My Seaside Granny Blanket Ta-Dah

Hello lovelies,

my, oh, my, it's been a long, long time since I have completed a full sized crochet blanket. Last year I enjoyed making ( and selling!) quiet a few baby blankets. But in the background were a couple of big blanket projects I was neglecting.

This seaside colours inspired blanket was to be for youngest boy. I began making simple four round granny squares back in 2015 :0)

It was while we were on holiday in Cornwall that year. The colours were picked to try and capture a little of this dreamy colour palette.... and because they are very "boy friendly."

Production slowed as the year wore on. Then ground to a halt.

 June 2016 saw us visiting the beautiful lake district as my birthday treat ( that big 5.0. birthday) . Happily the squares came with me as they were a very travel friendly project.

and the colours seemed to capture a little of the lakeland landscape too.

In August 2016 my squares enjoyed their second Cornish holiday :0)

And still this slooooow project limped along. By the time the pumpkins were on sale I decided to was time to put in a bit more effort and try to get this blanket made by the end of the year. 

By November all squares were made and I had added a fifth round of Petrol. wooohooo.

Then I began the process of sewing them together. This seemed to take an age. It's really just because I didn't spend a lot of time working on it ( and I got distracted by other crochet and craft projects) 

This past weekend I finally finished the border. Today I picked up the blanket and sewed in the few remaining ends. Then I got out the iron and steam blocked the slightly curly border. I love this clever method Lucy taught us HERE 

 Then I took the blanket and put it on youngest's bed.

Yay, it's long enough and wide enough.

 By late morning the rain (which had put me off walking and meant the blanket got finished) stopped and the sun even tried to shine. I seized  the chance to take the blanket outdoors for the traditional washing line shot.

yay, it's been a long time since I got to do this.

 For the edge I tried a new stitch to me. Reverse single crochet ...or Crab stitch. I love the effect it gives.

I love the petrol border too, though I can see it's not the most "coastal" colour. It is a good, dark background that brings out the best in the colours of the squares.

I think this is my favourite way to look at this blanket...to stand back and enjoy the colour and pattern from a distance.

Here are the blanket stats:-

The finished size is 64 inches (162cm) by 44 inches (112cm)...long enough to cover a lanky teenager :0)

The yarn is all Stylecraft Special Acrylic, double knitting weight. Super easy to care for and easy on the budget too.

The colours for the squares are Aster, Cloud Blue, Turquoise, Khaki, Meadow, Silver, Stone, Camel, Lime, Aspen and White.
The joining colour is Petrol.

I used a 4mm crochet hook.

The design is the same as THIS Blanket I made a few years ago. It's a much loved favourite, but a touch small for my grown boys . I'm glad this latest blanket is bigger.

Nice and long :0)

I chose a square I liked and used those colours for the border.

Happy blankets.

It's great to have finally made all three of my boys a blanket now. The other two are HERE and HERE. 

Youngest seems to like his blanket, though it's not that easy to tell....he's a boy of few words :0)

 I doesn't really matter that much anyway as I make them for my own enjoyment and they are super practical too. It will be well used and make me smile when I see it on his bed. 

Jacquie x

Kaleidoscope blanket Ta-dah !!!

Hello Lovelies ,
Well, I did it !! I completed my Kaleidoscope blanket on Monday evening . Yesterday I was at work all day so today was the first opportunity I've had to photograph it . I was so happy that the sun shone, despite the perishingly cold temperatures.
So would you like to see how it turned out ?? I do hope so. This morning I donned new stripy socks especially for the occasion...here I am stood on my little crochet covered stool ...........

Mainly because it's the best way to get an overhead shot like this ........

Whoooo  Hooooo. I LOVE it :0)

This blanket has been a long time in the making, mainly due to me getting distracted by other ,speedier projects.

I made 120 hexagons in total ,but ended up using 112 of them. As you can see alternate rows are different widths, mine ended up 12 and 13 hexagons wide and nine hexagons deep.........

Having the spares was great for being able to choose combinations I liked right up to the end ......

So the finished blanket measures 163cm x 102cm  ( 65" x 40" ) .Big enough to reach from my toes to my shoulders...ideal :0)

It was made from mostly Cygnet acrylic yarn . I bought it from a couple of local charity shops which sell this brand as new stock...not donated, for around £1.50 for a 100g ball. There's also stylecraft shrimp in there and an apple green from Wilkinsons .

I love the solidness of this pattern and it makes quite a weighty blanket....930 grams ( or 2Lb 1 oz )

Which works out at costing £14 ish for the whole blanket. I wouldn't like to try and work out the number of hours it's taken....I'ts quite a time consuming motif, but I guess as you only need 112 for a decent sized blanket it's not that slow.

What I can work out is that I would not have managed to get it finished as quickly in the end without all your wonderfully encouraging comments. It really was the reason I buckled down and got it done.

So ♥♥♥ THANK YOU !!!! ♥♥♥

As you can see I've gone a bit over the top with pictures but I was having such fun and I know you lovelies like looking at pretty crochet :0)

The border is 2 rows of half double crochet ( U.K. half treble ) .I treated the wavy edges like a ripple and decreased in the bottom of the V's and increased at the top. Despite this after one round this is what was happening ....

So I did the next round with the wrong side facing me and the turned it back over again for the final single crochet ( U.K. double ) and picot round.

I did not have a plan for where this blanket would end up , but right now I'm loving the look of it at the end of our bed .........

So that's where it will be staying for the time being.
It's certainly blanket weather here at the moment.Hope you are keeping warm if you are in the U.K.
Jacquie x

Sunny Crochet

Hello Lovelies,
the sun has returned to these parts over the last two days ....really lifts the mood , making everything outdoors look so much prettier despite the cold and making the house bright and cheerful. Yesterday I sat in a sunny spot adding the last few hexagons to my blanket..........

Then sewing in the final ends..........

When all the ends were dealt with I picked up the almost finished blanket and lifted it into the air in order to spread it on the bed and this is what I saw........

All the colours illuminated from behind by the winter sun looked just stunning.

 This is the same hexagon that's at the start of my half way there post.....looks so different viewed like this.......

I was immediately struck by the way these motifs, that reminded me of a kaleidoscope then I first made them , really do look  kaleidoscopic viewed like this........

I LOVE the suns rays shining through on this shot.........

I got a bit carried away ,snapping lots of  images quickly in case the sun disappeared behind a cloud ..........

As a child I would have loved to build a play tent using this blanket , to be surrounded by all these many coloured flowers  in hexagons would be amazing,don't you think ?............

Just yesterday evening I started on the border....It's just going to be a simple one............

...................so stand by for a Kaleidoscope Blanket  ta-dah very soon :0)
Jacquie x

Half Way There

Hello Lovelies,
 it's been rather dull here today.Not the best light for taking good photos but I've taken some of my blanket progress anyway . I'm loving the joining of all those hexagons soooo much. The colour combinations make me smile and I still love this pattern.

This one is a favourite .....

And this one is very pretty .....

I'm loving this one too........

Oh and this one .........

But I think they look best en masse.......

Wooo Hoooo !! and that's not even  half of them ! I've joined sixty in total.
 This is going to be one colourful blanket. At times I've thought maybe a little too bright . But on a dull January day this amount of cheerful colour is wonderful to work with and admire :0)

Hope your week is going well .
Jacquie x