blanket Archives - Page 2 of 3

A New Crochet Blanket. Circles in Squares.

May 24, 2016March 2, 2026blanket, crochet17 Comments

colourful crochet circles with scheepjes merino soft

Circles In Squares Baby Blanket

I finished this little crochet blanket about a month ago. It’s bold and colourful crochet circles in squares. It now belongs to a baby. It is not my baby, but a new cousin for my boys. I’m pleased that she has already had snuggles in her lovely new crochet blanket.

I haven’t written up a pattern for this one, but I will share some pics of playing with the squares, and attempts to block them!

Another baby blanket done. Love this one. Simple crochet circles in squares.

I chose to make the blanket with Scheepjes yarn. I really wanted to get my mitts on this brand. A couple of months ago, it seemed like loads of people were using it, and I wanted to join the fun. I liked all the colours, and I wanted something super soft, so I went with the Merino Soft (which also has microfibre in it).

It is the softest, squishiest yarn. It is also quite splitty, which surprised me. I find that once I get into a crochet rhythm, I can avoid most of the splittiness, whichever kind of yarn it is. However, it’s still disappointing when it happens.

Crochet Circles in Squares

When I heard that there was to be a new human on the horizon, I asked my sister-in-law what sort of thing she fancied. I knew I wanted to crochet a blanket, but I didn’t want to make one that wouldn’t fit in with her tastes. All that effort, and they don’t like it? No thanks.

She gave me a photo of a cushion that fitted with the nursery colour scheme. The cushion had a bunch of bright circles on it. That was enough inspiration for me; off I went, designing a new crochet baby blanket.

I blocked it (badly). It didn’t work. They all pinged back after 5 minutes. I thought they’d be good because of the merino, but I’m guessing microfibre does funny things.

These crochet squares were about as flat as they got, and they quickly started to curl at the edges again. Oh well.

Laying Out Crochet Squares

Each time I make a crochet blanket that’s lots of squares, I have great fun laying them all out. Once I have more than a few squares, I do it over and over, each time adding a handful more of newly stitched squares. I think I had another row to go at this point, but I couldn’t wait to see what was going on.

Crochet baby blanket. Circles in squares.

Sewing Crochet Squares & Running Out of Yarn

I had to be quite boring with the construction. I had next to no grey wool left. I sewed the crocheted squares together with a whip stitch as I reckoned this wouldn’t use as much of the remaining yarn as crocheting them. I also stuck to a very plain border.

I jumped online to try and order another ball or two, but I couldn’t find it anywhere. Sold out! So the border had to remain plain. In an attempt to add some interest, a couple of rows were Back Loop Only. Thinking about it now, I could’ve done some post stitches or something. Not that that would have been much better. I wanted to have a proper, fancypants border. 🙁

I got one ball of each colour for the inner circles and thought six balls would be enough for the main colour. Note to self: get eight balls. Eight balls next time!

I’m finding it increasingly difficult to take new and interesting pictures of blankets. They all end up draped on the same two chairs in the same locations!

Circle in square crochet blanket. Free pattern.

I can tell you that I never spot wires, plug sockets and other such things in Pinterest pictures. They jump out a mile in all my photo’s no matter how hard I try to avoid them.

Photoshop! We used to have a very early version of Photoshop (not that I knew how to use it) on the old Mac but the Mac choked to death on carpet fluff. Be mindful of computers when getting new carpet!

Bright crochet baby blanket. Crochet circles in squares.

A Made Up Crochet Pattern

I made up the pattern, although I know many similar ones exist. I’m afraid to say I have not written it down yet. Sooo at some point in the near future, I will come back with a post about how I made the squares. I did some experimenting with starting the rows, as I wasn’t happy with a messy 3-chain start. I think it’d be interesting to do some comparisons, etc., but it’ll have to wait until another day.

Anyway, I must go and wake up the little one, he fell asleep in the car on the way home from food shopping. He didn’t even wake up when I moved him to the sofa. Silly boy has been up since 5.40am.

I’ve linked up with Crafting is my Therapy. A place for sharing crafting blog posts!

A Touch of Spice with a Pompom Edge.

March 14, 2016March 1, 2026blanket, crochet, free pattern36 Comments

Crochet Pompom Edging

I think a crochet pompom edging is one of my favourite types of blanket borders, so far. This is a cosy blanket just for me!

