Tag: blanket

Spoiler alert!

On By agrarianartisanLeave a comment

This year’s blanket CAL has been a long time in the making, I have been so slow, and I have no excuses. Maybe it is simply that I have slowed down during these strange times we are living in and prefer to enjoy every stitch as I make it. But it is progressing to the finish line and it’s about time to share some of it with you.

First – my inspiration.

Some years ago when I was a stash building addict, I bought an Opal Sock Yarn Advent Calendar containing 24 mini balls of colourful sock yarn. I thoroughly enjoyed opening the calendar each day and finding a different coloured ball.  I really didn’t know what to do with the mini balls, they remained a colourful collection in my stash but eventually I found a simple flower motif and decided to make lots of these colourful flowers. It became one of those projects you pick up between larger projects and after a long time I managed to make over 100 of these flowers.  I decided to join them so I designed a border to make each flower a square.  I bought some pale grey yarn to create the border and join the squares as you go.   A very long time after I started to open those advent calendar ‘doors’ a lovely lap blanket emerged which I gifted to my sister.   I never took any notes of this project, nor did I take any photographs.  I just enjoyed the long lingering project.

Roll on a good number of years and I find I have accumulated plenty of scraps of yarn of all sorts – the vast majority of them being sock/4 ply or fingering weight – all roughly the same meterage per 100g in a variety of colours and yarn types.    Much of this is because I have finally found my sock knitting mojo – I have made over 20 pairs in the last 2 years and most for myself. And I have small feet so I have plenty left over from 100g balls of sock yarn! So this was the year I decided to use up all these sock yarn scraps in my CAL (ok it’s not the first time I have done this remember Wrapped in Memories?).

I wanted a really relaxing project, something straightforward that can be done at crochet/knitgroup (I’m sure you’ve all experienced the frogging after taking a project with only a modicum of complexity to a crochet/knitgroup meeting!).  I also wanted some uniformity so that the scrap project looked like it was meant to be made as a blanket not just a mess of colours.  And I wanted to use the same border to each motif, in the same colour  just like I did with the Opal mini ball project.   Grey was a good choice for this, I think white or cream would be a stark contrast to the colours and make them stand out too much and I really do not like the stained glass effect of black, but grey helps the colours to blend gently on the eye.  

The motifs are all the same shape. I started doodling a crochet circle and decided straightaway that circles should be the theme. So the CAL blanket progressed, the pattern is written and I have a few testers lined up (but shout if you’d like to help).

Want a sneak preview? Well these are all my motifs, all lined up ready for the final joining round. They are now all joined and the blanket is almost complete.

The CAL will be free on this blog, although a more detailed paid for pattern will also be available. My next post will give you more details of the CAL start date and timescale, but for now enjoy the sneak preview of all my little circles!

Happy crocheting xxx

Give me a push….

On By agrarianartisan5 Comments

The newspaper didn’t arrive this morning, which threw my normal routine out. Early morning chores complete, tea and cereal on the table but no paper to read!   As soon as I polished off the cereal I went into my ‘yarn’ room to find something to occupy myself whilst drinking the tea.  The early morning light was shining on a basket that I haven’t touched for a long time.   So I pulled it down and put it on the breakfast table.

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In it is a partially made ‘scrappy’ blanket. I started before I even thought of the Winter Blanket CAL, and it has languished unloved in the basket since then.

So I decided I must finish it, I even designed the border whilst drinking my tea. But there’s a lot of crocheting to do before I get to the border and I need a huge push to make me do it.  I realised the only way I will finish this quickly is if I share it with you, because I’ll feel so guilty once you know about it, I’ll just have to crack on with it!

Happy crocheting xxx

Ta dah!

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The final part of the Winter Blanket CAL is the border:

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A simple beautiful frame to the blanket, which is shown in glorious sunshine (funny how the sun came out just in time!):

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So now you have it – 8 different designs, 6 different colours, 49 squares  – all in a simple border.

I hope you enjoyed this CAL.

The full pattern is available on Ravelry here (all 16 pages of it!) , and now includes a US terms version as well.

Did you use all the 8 designs?  What colours did you choose?

Happy crocheting xxx

Winter Blanket CAL part 8

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For the last square I wanted something a little different.

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What do you think?

