just the right size to take on the train

 

 

Hedgerow Blanket 2

I am joining in with Attic24’s Moorland Crochet Along. Week 6 has been published, but I have just started Week 5. It is not a race but I am itching to get the series of blues that represent the sky and finish the blanket – just 8 more rows to go til I get to ‘Duck Egg’ blue.

Lucy’s colour choices are based on the Yorkshire Moors, mine a Dorset Summer Hedgerow.

You can see my list of colours in order in this post: Hedgerow Blanket.

Whilst crocheting I am watching BBC4’s archive arts programmes. Today, this one with a young Germaine Greer interviewing Paule Vézelay in 1984.

Linking with Ginny’s Yarn Along.

Yarn Along: Hedgerow Blanket

An update on my progress with the Attic24 CAL

Lucy has designed a beautiful Moorland Blanket using mainly greens and heather purples. I have substituted some of the colours with pinks and other neutral colours to use yarn I already had and this has created what I believe is a palette representing English Hedgerows in early summer.

Does the palette suggest something different to you?

My substitutions:

Lucy’s Moorland Colours          Hedgerow Substitutions

Pistachio                                           Mustard

Mocha                                                Parchment

Walnut                                               Silver

Grape                                                 Raspberry

Plum                                                  Pale Rose

Violet                                                  Soft Peach

Wisteria                                             Cream

~

Here is Lucy’s list with my substitutions up to colour row 70.

My previous post showing the sequence of the first 40 colours is here.

The list from colour 41 to where I am today, each colour is two rows of crochet.

Lucy’s Colours                     My Substitutions

41. Mocha                         Parchment

42.Plum                                 Pale Rose

43. Violet                           Soft Peach
44. Khaki
45. Mocha                        Parchment
46. Meadow
47. Plum                           Pale Rose
48. Violet                         Soft Peach
49. Cypress
50. Mocha                        Parchment
51. Walnut                      Silver
52. Violet                        Soft Peach
53. Meadow
54. Cypress
55. Plum                         Pale Rose
56. Violet                        Soft Peach
57. Khaki
58. Mocha                      Parchment
59. Plum                        Pale Rose
60. Sage
61. Walnut                    Silver
62. Grape                      Raspberry
63. Violet                     Soft Peach
64. Plum                      Pale Rose
65. Wisteria                Cream
66. Grape                     Raspberry
67. Sage
68. Pistachio              Mustard
69. Mocha                  Parchment
70. Plum                      Pale Rose

~

Joining in with Ginny’s Yarn Along.

Whilst I crochet I am watching/listening to the first series of  “Money for Nothing” presented by Sarah Moore, which I bought for £10.99 from BBC iPlayer. She gathers items destined for the tip and with the help of top class artisans, she repurposes them.

Sarah was the first winner of BBC2’s ‘Great Interior Design Challenge’ in 2013.

Go to my THROWS Page  to see other throws, blankets, afghans I have made with hints and tips on how to make them yourself. I am happy to answer any questions you might have.

Hedgerow Blanket

I am joining in with Attic24’s Moorland Crochet Along (CAL) .

The colours I have used are as close to Lucy’s as I could manage whilst using yarn I already have. All Stylecraft Special DK Acrylic.

My substitutions so far:

Lucy’s Moorland Colours            Substitutions

Pistachio                                           Mustard

Mocha                                                Parchment

Walnut                                               Silver

Grape                                                 Raspberry

Plum                                                  Pale Rose

Violet                                                  Soft Peach

 

Lucy used Mocha and Walnut to represent the earth and for me the Parchment and Silver represent a stony path or track below a hedgerow.

The greens are much the same as Lucy’s and instead of the purples for the heather I have gone for pinks to represent blossoms found in the grass below the hedge and in the hedge itself. I think these colours represent a late Spring or early Summer English Hedgerow – do you agree? I’m quite pleased with the way they are turning out.

Lucy’s Sequence                             My substitutions

1. Cypress
2. Lime
3. Khaki
4. Meadow
5. Pistachio                                    Mustard
6. Mocha                                         Parchment
7. Walnut                                       Silver
8. Lime
9. Meadow
10. Khaki
11. Lime (I missed this one out by mistake, and have added it in after colour 35)
12. Pistachio                                    Mustard
13. Cypress
14. Walnut                                        Silver
15. Lime
16. Grape                                          Raspberry
17. Pistachio                                   Mustard
18. Meadow
19. Khaki
20. Mocha                                      Parchment
21. Grape                                       Raspberry
22. Lime
23. Walnut                                    Silver
24. Cypress
25. Meadow
26. Khaki
27. Lime
28. Walnut                                  Parchment (order of these two colours were swapped by accident)
29. Mocha                                   Silver
30. Knaki
31. Grape                                   Raspberry
32. Walnut                                Parchment
33. Sage
34. Plum                                    Pale Rose
35. Grape                                    Raspberry

Lime ( I added this here to make up for the previous mistake)

36. Meadow
37. Plum                                    Pale Rose
38. Violet                                 Soft Peach
39. Sage
40. Walnut                              Silver

~

Joining in with Ginny’s Yarn Along

Smokey and the Blanket

This picture came in an email yesterday, along with this lovely message:

“Thought I’d share some more appreciaters of the blanket, everyone loves it!
We love the extra weight of it on our bed too, it’s super snugly as well as beautiful xx”

Seems the whole family loves that blanket.

‘Ickle’ on the right is an old-timer and a bit wary of the young virile Smokey, who joined the family just over a year ago as a kitten, and showed his love also for a crocheted blanket early on.

You can see my Ta Dah moment for this blanket here.

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.

Cal 8 – still on the edge

I have been trying to get the Attic24 Crochet Along bedspread finished for my daughter’s birthday today – but alack and alas I did not make it.

It was back in March when I last showed you the difficulty I was having fitting the border of squares.

I finished the short end by adding a row of DC (US) on each of 3 squares all in the ‘lime’ colour and spaced them evenly along the side.

I realised on sewing up it is best to have slightly less on the edge and slightly stretch the edge as you sewn it on, to prevent getting an edge that goes a bit frilly.

One short end and one long side have been attached, there are still ends to weave in and a few more squares to create, before I get to the more relaxing final few rows to go right round the blanket.

The Stylecraft Special DK Colours I’m using are: Petrol, Meadow, Saffron, Spice, Bright Pink, Lime, Khaki, Wisteria, Magenta, Clematis.

Joining in with Ginny’s Yarn Along: Whilst working on the bedspread yesterday I listened to ‘North by Northamptonshire’ on Radio 4 Extra – a bitter sweet comedy about small town life – love it! Anyone else heard it?

❤  *HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my beautiful DAUGHTER*  ❤