It’s a real thrill because most of my finished crochet blankets tend to make me feel a bit “meh” after I’ve finished them. It’s usually to do with them not ending up how they looked in my head, so they get abandoned, or I give them away. Not this time!

The main crochet stitch used in this blanket is the Stacked Shells section from Cherry Heart’s Spice of Life blanket. Sandra herself did the same thing, and I liked it even more than the Spice of Life Blanket [here’s my SoL]. I’ve totally copied the idea! It’s called A Touch of Spice, and I really love it.

A Touch of Spice Blanket

Last year, I bought a pile of Stylecraft Life DK, thinking I was going to make a Rustic Lace Square blanket. I’m still undecided about the Rustic Lace Square with this particular yarn, though. Some of the crochet blankets I’ve seen are exquisitely beautiful, but they look cottony and fine, not woolly and wintery. They’re lacey. I’m not sure this is the yarn for that crochet project. However, I’ve still got loads of Stylecraft Life left so…

Stacked shells with a crochet pompom edging

A Bobbly Pompom Border

The bobbly crochet pompoms are my absolute favourite bit. I love the red, and I just think they’re fabulous. I was super proud of them because I made up the crochet pattern myself.

I’d found a couple of crochet patterns and tutorials that had really faffy ways of crocheting pompoms, which I just couldn’t be bothered to do. I did try. Every pompom took an age, and it would have taken a lifetime to go round the whole blanket. My reaction to that was to come up with my own cheat pompom that takes half the time to crochet.

Spice of Life inspired Stacked Shells crochet blanket.

Bobbly Crochet Pompom Edging

Before I share the pattern (below), let’s take a look at the instructions for how to crochet a bobble. I have used UK terms, but a UK treble crochet is a US double crochet. Super simple to translate.

5tgr = treble crochet 5 together. Here are the instructions for a crochet bobble ie 4tgr:
Yarn over (YO), insert hook in stitch, YO, pull up a loop, 3 loops on hook. YO, pull through 2 loops, 2 loops on hook.
YO & insert into st, YO, pull up a loop, 4 loops on hook. YO, pull through 2 loops, 3 loops on hook.
YO & insert into st, YO, pull up a loop, 5 loops on hook. YO, pull through 2 loops, 4 loops on hook.
YO & insert into st, YO, pull up a loop, 6 loops on hook. YO, pull through 2 loops, 5 loops on hook.
YO & pull through the last 5 loops.

Gosh, that’s tricky to write down, that’s for sure!

Crochet PomPom Edging Pattern

This pompom edging is worked into a foundation of plain stitches that you’ll have already worked. I crocheted this pompom edging onto a round of UK treble stitches / US double crochet stitches. I continued to use the same colour.

Round 1: With right side of blanket facing, *Ch7, 5tgr in 4th ch from hook, ch1, sl st into bottom of bobble, ch3, skip 3 sts of blanket edging, and sl st into next st; rep from * around.

I’ve broken it down with a few pictures below:

How to make a crochet pompom edging. photo Tutorial.

Crochet Pompom Edging: Step By Step

Step1: Chain 7.
Step 2: Beginning the 5tr bobble.
Step 3: Before pulling through the last 5 loops on the hook.

A photo tutorial for a crochet bobble edge.

Step 4: A finished crochet bobble.
Step 5: Slip stitch into bottom of the cluster (original 4th ch from hook.)
Step 6: Chain 3.

Step 7: Miss 3 stitches. Slip stitch into the 4th chain.
Repeat all the way around. Fasten off, sew in ends and admire your new crochet pompom edging.

My Spice of Life inspired crochet blanket.. Except this has a crochet pompom edging

A Lovely Blanket with a Crochet Pompom Edging

Amazingly, for me, I blocked this crochet blanket. I pinned it directly onto the carpet because I don’t have any spongy foam blocking boards. It doesn’t seem to have ruined the carpet.

To block my blanket, I sprayed it lightly with water and left it overnight. By morning, it was dry (It was near the radiator). I have draped myself in my cuddly new blanket every evening since I finished it last week. It’s lovely.

Anyway, I think I’m sewing stuff next. Maybe some Jedi robes for the boys, slightly different to usual. And I’ve dug out some paper piecing hexies, which is a very old, ongoing project.

