I am feeling pretty happy today, I have joined all my motifs and I love the way the blanket looks.  The colours are bright and fresh, and I have decided this will be my garden throw/picnic rug – it zings!

Today I am sharing my ideas for layout and how to join.

Let’s start with the joining.

I have opted for a very straightforward joining that doesn’t leave a ‘ridge’ on the front of the blanket. This is my preference, you may choose to join any way you like.

Remember I said to leave a long tail of about 3m at the end of each motif pattern?  Well I use that long tail to join the motifs.  Hold the motifs front sides together and slip stitch through the back loops of both motifs along the edges using the long tails.

Using the back loops means that the front loops of each motif are still visible on the front side along the edges making a nice straight edge where the motifs lie next to each, like this:

You can get a similar effect by sewing together using the back loops as well.

The layout of the blanket is 7 motifs by 7 motifs.  The following diagram shows how I planned my layout.

First the key:

Full Motif is no 1

Granny 2 motif is no 2

Granny 3 motif is no 3

Granny 4 motif is no 4

Granny 5 motif is no 5.

The colours are pretty obvious!

In my layout the colours are sort of random but there is a regularity to the motif style.  If you prefer the colours to be more regular then the following is an alternative:

You don’t have to follow either of these layouts, but I hope they give you some inspiration on how to make your blanket.

Tomorrow I will show you my little embellishment.  I haven’t decided whether to use it on my blanket, but we’ll see!

As always please share your progress on my Ravelry group here, and you can ask any questions on there (I know joining can be tricky).

Happy crocheting xxx

 

Now for the legal stuff – I designed this, it’s all my own work and is copyright. Please feel free to make as many as you like, but not for commercial purposes, and please credit me with the design. Thank you!