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!

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Cosmic Cal: Part 9 and beyond

I finished Part 9 of the Cosmic Cal designed by Helen Shrimpton

all but the final row of Crab Stitch.

At this point the bedspread has taken 2 and a half Whirls and just over half of a Whirlette. There is only a little of the Jumping Jelly Whirl left as you can see in the photo above.

3mm hook

The width is just over a metre

which would be fine for a single bed, but I wanted it to go on the double in my guest bedroom – (to go with the crazy chandelier) – so it needs to be a bit bigger.

Continuing with my account of how I arranged the colours and made some additions:

Part 9

Rounds 91, 92 and 93 were worked in the Citrus Whirlette and then I continued with the Jumping Jelly to make a round or Helen’s newly invented Slanting Clusters, which she demonstrates in this You Tube tutorial video for Part 9.

Row 95 was worked in the Jumping Jelly and I did not work the last row (Crab stitch) of the Cal.

Beyond Part 9

To expand the design, I added rows from Parts 4 and 5 – the Sunbursts.

This would have been quite simple if I had decided to just repeat these rows, adjusting the stitch count accordingly, but I decided I wanted to see if I could get the Sunbursts to fan out a little more – so here goes!

The tricky bit was how to judge the amount of yarn needed …

There was about half a Rosewater Cocktail Whirl left and a little under half of the Citrus Whirlette. The wonderful members of the Scheepjes Whirl Facebook group have been such an amazing support for this project.

I just asked the question and got immediate answers about which yarn would go with the colours already in the bedspread: Blueberry Scheepjes Whirlette and  Scheepjes Cotton 8 in Light Blue Green, Fuchsia and Sea Green.

The Cotton 8 is a little thicker than the Whirl yarn and pure cotton (the Whirls are a Cotton and Acrylic mix) but they work in well.

To blend the orange at end of the Jumping Jelly with the magenta and turquoise mix of the the next bit of the Rosewater Cocktail, I worked rows as follows (US terms):

A round of half-doubles in Fuschia,

A round of doubles in Rosewater Cocktail,

A round of singles in Sea Green Cotton 8

2 rounds to create the Star Stitch in Rosewater Cocktail

A round of singles in Sea Green

I mainly followed the pattern for Part 4 of the Cosmic Cal, but spaced the starting semicircles of the Sunbursts at 35 stitches apart instead of the 25 sts in the pattern.

To find the right positions for these sunbursts, I found the middle of each side and marked the centre of the Sunbursts with stitch markers.

To get the Sunbursts to fan out more than in the pattern I kept the stitches in between to rows of single crochets (instead of dcs) and added some chain sts between the groups of trebles and treble picots (Round 61 of the pattern)

In the next round instead of ch3 between each group, I did ch5 in the first and last gap and ch 4 in the other gaps

 

The Rosewater Cocktail Whirl came to an end in this Round and I started the Blueberry Whirlette.

For the sunbursts to lie flat I skipped a st before starting the sunburst and at the end, I also increased a stitch either side of the central point.

 

I do make life tricky for myself sometimes.

Two more Rounds to go ……..

Joining in with Frank’s Photo Challenge : Colourful

 

 

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.

Cosmic Cal Parts 5 – 6

Continuing with my account of making the Cosmic Cal designed by Helen Shrimpton …

Scheepjes Whirl Rosewater Cocktail x 2; Jumping Jelly x 1; Scheepjes Whirlette Citrus

3mm hook

Parts 1 and 2

Parts 3 and 4

Part 5

The Rows of Star Stitches, Rows 50 and 51 of the pattern, were made with the yellow yarn at the centre of the second Rosewater Cocktail Whirl.

The yarn was cut at the end of Row 51.

 

Row 52 was made continuing with the yarn of the first Whirl, up until the end of part 4, finishing with the dark blue

 

I started Part 5, Row 61, continuing with the yellow from the centre of the second Rosewater Cocktail Whirl until the last Row of Part5, Row 66, which I worked in the Citrus Whirlette.

(with hindsight I wish I had worked this row in either dark blue or turquoise so that it showed up the sunburst pattern more)

Part 6

Part 6 continued with the Rosewater Cocktail until Row 71.

I cut the yarn and

Started Row 72 with the Central Lilac colour of Jumping Jelly

The Crochet Along has 9 parts altogether.

Cosmic 4

 

I am thoroughly enjoying following Helen Shrimpton’s Cosmic Crochet Along (Cal). She really is an outstanding designer with plenty of challenges to keep you on your crocheting-toes.

Following  Part Two came the excitement of Part 3 in which we would be learning a new stitch – Star Stitch!

Cute!

But first there were a few more rows to square up the hexagon……

The rows of doubles and trebles (US) in this 4ply cotton yarn were getting to look a bit like a string vest in the corners so I decided to add a bit of texture in the form of popcorns and bead stitches.

To keep in with the Cosmic theme, I’m calling them Sputniks

The yellow for the two rows of Star Stitch came from the beginning of my second ball (yarn cake) of Rosewater Cocktail.

I continued with the first cake, which was now moving into the pink mixed with turquoise.

The photo below shows Parts 3 and 4 completed

I was thrilled that the first Whirl just made it to the end of Part 4.

The tail of yarn you can see was all that was left!

Joining in with

 

Cosmic Crochet Along

Behind the scenes I have been beavering away at Helen Shrimpton’s current Crochet Along, the Cosmic Cal 

and I have just completed Part 6

Currently measuring 32″ x 35″.

Some of you might have seen my progress on Instagram.

Having seen so many wonderful creations using gradient yarn, I was eager to try it and after much deliberation went for Rosewater Cocktail, a Scheepjes Whirl

You can see all the other colourways here.

It was not easy to choose so I joined the Facebook Group Scheepjes Whirl Creations! 

I could then see all the wonderful things that have been made with Whirls and how each colour looks when it is made up. What a wonderfully helpful community crochet groups are. I’ve learnt so much and been able to ask loads of questions. It has been an enriching experience.

Unsure of how much yarn the blanket would take, I bought 2 Rosewater Cocktails and a Citrus Whirlette as I already knew I wanted to mix up the colours a bit.

But a few rows in I realised I might want to add more colours and bought a Jumping Jelly Whirl.

In a series of blog posts I will describe how I used the Whirls and Whirlettes together:

I wanted to have some turquoise in the centre so I wound off the dark blue of the outside

Cosmic Cals started to appear on Helen’s Hookaholics and I tried out a couple of designs

On the left, I used a 3.50mm hook and included some of the Whirlette, on the right I used a 3mm hook and made the centre look more like a flower

the centre was made with yarn that was pure turquoise

the star was made with yarn that had flecks of pink in it

 

after the turquoise I introduced a round of Citrus Whilette, which is a burnt orange.

and then continued with the yellow from the centre of Rosewater Cocktail.

Wanting to define the hexagon I wondered which of the blues to use

and went for the darker blue with flecks of turquoise in it

(gosh how the colours change according to the light – the photo below does not show the true colours!)

and then one row of lighter turquoise before returning the where I left off with the Whirl.

Continuing with the Whirl until the end of Part 2

More to follow ……

Edit

You can see progress up to Part 4 in this post: Cosmic 4

~

And on Fridays a treat – pop along over  to Nanacathy for a good old Knit and Natter