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Crochet Circles in a Square Blanket

February 5, 2016March 1, 2026blanket, crochet, free pattern26 Comments

Circle Centre Granny Squares

A few days ago, I had a nice comment about one of my crochet blankets that I’d used as a backdrop for another project. Every once in a while, the blanket just happens to appear here on the blog somewhere, usually in the background of a random photo.

Check out a very jolly, colourful version of this granny square blanket, here

I decided that I should write a post about one of my most-used and loved crochet blankets. I don’t have much I want to share this week, so it’s an ideal opportunity to talk about something I made in the past.

I’ve taken lots of pictures of the blanket, and I will just bung them up as I blather on about how I made it.

Crochet Inspiration

I remember the pretty picture that inspired me to make it. I haven’t seen the picture for a couple of years and now that I see it again… well, it’s miles better than mine… poo. The blog the original pattern is from is called Crochet with Raymond, and it’s still active (although the crocheter doesn’t write new content anymore). It’s still up and has lots of wonderful woolly things. It has been such a beautiful source of creative inspiration.

I crocheted this granny square blanket three years ago. I was very pregnant with my youngest boy, and I really wanted it to be finished by the time he arrived. I remember staring at it whilst I was in labour, feeling annoyed that the border still had two rows to go.

Granny Blanket Colours

I chose colours similar to the original. I used Stylecraft Special DK because that is what they sell at the shop down the road. I use Stylecraft for the majority of my projects, but I want to try something new – any suggestions?

There are ten yarn colours: Lipstick, Fondant, Pomegranate, Cloud, Sherbet, Aster, Meadow, Clematis, Wisteria and Cream. Lots of balls of cream were used, maybe 8 or 9, and then I think it was just one of each of the others, but I really don’t remember.

Granny Squares That Start With a Circle

I didn’t use an existing pattern; I made it up. It was easy enough to do. I’ll quickly write down what I think I did (using UK terms, so a “tr” is a US “dc”). FYI, I used a 4mm hook for the DK yarn.

I’m sharing the pattern for the granny circles here. They were turned into squares while working a Join As You Go method. I’ll share more about that in just a moment.

Granny Circle Pattern

Ch4 and join with a slip stitch.
Round 1: Ch4 (counts as 1tr and 1ch), *1tr into ring, ch1; repeat from* 10 more times, join with a slip stitch to the 3rd ch. – [12 tr stitches].
Fasten off (I think fastening off and then joining the new colour with a slip stitch looks much better than other ways of colour changing – didn’t do that here though).

Round 2: Join new colour. Ch2, 1htr, ch1, *tr2together in each chain space, ch1; repeat around from* around, join with a slip stitch to the top of the first 2ch. Fasten off. – [12 tr together].

Round 3: Join new colour. Ch3 (counts as first stitch). 2tr into first chain space, ch1, *3tr into next chain space, ch1; repeat from* around, join with a slip stitch to the top of the first 3ch. – [12 granny clusters].

Join As You Go Crochet Technique

Once I had lots of crochet granny circles, I crocheted them all together using Attic 24’s method of Joining As You Go. It creates a lovely, decorative pattern in the corners, which is one of my favourite things about this granny blanket.

Using this method still means lots of ends to sew in, and I’ve since sacrificed pretty corners in favour of the Continuous Join method, which stops all the dreaded ends as you have just two (one at the beginning, one at the end).

Looking at the picture above, I see that the stitches in the corners of each square have triple trebles rather than trebles.

Anyway, I think that’s it. The granny stripe border is just going round and round with clusters, and the final round is a variation of the bobble edge from Attic 24 (thanks again!), but with slip stitches between them. There are either 2 or 3 slip stitches between each bobble.

Mostly it’s screwed up on the sofa and the children wrap themselves in it whilst they watch the telly after school!

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My Spice of Life Crochet Blanket.

February 2, 2016March 1, 2026blanket, crochet, free pattern23 Comments

The Spice of Life Blanket

I started this colourful crochet blanket three Sundays ago. I sewed in the last end of the Spice of Life blanket on Saturday night.

I didn’t know where this crochet blanket would end up for the first few days of making. Then all of a sudden I knew it would make a great birthday present for my Nanna and Grandad. They both had their 90th birthdays in January, and on Sunday, we had a lovely family birthday party.

