The new Attic24 Sunny CAL

Attic24 was one of the first crochet blogs that I came across when I started to crochet again after no picking up a hook for 20 plus years. I love her style and her colours and the tutorials and patterns are easy to follow and very reliable. In the last couple of years I’ve met Lucy several times as I don’t live that far from Skipton (well, driving distance for the Knit and Natter group anyhow) and she is lovely.

Last year I joined in with the Cosy Blanket CAL and enjoyed it very much.

The new Attic24 Sunny CAL

In the last year crochet and particularly crochet bags have taken over my life practically so I did wonder whether I ought to commit to joining in. Why aren’t there more hours in the day?

But after seeing tantalising pics of the log cabin squares and then the new sunny colours used in a granny stripe that Lucy is doing as part of the Attic24 Sunny CAL, I decided I couldn’t miss out. I have enough Stylecraft Special DK to sink a ship, having ordered so much over the last year and used various colours for different projects. I’m going to make a lap blanket in the granny stripe, smaller than the single bed size in the Attic24 pattern and substitute any colours that I run out of. Plum is in very limited supply but I still have some Boysenberry left from doing the Rainbow Tote bag for the Stylecraft blog tour last month.

The granny stripe is so relaxing to do. Once the first starting chain and first row of stitches is done, there is no counting, just lovely colour and crochet therapy. I made this one a couple of years ago and its still just as fresh and vibrant now…

The pattern suggests a starting chain of 200 chains, then a row of double crochet (UK terms – sc in USA terms). I changed that slightly and have my first row as trebles (UK terms. Dc in USA terms). I find that with my tension and hooking style, that prevents the bowing effect that sometimes causes the first row of a blanket to bend.

It works up surprisingly quickly and this was my progress after the first afternoon and evening. I took this after a spell of very grey and gloomy weather here in East Yorkshire. Sometimes we get days in winter that seem to have no colour in them at all and it seems to stay almost dusk all day. Just after lunch, the weather suddenly brightened and the sun came out, streaming in through my office window, low and golden.

I took this picture in sunlight, which distorts the colours a bit but I thought it was quite cool to have the sunny colours bathed in sunlight… Someone on IG thought I had used a fancy camera and a filter (hahaha). Sadly not, just my ageing iphone which can barely hold a charge these days and which I can’t wait to replace with a new phone just before Christmas.

Although I only started on the Friday, a few days after the Attic24 Sunny CAL officially opened on November 1st, by the Sunday I was up to date and had the first 18 stripes all done and dusted. I love Lucy’s granny stripe pattern because the edges are so straight if you follow the instructions to the letter…

Although there are some ends to weave in, not nearly so many as a granny square or the rainbow tote bag, which was a beast for ends. Every row had a colour change and there were 60 plus rows. But it was worth it in the end. I’m just glad a granny stripe is so much better – plenty of colour but only two ends per stripe. I try to make a habit of working four stripes and then weaving in the ends of two stripes as I go along so at the end there are only a handful still to do. I did say try though. The trouble is, once you start seeing how the colours play together as you work, you don’t want to wait before starting the next shade.

I’ve seen quite a few comments on Facebook from people not too sure about the Sunny Log Cabin Blanket. I think its lovely and the effect of putting the squares together to create another internal pattern will be really interesting.

I want to have a go, and thought I would make one of the squares and use it as the basis of a fat bottomed bag. I don’t know about you, but when I do a new square for a new project, the first one is never really perfect. You get better as you go along and often I think its a shame to be lumbered with that first, inadequate effort as part of the main project.

I thought that if I did a practice square and made it a bit bigger, it would make a lovely bag – and any imperfections wouldn’t be that noticeable so it certainly wouldn’t be wasted.

I’ve certainly never done a square like this before – and its coming on well…

For a fat bottomed bag the square needs to be at least 50cm by 50cm so I’m adding extra strips using warm and cool colours from my stash. So far, I’ve added copper and pomegranate and teal and just have the fourth strip of this round to do – I’m thinking denim.

Yesterday I went over to knit and natter at Coopers in Skipton and had a lovely morning with Lucy (Attic24), Julie, Yvonne, Tracy, Eleanor and the other lovely regulars. Its such a nice group to go to – just wish it was a bit nearer. Although its a lovely drive as I go through Wetherby and Harrogate and then over the hills, it takes a long time to get home when you don’t leave until 4pm on a Friday afternoon! Too much nattering definitely and lost track of time!

I’ll be back soon with more progress on my Attic24 Sunny CAL projects and I’ll be doing a detailed tutorial for this fatbottomed bag to show the gathering stage as many of you have asked for it. I’ll also have news of a competition running next weekend on my blog and in the two Facebook groups Bagalong with Crafternoon Treats and The Crafternooners. More news in the groups first and to win, you need to be a member of one or other 🙂 Come and join in – you’ll be very welcome 🙂