Tuesday 8 March 2016

Ta Dah...The Never Ending Blanket

Hi There,
Yes! It is finally finished.
The Never Ending Blanket has ended.
Epic effort I can tell you!


This crochet adventure began four years ago.  I was new to crochet and had just finished my first few projects which were blankets also.    Made for the kidlets. They were made with very cheap squeaky acrylic yarn (I didn't know much about yarn back then).  The pattern for these blankets were from Lucy at Attic24 who got me utterly addicted to colour and crochet via her blog.

After making these blankets I wanted to make something for me in my colours and with different yarn.  So after lots of searching on Deramores I found the yarn, Rowan pure wool DK in the most soothing colours.  Five colours in all: Pier, Cypress, Marine, Indigo and Navy.


So I set off with 3.5mm hook in hand and happily crocheted up many a square.  All was going well until I ran out of yarn.  By the time this happened Pier and Marine had been discontinued!! What how does that happen...Panic set in and then I gave up, left if for a VERY long time before I realised I could substitute yarn...a clever trick I learnt over the years.  So in came Debbie Bliss DK wool in Aqua and Teal and Jenny Watson DK wool in Denim...Bless these ladies they saved me.  So now I had eight colours to play with.

I got all excited and crocheted 50 or so more squares then got bored and distracted (as you do) and left it again.  Poor never ending blanket it always got neglected.  But doll making was just so much more appealing than little blue or green squares. 

The pattern of my crocheting life was crochet a few, *get bored, put away, leave for months, get it out, get excited, carry on for a bit, then repeat from *  Hard to stick with something that big, day in day out and not get bored. Also along the way as you guessed it, the yarn ran out!  Probably three times in total.  I really had no clue just how much yarn I would need for a king size bed blanket.  What a dummy!




Anyway...after many stops and starts, the feeling of complete accomplishment when that border went on was so gratifying.  I stuck at it and got it done.  Yay me! Felt so good!


So here you go...thanks for sticking around to see the finished blanket in all its muted, soothing, yummy tones.

TAH-DAH!!

                                                            So pretty!

                                            The pillow is no longer lonely

                           Back view                                                  Front view

I love it so much.  I now can not wait for Winter when I can heave it out (its heavy!) and have it snuggly on my bed.  


DETAILS:
Hook: 3.5mm
Yarn:  Rowan Pure Wool DK (Pier, Cypress, Marine, Indigo, Navy)
Debbie Bliss DK wool (Aqua,Teal)
Jenny Watson DK wool (Denim)
Border:  2 rows of Rowan Pure Wool DK (Cypress, Navy) and Jenny Watson (Denim)
Size:  19 squares x 17 squares = 323 squares! Joined all together at the end with a six row border.

Now back to mermaid making.

Take care,
Lxx


Saturday 5 March 2016

Feeling inspired

Hi There,
WIP Scarf
I have just been catching up on few blogs I follow.  The little crafting community I have found here in blogging land and over on Instagram inspire me everyday.  Sometimes there is too much inspiration and NEVER enough hours in the day to make all the ideas that float around in my head. I love it though.  Makes me feel alive!

I am loving the colour palette of the Contemporary Crochet Granny Blanket over at Annie's Place. She does the most beautifully neat crochet.  

Attic 24 has got me excited about getting my yarn pegs sorted.  Love all that yummy bursts of colour.  This might my next job.

Over at Betsy Makes I have been inspired to have a long term blanket on the go for 2016. Charliebarleymo a crafty instagramer started me thinking about this idea last year.  She has made an amazing blanket from scrap yarn and made oodles of little squares then joined them together.  

I think this is a great idea.  It would give me a chance to get rid of some yarn and perhaps make the pile a little smaller.  But after finishing the 'Never Ending Blanket'...and uttering loudly to my hubby the words "I am never doing granny squares again"...I may change my mind and give it a go. Could be a good winter project.  However,  if I take up this project, this new 2016 blanket challenge CAN NOT take four years to produce!  It can not turn into the 'Never Ending Blanket #2'
...I will keep you posted.




Take care,
Lxx