Yarn For My Crochet Blanket

As is often the case, Stylecraft Special DK is the yarn I used. I loved the Spice of Life Rico colours that you can buy as a pack for making the blanket, but I couldn’t justify spending any more money on yarny things when I had loads of yarn stashed away already.

I only needed to buy a couple of balls to make up the blanket’s colour palette, which consisted of: Cloud blue, Storm blue, Cream, Lemon, Mocha, Lipstick, Emperor, Fondant, Shrimp, Kelly Green, Lobelia, Petrol and Spring Green.

I looked at the original Spice of Life blanket and matched the colours as closely as I could. My eyes tell me that the Stylecraft colours are a lot more vivid and saturated than the Rico yarn (not that I’ve seen the Rico in real life).

I downloaded the free crochet pattern from Ravelry via Cherry Heart (one of my favourite blogs) and off I went. There were a couple of occasions where I went wrong, so had to do some unravelling. There were a couple of other mistakes that got left in. I am hoping that they go unnoticed.

I had to crochet in the car on the way to Southampton (about 2 hours from home). And I added the final row of the border at my mum’s house. I tried several times to get a good photo of the finished blanket, but the weather was grey to the extreme. Rainy, cloudy skies and one hundred year old windows did not help. Neither did dodgy camera skills.

A Finished Crochet Blanket!

The blanket is actually one of the brightest crochet projects I’ve ever made. I’m glad it was a present for some old people, their eyes are rubbish.

Take a look at a painting of my hands as they sew in the ends of the Spice of Life blanket. My artist friend is painting my portrait! I’m finding the process lots of fun. I’ve said she can paint me any way she wants. Unfortunately, that means she wants me to take my clothes off. That certainly isn’t going to happen in February. Too cold. Anyway, more about that another day.

This week, I’m trying out some very basic knitting next. Hone my skills and all that.

A Super Quick Granny Square Blanket.

January 18, 2016March 1, 2026blanket, crochet23 Comments

This is my Itchy Fingers granny blanket. Between more purposeful crafting projects, I still want to have some crochet on the go. Otherwise, I get itchy fingers. Also, I want to experiment with what yarn I’ve got and see if clashy colours go together, stuff like that.

Crochet Granny Square Blanket for Itchy Fingers.

I’ve got a ridiculous amount of Stylecraft Special DK hidden in the cupboard under the stairs. I am determined to get my yarn stash down to whatever might be seen as an acceptable minimum. Just enough so I don’t get totally embarrassed when people see the mounds of yarn stuffed in that small space.

Clashing Colours For Granny Squares

I’ve no idea why I had half these colours in my yarn stash. Some of the shades are particularly lurid. Or maybe it’s just the specific combo I’ve forced them into. Denim and Plum look lovely most of the time, but I have managed to recreate the colour palette of a 1970’s vomitty shag pile. Actually, I quite like it.

Turn Your Granny Squares

I turned the granny square after each round to prevent the twist that sometimes occurs in granny squares.

I am not sure how I feel about mixing wrong sides with right. I am quite discriminating about the wrong side of crochet being on display, but people who don’t crochet don’t seem to notice that there are right/wrong sides. I guess I should let that particular misgiving go. It didn’t look so bad.

The full list of yarn colours, should you wish to make your own version of this granny blanket (not sure why you would) are as follows:

Pomegranate, Aspen, Spice, Denim, Apricot, Plum and Gold.

It has gone back in the cupboard under the stairs, where it takes up more room than the yarn did.

Next up, I’m crocheting a basic granny triangle shawl. I finished it on Friday, but I need to sort out the crochet pattern and write it down.

A wool shawl is super duper warm in this freezing weather. This morning I woke up to a flurry of “likes” on Instagram for the finished granny shawl. It brought a smile to my tired 5.40 am face.

January Crochet

January 8, 2016February 28, 2026blanket, crochet13 Comments

New Start For January

As soon as I’d completed all my Christmas gift makes, I thought maybe I should take a crafty break. I wanted to read all the books I haven’t read because I’ve been doing crochet or sewing. Well, I couldn’t just stop, that would be daft. But I read a book last week and finished one the week before, so at least I’ve managed to mix it up a bit.

