Crochet
Crochet along blanket is finished
On Boxing day evening I sat down and worked the last few stitches in the edge of the edge on my Attic24 crochet along cosy blanket and sewed in the last few ends from the border. Today I’ve been photographing it and its complete, six weeks exactly since I started on November 8th.
This was the morning after we had snow, so the cosy blanket will be getting a lot of sofa use later…
Following the progress of Lucy’s blanket, which I haven’t followed exactly, and of the many other crocheters who have joined in with this has been a real pleasure. Knowing that so many people were doing the same project is encouraging and makes the experience of doing a large blanket much more enjoyable.
Its easy with such a big undertaking to get to that point when you can’t ever see it being finished but knowing that a lot of others managing it makes it always seem possible and achievable.
My cosy crochet along blanket
I started with 185 chains in my foundation row, which I did with a size 5 hook. Once I had completed the first row of trebles I had 183, so 60 triplets in each of the granny stripes. At my crochet tension, this produced a blanket that was 130cm wide before I added the border.
My colours included all of Lucy’s but I only used Violet once in the main stripes, and Meadow twice. I added in some of my own cosy colour choices: turquoise, bright pink, burgundy, Emperor (rich purple), Walnut (rich brown), and Pomegranate.
To complete the main part of the blanket I crocheted 67 stripes, starting and ending in petrol, so 134 individual rows. This gave me a length, again without the border, of 175cm.
I used plum to make the first round of edging and this goes around the entire blanket, using pairs of trebles along the blanket edges and along the first and final row. This was followed by a plain row of trebles in raspberry.
Along the two longer sides of the blanket I added a granny square border, making a small, two row square with each of my colours, randomly attached together as I went along. Each side has 36 squares, which I bordered with bright pink on one side and gold on the other. After attaching the two granny border strips using slip stitches to give a raised effect, I added a row of half trebles in gold to the top and bottom and then an edging row of copper all around the blanket, enclosing the granny edges too.
After copper I used petrol and then finally claret. The edge of the edge is similar to Lucy’s as I really liked that effect, but it just sits at the edge of the petrol round of half trebles. This colour combination includes some of my favourites and seems just right for a cosy blanket with some darker and brighter shades.
The completely finished blanket is now 180cm long and is 160cm wide, so a lovely snuggly sofa blanket and a pretty good sized cover for a King Sized bed.
What I learned from the crochet along
It may be over 30 years since I learned to crochet but its only in the last year that I’ve taken it up again properly after not picking a hook up for at least 25 years. All crafting takes practice and I every project you do teaches you more and perfects and improves your skills.
This project was technically very easy but that doesn’t mean I didn’t make mistakes. If I were to do another one I would do the beginning and ends of the rows differently. I didn’t like the wobbly effect, so I would use one treble at the start of each granny stripe first row and two at the end. In the second granny stripe row I would do two at the start and one at the end. That way you don’t get the bulging problem but the sides of the blanket still have some stability.
I would be more careful with the blanket when I was making it. Snuggling under it is nice but I think I caused myself some unnecessary work by stretching the blanket. If I had not done that, I may not have needed to do block the whole blanket at the pre-border stage.
Doing a sample blanket may seem a faff when you want to get on with the main project, but I think what Lucy does is a very good idea. She used her sample to plan colour sequences, to fine tune the stitches at the beginning and end of each row and to then try out border ideas.
Its great to be part of a crochet along and I felt I enjoyed it all the more because I made my own individual version of the cosy blanket. I like the colours I have chosen – they sum up what I feel and see when I say the word cosy and think about being warm and comfy and safe. They have some darker tones and brighter colours adding a jewel quality to the blanket.
The border was a bit of an experiment but I am glad that I did it. Next time I would do it differently though. The individual squares have been a bit encroached by the border along each side, so I would use a different joining technique next time. Sewing them together using mattress stitch might be a better option and I would not decrease between the squares to even them out.
Making a blanket is not hard and it can be done in a few short weeks – as long as you do a bit each day or most days.
What next?
Its great to stand back and admire something that you’ve worked on that has turned out well but the achievement makes me want to return to my other two blankets, which have got a bit neglected in the last couple of weeks. With quite a few more days of Christmas and New Year holiday left, I want to do some hexagons and get rippling again.
And all sorts of ideas are bubbling away – once New Year is over, January and February can be quite hard, bleak months so a lovely bright spring project would be the perfect thing to start planning…
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I think your blanket is beautiful. What a wonderful idea you had for the border it gives your blanket it’s own identity .
Thanks Mary I am really pleased with the way it has turned out 🙂
Fabulous edging, great job!
Thanks Corine – probably a bit bright for you but it looks softer in real life! That pink seems to shock the phone camera 🙂
I love the colours – I think these are better than the Lucy colours to be honest. The bright pink really makes it pop and the border is the most interesting one I’ve seen – you should be proud! Love it! Hettie
Thanks Hettie I am really pleased that you like it 🙂 x
Gorgeous! I would love to own that, so so pretty and modern looking x
fab work xx
hugs
Sandie xx
Thanks Sandie for your lovely comment x
Wow, it’s beautiful! I love your choice of the granny square edging. I’m just about to start my own cosy blanket. I hope it turns out as lovely as yours 🙂
Thanks Sarah – you will enjoy this project, its so relaxing and colourful x
Fabulous, I do love the beautiful colours and the border. I am at present finishing off a cardigan before the new year and hoping to get some more crocheting next year.
Hugs
Linda xxx
Thanks Linda – very kind… I am putting crocheting more wearables on my list of things to do in 2015! x