Anyway, I digress (nothing new there, then!)
I bought an Attic24 Cosy Stripe blanket kit at Yarndale, (which is now made and in regular use in our living room), and also mentioned to Lucy that I wanted to make a giant ripple blanket for our bed. She was kind enough to let me call into her studio in Cooper's and use her blanket planning pegs to choose the colours. I happened to have brought with me to Yarndale a cushion cover from our bedroom, (super organised, eh?) so that I could match the wallpaper and fabric.
It's a Laura Ashley fabric, now discontinued, but I think it was called Peony Garden, and the colour is Amethyst.
I wanted to keep a simple colour palette, as the wallpaper (just on one wall though) and fabric is so busy, therefore I just picked 4 colours - Grape, Pale Pink, Grey and Silver, from the range of Stylecraft Special DK.
I wanted to have Grape as the prominent colour, as that is the main colour of the bedroom, so my stripes are 12 rows of Grape, 6 rows of Pale Pink, 2 rows of Grey and 1 row of Silver.
I am using Lucy's excellent Neat Ripple Pattern. I wanted my finished blanket to be 7' wide - the width of the bed (5') plus 1' overhang on each side. I made a starting chain of 423, giving a working width of 420 stitches. Oh boy. I didn't quite appreciate how massive each stripe would seem to crochet!
1 x 100g ball gives me 7 rows. My Lovely Son (LS) bought the yarn for my birthday last October, and I vowed to have it finished by my next birthday. Seemed like ages at time, however, October will be here before I know it and it's still not finished! It's the sort of project that I work on like mad for several days, and then have a break. By late spring it seemed to be getting a bit hard going, but then one day, at Cooper's, Tracy and I decided to each work 1 row per day on our respective blankets, with the aim of having them finished by the time chilly autumn nights arrived. That really kick-started it and I am pleased to say I only have 34 rows left to do, plus the edging! The end is in sight. WooHoo!!
I laid the blanket out, just to have a little admire:
I am so ridiculously pleased with how it is looking. I love the narrow bands of grey and silver - sort of ric rac like. It is also so, so soft and very drapey. I am using a 4mm hook, which is giving me just the right balance of density and drapiness. (Spell-check has gone crazy on this paragraph, as I seem to be inventing words now!)
The other evening POH and I were watching a film, and, as it got to the good bit, I put the Blooming Big Blanket down in order to concentrate. A little while later I looked down to see that Daisy Dog had managed to drag a corner of BBB into her basket and was cuddled up with it, sound asleep. I think it has definitely passed the Snuggle Test...
I now can't wait to finish it, and spread it upon the bed. Only a few tens of thousand stitches to go. :D
Donna x
Beautiful, that color combination is gorgeous!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Nancy, that's really kind. I shall be glad when the blanket is finished now and I can see it in all its glory on the bed!
Delete