Springtime Blanket Ta-Dah

Hello Lovelies,

I'm rather excited. It's such a special post today....a blanket "Ta-Dah" even....and it's a LONG time since I've had one of those. The last one was back in April 2014.

See the pretty hyacinth on my coffee table.......with it's sweet scent, glossy green leaves and amazing blue and purple flowers. It's sign to me  that spring is coming

And the March edition of Country Living that plopped through my letter box this week has such a happy springtime cover........

They helped me finally give this project a name. May I introduce my Springtime blanket...........

I remember the very day that I chose the colours. 

It was THIS day.....a perfect day in early May. I went for a woodland walk and came home with my head full of the spring colours I had seen. I rummaged through my Stylecraft stash and gathered together the  colours that looked to my eyes as close as possible to those I had found so inspiring.

For a while the yarn stayed in my project bag while I decided what type of blanket to make. Then, in early June, I decided to make a join-as-you-go circle blanket. In a way it was like my FIRST circle blanket, but I had tweaked the pattern to make a more solid design

I so enjoyed making these circles in pretty spring colours.........

They are so portable and all through the Summer I added to my growing circle collection. I made them on beaches in Norfolk, Wales and Dorset.

 East and West and South we travelled..........

Then in September we went  Oop North, to Yarndale :0)

Oh yes I loved my circles.............

I had a little plan....to border each circle with different colours. Then in October I had a bit of a wobble. Maybe a  white or cream border might look better?

I experimented and decided if I left a few of the brighter colours out my blanket could look jolly, but not too busy..........

In November I finally got around to the time consuming job of writing a TUTORIAL for you lovelies.....

And I called my design my Little Sunburst Square

Joining gathered pace, then slowed again. This has been a long term project..........

In December I replenished my dwindling Stylecraft stash and joining progressed some more........

Then, finally, last week I reached  the border............

It's just a simple affair,  five rounds of granny clusters, followed by a round of single crochet.......

I used THIS method I always use to avoid the dreaded wavy border.

Actually this border did end up a little curly and tight...so I used the method of steam blocking that Lucy shared in THIS post to flatten it out and relax the yarn.


So would you like to see the finished blanket?


Ta-Dah........

Ohhh, I love it. Though this photo makes it look rather washed out....I'm not sure why.

Lets go outside and hang it on the washing line.

There...that's better!

The colours glow in the sunshine and I love to see it flapping gently in the breeze........

Here it is on a single bed, so you can get an idea of size...........

It measures  72 x50 inches   and it's made using 17 colours of Stylecraft special double knitting acrylic yarn.

I made 220 circles and used 216 of them in the finished blanket. They are joined-as-you-go into a blanket that's 12 motifs across and 18 motifs long.

The colours are.......

Raspberry, Pale Rose, Cloud Blue, Meadow, Khaki,  Saffron, Lemon, Parchment, Silver, Camel, Lavender, Bluebell, Aster, Spring Green,  White, Fondant and Violet............

I'm so happy with how this blanket has turned out. Really Happy Happy Happy :0)

It was a lot of work due to the huuuuge number of colour changes. I don't even want to think about all those ends that had to be securely sewn in ....but in the end it was all worth the time and effort.

It's a solid design with real weight and a really cosy feel. It's just the right size to keep on the back of a chair or the sofa. ready for some serious Winter snuggling ....

  while we dream of Springtime 

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

Jacquie x