Seaside Patches Blanket....Ta-Dah

Hello Lovelies,
 At last ...it's a happy, happy Ta-Dah day :0)

 The last time I  had a full sized crochet blanket to share with you was back in February 2012 ....how did that happen ?

I started this latest blanket just over a year ago and you can read about it's inspiration and the reasons behind my colour and pattern choices  HERE

Soon the first row was complete.....

By December I had 100 solid coloured, four round granny squares.
In this project I've used the brilliant " join as you go" method. The best tutorial I know for how to do this is HERE..........

Sadly my momentum didn't last. In the early part of this year I spent quite a lot of my limited creative time drawing. And then when I picked up my hook again I decided to start ANOTHER BLANKET ( which is still a WIP )

In July my thoughts always turn to the seaside and I loved the way the colours in my blanket matched the colours in this photo of Cornwall so well.............

In August I took my blanket to see the Cornish coast and I have happy memories of sitting outside our caravan, watching the sunset over the ocean and relaxing with my hook.....

Progress then became slow again , a few squares were added now and then, but the end still seemed a long way off.

Then , as the weather cooled in October I found a new impetus. 

A few rows were added early in the month, then during my week off I really made a concerted effort to fit in some crochet time..........

By the end of that week my blanket looked like this..........

280 squares with all the ends sewn in ( rubbish photo, sorry )

I've learnt the hard way that sewing in all the ends after the fun crochet bit is done is horrible. So now I always do them as I go

I leave quite long ends in my crochet...about 6 to 8 inches. It makes the ends so much easier to deal with . I weave in about half of this length , then snip off the remainder. 

Then it was just the border. I say " just the border" but it's an important part of a project like this. It can made the difference between an O.K. and a great result.

 I used THIS method to avoid a wrinkly edge and took inspiration from THIS blanket  for the design........

All those busy squares needed framing with colours that wouldn't compete for your attention too much. So I've used a limited number of the blanket colours and I didn't include any of the lightest shades..........

I think it turned out great.

The edge is just a round of U.K. double ( U.S. single ) crochet. I was going to add a wavy edge too but middle son ( who's blanket this is ) said he preferred it plain.....I think he made a good choice.

And here is the finished blanket

TA-DAH.........

Oh , it may have taken me ages to finish , but I'm SO PLEASED with how it turned out in the end.

I love the range of shades from white to the darkest (Teal )
I love the completely random positioning of those colours. I didn't give too much thought to what colour came next , I just made sure each square was never next to the same colour.

It's not the biggest blanket I've ever made, but  it's long enough to cover you from your chin to toes, perfect for snuggling on the sofa when it's chilly............

It measures 64  by 42 inches.........

It might not be as attention grabbing as some of my more colourful projects, but it's very easy to live with....

I LOVE the seaside pallette so much...calming and fresh. Happy without being too shouty.....does that make sense. The design is quite solid too, with only small holes in the granny squares, so it feels warm and cosy.

I liked seeing the sun shining through it on Sunday morning, but it was pretty chilly and breezy in my sad looking November garden..........

I quickly took these pictures then headed back indoors to the warmth of the lounge.

The next time I looked this blanket had already been scooped up and put to good use........

and that really made me  happy :0)

For those of you who might like to know some yarn details...I used my usual acrylic yarn....  Stylecraft special double knitting in the following colours

Teal, Aster, Camel, White, Cloud blue, Denim, Cream, Meadow, Sherbet, Aspen, Turquoise and Silver

and a 4mm crochet hook.

So it is also an easy to care for, economical blanket.

If you would like to know how I make my granny squares do take a look at THIS tutorial.
 The border is ten rounds of granny clusters, that were so speedy and great fun to do after all those little squares.....I felt like my hook was flying along at lightening speed :0)
This whole blanket was a joyful , simple project that turned out even better than I hoped it would.
And middle son loves it.
Happy , Happy , Happy.
Jacquie x