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.

Cal7

Gosh , it is over a month since I posted Cal6!

This often happens to me, I race along with the main body of a project and then the finishing off takes thought and concentration and spacious time, so it gets put to one side (I have SO many WIPs!!!) waiting for such a time to present itself. Does the same thing happen to you?

THE EDGE

This project started off as a single bedspread, then my daughter said she would like it to go over her double bed and I saw the idea of an edging of these African Flower squares on Ravelry.

I have crocheted round the entire blanket as Lucy suggested for 3 rows, with first a row of DC(US style, I learnt from an American crochet book, so my instructions are always US style), then two rows of SC. Don’t you just LOVE how the ‘Bright Pink’ and ‘Bluebell’ ZING together!In fact I just love the way all the colours in this blanket dance and play together.Of course the squares are not an exact fit ….. there is this much of a gap that needs to be filled. I have worked out that it is 8 rows short along the short edge. So my next task is to work out how to fix that and attach the squares to each other and the blanket

Update: there is no need to ‘fill in’ any extra rows, the seams themselves add enough to the length. Join all the squares together, then find the middle of the row and the middle of the side of the blanket, pin and sew,easing in where necessary. It is best to have it a little too short rather than too long, so that you don’t have a frilly edge.

A challenge indeed, but I’m looking forward to see it all together, so that will spur me on ….. anyone got a free day of spacious quiet time they could give me?

Happy Hooking!!!

Cal6

snugglywuggly……

Cold days, dull days, February days, difficult days, made warm and fabulous by interludes under this glorious Attic24 design growing daily into what I hope will become a lifelong family friend.

 

GARDEN DIARY                                                                                              Wonderfully warm sunny day, no wind in my garden, a rare event.                         1. I cut the Autumn fruiting raspberries to the ground, as instructed – it seemed brutal, I hope they will be ok as I only planted them last year and they were DELICIOUS!!                                                                                                                        2. Clematis Montana cut back to 30cm                                                                           3. Weeding                                                                                                                            4. Sparrows twittering like they were having a party in the laurels, drunk on sunshine, I think they might be getting frisky.                                                              5. A warm welcome to the first brave little snowdrops, flowering at last.               6. Munching peppery rocket from the raised beds and veg trugs.

Cal5

I’m in week 5 of Attic24’s Crochet Along and it’s time to make some design decisions. 

My daughter would like it as a bedspread for their double bed, and that is why I am experimenting with African flower squares to add as a border. I am so grateful for the idea from Laura on Ravelry.  I’ve made a selection to see if my daughter likes the idea, if she doesn’t they can easily be turned into a cushion.

I get into mini obsession mode when I just want to go on and on forever making African flowers. There is something very soothing about making lots and lots of the same thing. The ‘flowers’ start off as these cute little circles and then I am immersed in playing with different colour combinations.This hot mix is my favourite!

Go to Cal8 for an update on how the border is coming along

First Cosy C.A.L.

This is my first Crochet ALong. Usually I like to do my own thing and the Crochet-A-Long or Knit-A-Long have never appealed before now. (There are loads of wonderful projects you can join in with on Ravelry.)

BUT …… life is a bit stressful at the moment with lots of legal stuff for me to get my head around and lots of paperwork to gather and order and formulate and I really am trying to be efficient and ordered and …….. it is just not ME

– it makes my brain hurt!

Outbursts of crochet punctuate my day in order to re-boot my thinking ability!

I have been crocheting acres of ripples, in these odd moments, amassing lots of blankets, throws and cushion covers that need edging, making-up, or finishing in some way – when I can give my attention to them…..

It is so soothing  just to crochet without having to work out complicated patterns – stripe after glorious stripe of relaxation – an antedote to all the legalese.

SO it feels really comforting to start a project that someone else has designed. No thinking necessary – bliss – restful – snuggly!!! And who better to follow than Lucy at Attic24. She is an absolute master of the tutorial, all questions answered with wonderfully clear photos.

The colour palette she is using is based on late summer to autumn flowers and I am following it as closely as I can with the colours I have in my stash of Stylecraft Special DK. They certainly cheer up a dull November afternoon.

Here are the colours I have used so far, starting from the first 2 rows in ‘Petrol’ at the top of the picture:

Petrol, Meadow,

Saffron,

Spice,

Bright Pink, Lime,

Khaki, Wisteria,

Magenta, Clematis

 

This has started as a blanket for a single bed and with a starting chain of 98 stitches. I’m using a 4.5mm hook. The pattern  it has just enough variety to keep it interesting and easy enough to be totally relaxing. Just the side edges needing a bit of concentration to keep them straight.

And what is it about the colours that means I’m excited to see how the next colour looks in the mix! Scrummy!

The sisterhood of crocheting along with women (not seen a man posting about crocheting along to this one yet) all over the world gives me such a warm glow. I’m enjoying this crochet-a-long more than I ever thought I would.