I got a new bag for Christmas! I’ve been saying it’s a jelly bag. I think that’s what they’re called. It’s no good for crochet hooks, but it looks good. I had one when I was little. My new jelly bag is holding my latest project. It’s a bog standard granny square blanket. It’s one of many recent baby blankets that are helping to use up my yarn stash. The colours are an odd mix, but hopefully someone will like them together.

Using Up Yarn, Old & New

Once I’ve finished the big granny square blanket, I will be moving on to a crochet shawl. Nothing fancy, I’m thinking a plain granny triangle. I’ve got Drops Lima, which I think is the DK version of Drops Nepal. The colours and feel are very similar. I bought it because it was on sale.

I’ve also gathered what I need to make a Spice of Life blanket. I’m going to use Stylecraft Special, and I’ve tried to match the colours of the Rico stuff that is used in the original pattern. Mostly, I had this hidden in the cupboard already. I’m getting concerned about how much surplus wool I have (at least I’m trying to reduce it).

Corner-to-Corner Blanket

I finished another blanket at some point after Christmas. A corner-to-corner blanket. I just googled Corner to Corner crochet blanket and chose a free Ravelry download.

I used Sirdar Snuggly Baby Bamboo DK in Pixie green and a mustard colour, which doesn’t have a name on the label. This stuff does not go far, so once the green was gone, I needed to add the big mustard border to get it to a decent size. Originally, it was going to be two baby blankets, but now it’s one! I had enough green to add (UK) dc’s all the way around the edge to create a neat foundation for the border.

The border is just a load of (UK) trebles and a scalloped edge. Each scallop has 5 UK tr stitches with 7 tr stitches for the corners. It’s very drapey and has a good weight to it. I really quite like it.

Lastly, for the rest of this week, there is a chance that I might also try and remember how to knit. It hasn’t gone well so far. I can’t remember if I ever knew how to actually cast on. I think Nanna always did that for me, and then would pass me the needles to do the rest. I should sort that out.

The Rush of December

December 9, 2015February 28, 2026blanket, crochet, sewing12 Comments

Crocheting & Crafting For Christmas

It’s properly December now, and the time I thought I had is pretty much gone. I had lots of ideas for Christmas makes, but I have gradually knocked certain things off the list as time disappears. I’ve narrowed it down, and there are three main things still left to finish. Anything else I make after that is a bonus. The first is the crochet above. I started yesterday, and it was fun to get cracking.

I love the colours of the yarn. It is Drops Nepal, an alpaca mix aran. I will be sure to take some more pictures of this little crochet cardigan when it’s finished. I think I will finish it quite quickly. It’s enjoyable to crochet.

This is the crafty stuff that I made, thinking I would try and sell it at the craft fair last month. I also knew that if I didn’t sell it then I would be giving some of it away as Christmas presents. Is that wrong? Feel marginally guilty but can’t put my finger on why.

This is my first Corner 2 Corner crochet and my first Walking Dead blanket. It’s called the Walking Dead blanket because I needed somewhere to look when the zombies/walkers/biters are on screen. When frightened, take solace in crochet!

It’s only a small blanket and made from scrappy yarn leftovers, hence the odd colour choices. They are not my fave colours, but I think they have some appeal. Autumnal.

Another C2C Blanket

This is the second Walking Dead C2C blanket, started when we began watching season three. It’s still not finished, but we have three episodes left, so the two should be finished together. The yarn is made from bamboo fibres. I bought it for £1.39 a ball, reduced from £4. Unfortunately, it smells rank. I’m not sure if it’s the yarn or the cardboard inner wotsit. It has a very specific wet chopping board smell. Hopefully, a good wash will sort it out. It’s very silky feeling even if it is stinky. And it is not the bogey green depicted either, but a beautiful emerald green. The camera does not do green.

Sewing a Coraline Doll

I’m also about to embark on the final version of a doll I’ve been working on. This is a special request from my niece. I worked up a prototype yesterday. After making some tweaks, it is probably what I should finish off first. I don’t take the easy road; I have drafted the pattern myself, which is something I have no real experience in. I make stuff up as I go along. We shall see.

I have another crochet project that I’m putting off, as I know it’ll be tricky. It’s an amigurumi job, and it’ll be in black and white. But that is the third and final thing.

This crookedly cut gingerbread man is what Eldest and I are working on after school. He traced around one of my gingerbread man templates and cut it out. He chose the buttons and stitched on the nose and rosey cheeks himself. I expect him to stitch the two parts together, too. I’m looking forward to seeing it on the tree.

