Happy New Year!  I wish you all health, happiness and prosperity in 2017.

The turn of the year means spring is on the way, so today is a good time to introduce you to the Spring Blossom CAL, which is a blanket CAL starting on 21st January 2017.

What does it look like?  Well, there’s a bit of mystery in it, but here’s a sneak preview:

The name Spring Blossom comes from the scattering of pale colours, some of a floral design, over the whole blanket.   It is made of hexagonal motifs in 4 designs with a finished size, including border, of approx 165cm by 150cm.

The introduction to the pattern is available now here.  The full price is £4.50 but there is a discount code available until the start of the CAL (21st January), use code BLOSSOM at checkout to get £3 off the full price.

If you want to join in the CAL you’ll find the following information on construction, colour and yarn useful:

The motifs are designed to be made in 3 colours: the central section in 2 colours and a wide border in 1 colour, which I used as a main colour.  I used only 3 colours for the central sections and one colour for the wide border, because I wanted a pale and simple design. However, you could use many more colours if you wish – I would love to see this in lots of colours!  My main colour was cream and the centres are pale pink, blue and lavender.    But imagine what this would be like with a green background and lots of floral colours, or a sky blue background, or an autumnal sky background with autumn colours – the possibilities are endless.

The motifs are join-as-you-go, which I think gives a neat finish, but you could opt to join later by other methods (although this will need more yarn). The pattern includes details of my layout but you do not have to follow my layout or make all the styles of motif. In fact, if you don’t like one style just swap it with another. The border is simple but be aware that it requires 120m of each of the 3 contrast colours – so if you decided to use more than 3 colours you must ensure you will have sufficient of 3 of them to complete the border.

Yarn: I used Stylecraft Malabar Aran, 78% cotton/22% silk, 100g/165m per ball:
11 balls in Buttermilk 2520 (Main colour M)
3 balls in Petal Pink 2528 (Contrast A)
3 balls in Powder Blue 2525 (Contrast B)
3 balls in Lavender 2529 (Contrast C)
Unfortunately this yarn is being discontinued so an alternative is:
Stylecraft Special Aran, 100% acrylic, 100g/196m per ball.
Background requires 10 balls
Colours require 3 balls each in 3 colours of your choice (9 balls in total).
Hook: 5.0mm (US H/8) crochet hook

If you prefer you could make the blanket in a DK yarn using a 4.0mm (US G/6) crochet hook. The motif size using DK yarn is smaller and the finished size is estimated to be approx. 125cm by 140cm.
Recommended yarn quantities using Stylecraft Special DK, 100% acrylic, 100g/294m per ball.
6 balls in main background colour
2 balls in each of the 3 contrast colours (6 balls total)

There’s already discussion and a little excitement building on my Ravelry forum.  So please join in the fun.

Happy crocheting xxx