It is made first in rows, then a couple of rounds are added to finish it off.  I love the stripes of colour.  I made 4 of these to sit in the middle of each edge of the blanket with the stripes running parallel to the edge.  Tension can be tricky on this sort of square, so you may need to practice with a few hook sizes before you get the size you need.

You can find the pattern here and join in the discussion here

Next week it’s the final part – the border.  And the Big Reveal!

Happy crocheting xx

 

Winter Blanket CAL part 7

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Your patience of the last week is now rewarded, here is number 7:
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I love the concept of circles in squares, and there are many such designs available. For this blanket I wanted a circle that was not too big and not too small, it took a lot of swatching but I like the end result.  I made mine in 2 colours only, but this would look good if the circle were in 4 colours.  In fact, that is what I plan to do in the CAL blanket I am making along with you.

The pattern has been updated to include this new motif, and it runs to 14 pages including patterns, some charts and instructions on joining, together with the suggested layout.

Here are the other 6 motifs included so far:

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We’ve had the full granny, filet style, flowers joined into a square, flower on a mesh square, openwork and raised stitches.   Only one more motif to go, and that will be different again!

You can find the pattern here and join in the discussion here

Happy crocheting xx

 

 

Woo hoo! part 6!

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Part 6 of the Winter Blanket CAL has just been published.   It includes some texture in the form of raised stitches as well as some openwork.

Here it is:

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There are 4 of this square needed for the blanket, and that means that the centre 25 suqares are now released.  Do you want to see what it looks like?

Well here it is in all the glorious colour:

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One of the 6 published squares isn’t seen on this block, but the other 5 are there.

Only 2 squares and the edging to go before it is all complete!

You can find the pattern here and join in the discussion here.

Happy crocheting xx

 

 

 

Winter Blanket CAL part 5

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First an apology.  I didn’t show you my progress on motif no 4, so here it is:

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For my CAL blanket I made all 4 of this motif in the teal colour, bringing a bit more depth to the colour scheme.   So I now have 25 completed motifs out of 49, just over half done!

What next?   Well here is motif no 5:

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I call this ‘Flower and Mesh’ and there are 8 needed in the design.   With the colours of the sample, I had a great time mixing the flower colours on different backgrounds!  Maybe I’ll share a few photos of the completed sample next……..

Motif no 5 has been added to the CAL pattern, which now runs to 11 pages.  You can find it here and you can discuss your progress and ask questions here.

Happy crocheting xxx

 

Winter Blanket CAL part 4

On By agrarianartisan2 Comments

Here’s motif number 4:

Motif no 4
Motif no 4

I call this ‘Openwork’ and it is quick to hook up.  Only 4 of these are needed in the design so, after a mammoth 9 motifs of motif no 3, it should be a welcome relief to complete this week!   And if you are following the exact design, then once these 4 are complete you will have done 25 out of 49 motifs – so roughly halfway 🙂

The pattern has been updated to include this motif and the locations in the blanket, it also includes a chart for motif 4 (for those who prefer charts).

If you want to join in the CAL you can find the pattern here and the Ravelry discussion thread here.

Happy crocheting xxx

Winter Blanket CAL part 3

On By agrarianartisan2 Comments

Happy New Year!

And Happy Motif no 3!

Motif 3 hot of the hook!
Motif 3 hot of the hook!

This is straight from the hook and unblocked.  The next one is blocked and joined into the blanket:

Motif 3
Motif 3

I love this – I called it Four Flowers (for obvious reasons!) and I made 9 of them in random colours to go into the blanket; one in the centre and the other 8 spread out evenly.  I have already put hook to yarn and started the first one for the CAL blanket I am making along with you – I’m using the bright colours as flowers and several background colours.  I will share photos once they are complete.

If you want to join in the CAL you can find the pattern here and the Ravelry discussion thread here.

Happy crocheting xxx

 

Winter Blanket CAL update

On By agrarianartisanLeave a comment

Just popping by to give you a quick update on my CAL progress.    I have now completed all 4 of the second motif, and all in the same colour: Fern.

Here’s the progress shot:

Motif 2
Motif 2

I now have 12 motifs complete, and all use Fern as the main colour – so the little balls to the right of the basket are all I have left of Fern.  Just enough for one more motif – which will be one of Motif 3 and which I plan to put in the centre of the blanket.    I am looking forward to Motif 3 – I know what it is and the temptation to start is huge!  But I will resist 🙂

Happy crocheting xx.