Sooo, that is where I am, and I am getting further behind by tippytappying here. I’m off to see what I can do in the next 45 minutes before I have to wake up Toddler and rush off to the school Nativity!

The Petal Patch Harmony Blanket

November 11, 2015February 28, 2026blanket, crochet17 Comments

My New Crochet Blanket

If I decide to get out a woolly blanket, the cat will appear from nowhere. Guaranteed! Trying to take pictures of a crochet blanket is even worse. 70% of the pictures I took of this blanket had a cat in them. I eventually gave up.

I’ve put it somewhere safe in case she tries it on again. She has claimed too many of my blankets.

Anyway, I’m pleased to say that I’ve finished the petal patch blanket and it looks lovely. I’m quite tempted to keep it as another blanket for the living room, but it isn’t really big enough. I stopped making squares for it when I realised it wouldn’t go with the rest of the room. It turns out that, actually, it probably would look quite nice. I’m taking it to a Christmas/craft fayre at the end of the month to see if someone buys it…

I really enjoyed making the granny squares. They are the Petal Patch Motif by Betsy Makes and the colour scheme is basically nicked from Attic 24’s Harmony blanket plus a few balls of Parchment and a smattering of the shade, Grape (it’s all Stylecraft Special DK). To give a nod to both of these pilferings, I am calling the blanket Petal Patch Harmony. Blankets have names these days.

It’s now a slightly squashed blanket where the cat sat on it. I should probably wash it before trying to put it up for sale.

Many of these pictures are very samey but it takes too much time, dithering about which ones to use. May as well use them all.

Once again, I used the Continuous Join As You Go. Next time, I’ll move on to a new technique. Not because I don’t like this one (I actually really like it), but because I want to learn some new crochet techniques. I’ve seen a few different ones about that I want to try. Just need to decide which to do first.

It’s a good size for the sofa or maybe a toddler bed. It also works well draped, with nonchalance, over a chair. Perhaps I should aim for one blanket per item of furniture; I can casually arrange crochet blankets everywhere. You’ll never find the cat again.

The border is from Edie Eckman’s Around the Corner, Crochet Borders. Number 27. I cheated and skipped every two stitches, not every other. I did it that way so I wouldn’t have to make as many stitches. I can see that it is ever so slightly stretched, but that’s the punishment I get for being cheaty. I did the same thing on the Fireplace blanket and got away with it more because I tinkered with the pattern. I get told off a lot for not following the recipe.

This granny square blanket measures 95x125cm and it has 63 petal patch squares.

The main colour is Parchment, and I can’t remember if I used three or four balls. The rest of the colours are most definitely less than a ball each. I used: clematis, lavender, lime, meadow, plum, sage, storm, pale rose, turquoise, violet, cloud, petrol, grape, raspberry, parma and aster. Hope I haven’t missed any out… Right, onto the next project!

I made stuff pre-blog too; pretending to be a crafting blogger. When you’re not. Yet.

October 23, 2015March 2, 2026blanket, crochet, sewing17 Comments

I’ve spent years being inspired by other bloggers’ work. It became something I really wanted to do, too. It looked like lots of fun, and it looked like a good way to keep on track of what I was doing creatively.

I was lazy and procrastinatey and used several excellent excuses as to why I hadn’t just done it. I’m still so new to craft blogging, but if I had started when I first had the notion, then I would have been being bloggy for six or seven years by now!

I’ve spent much time taking pictures of crafty projects, and each time I’ve thought that maybe they would end up as a blog post. So, I’m going to put up some pictures of work that was done in the six months prior to hitting Publish for the first time.

I went through a mandala phase. These two are both Made in K Town using Rico Creative Cotton. Cheap cotton, very splitty, lovely colours. This has led me towards doilies, which I still need to make more of. Soon.

I made my eldest boy an Attic 24 Ripple for his bed. It’s Stylecraft Special. Everyone loves a bit of Stylecraft rippling.

The boy chose the colours. So off I went. It was reasonably speedy once the first few rows were out of the way. A repeating colour pattern was a weeny bit boring though. Next time, it’s random colours, like it’s supposed to be.

I made teeny niece the mini version for her dolly. I didn’t use the same pattern. This version has more ripples so it looks better scaled down. It’s actually adapted from a cushion cover pattern from Cute and Easy Crochet by Nicki Trench. When I say “adapted” I mean “added a few more rows”. The edging, I think, is the one that was on the Granny Stripe made by Lucy at Attic 24.

This grey and chartreuse granny blanket was a special request for a baby blanket. My sister-in-law chose the colours. It’s Stylecraft alpaca DK. The blocks were from 200 Crochet Blocks by Jan Eaton. Don’t go thinking that all the blocks end with the same stitch count, though. They really don’t. Hmm. I really liked how this one turned out, but I only blocked the edge (which is from Edie Eckman’s Crochet Borders book) and not the individual squares. Next time, I will try super hard to block stuff.

One of the quickest little blankets ever. It was so much fun. The squares were done in a few days, and it was the first time I used a continuous-join-as you-go. This was for a baby girl born in early spring. I’d make one of these again for sure. It was inspired by a picture I saw on Pinterest and it led me to Katie’s Kitchen.

There are six handmade things in the picture above. Six! I am responsible for five of them, but the cream knitted blanket is a mother-in-law job. Three blankets, two cushions and a dolly. Huzzah.

Sewing has been worked on, too. I’m better than I was, but there is definitely room for improvement, too. Having said that, the cherry blossom needlecase is one of my favourite felty sewn things I’ve done.

And a Mermaid’s purse! Well, another needlecase… She was lovely to make. After Christmas, I plan on making more of these sorts of things and giving them a go on Etsy. I’m not entirely sure what the demand is for needlecases and such, I guess I’ll find out. I will obviously shout very loudly on here if these sorts of things head towards my Etsy shop.

Phew, I feel a bit better now. I’m off to have yesterday’s leftovers for lunch, which thankfully, taste better than the experience that I had in the kitchen.

Lily’s Lilypad Fireplace Blanket.

October 14, 2015February 27, 2026blanket, crochet, free pattern18 Comments

A Granny Square Blanket

At last, I have finished my new granny square blanket! It has been an age. I got the wool in July, which to me seems like a loooong time ago. The first post I mentioned it in reminds me not to just click on auto edit when sorting out the photos because, crikey, those pictures need toning down. I hope I’ve improved since then. The next picture doesn’t count, it was taken indoors on a rainy day :/

Inspiration For Crochet Projects

These are the decorative fireplace tiles, which originally inspired the colour choices.

I used the Lily pad square from Pasta and Patchwork, but I added extra chains between stitches for the first couple of rounds as my granny squares were not sitting flat. Indeed, they looked like strange nipples. They still don’t sit flat, so they could do with blocking. However, blocking things increases waiting time, and I just want to see a crochet blanket finished. I’m too impatient for it, but this granny square blanket would really benefit from blocking. Over time, it’ll sort itself out.

Woolly Yarn For A Crochet Blanket

I used Drops Karisma yarn for this project. It has alpaca in it, and it’s super warm. It’s nice and hefty; the weight of it has real cosiness.

The colours are: light beige, olive, mint, light dusty pink, dark mustard, light grey green, chocolate brown, wine red and beige brown mix. I used 7 balls of light beige and two of each for the others.

The blanket is an odd size: 6×9 granny squares, which is slightly over long, or not quite wide enough, depending on which way you want to look at it. I actually planned for 7×7, but I didn’t want to have that much leftover yarn, and I wasn’t sure it’d be that big. Unfortunately, I was a square short to add another row of 7. I eeked it out with what I could, and this was the formation that used the most squares.

I think the border suits it very well, and I will use it for my next crochet blanket (which I’ve already started!). The border has come from Around the Corner, Crochet Borders by Edie Eckman. It’s the last two rows of pattern 27. The corners are made up because I hadn’t laid the foundation stitches from the pattern (not enough yarn for that). I think it works beautifully.

Continuous Join As You Go

I’ve used a Continuous Join As You Go to join the granny squares together. I learned this method using a fabulous JAYG tutorial, it’s the clearest one I’ve found. I used two UK trebles in every other stitch, which is different from the cluster used in the tutorial, but the principle is the same.

I’m properly pleased with this new blanket. I will be waving goodbye to it at the end of the month when I hand it over to my sister-in-law. A Lily Pad blanket for Lily, or a Fireplace Blanket.

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