Friday 4 January 2013

French Stripe Throw - the beginning

A New Year and a new project. This one I have been anticipating for some time as I bought the yarn with birthday money back in September. Choosing the yarn and then deciding what to make with it has kept my brain occupied much of the time I have spent working on my Vintage Solid Granny Throw that was finished in time for Christmas, phew!
Drops Extra Fine Merino
Since rediscovering crochet and knitting in the last couple of years I have used Stylecraft Special DK for almost everything, especially crochet throws. I have loved working with it and although I am very satisfied with the look and feel, I have had a hankering to use "posh" yarn, as so many others do and somehow their projects look so special. I would love to try something like Debbie Bliss Cashmerino or Rowan Cashsoft but at over £5 for a 50g ball there is no way I could justify even hankering. However, I had seen Drops yarn, and knew their yarn was far more reasonable. When the autumn sale was announced I pounced. I purchased Drops Merino Extra Fine in 9 colours from the fantastically helpful Wool Shed. They scoured their stock, waited for a delivery to come in, and sent exactly what I needed in 2 parcels optomised for postage, 28 balls in total. I went with a mixture of blues and heathery tones reminding me of French lavender fields and the sea. 4 balls each of 5 colours and 2 balls each of 4 others. The washable yarn is so soft and 100% merino wool, a light double knit weight. It is good value at £3.10 for a 50g ball, but I managed to secure the 25% off sale price. So it is over twice the price of acrylic but not 5 times the price!

This is what I am making, stripes, lots of stripes, inspired by Clicky Needles' Beach Stripe Surf Blanket
French stripe
The idea is just to keep on going as long as the yarn lasts, the pattern is 1dc 1 ch, then the next row you work the double crochet into the one chain space and then a chain, so it all interlocks and gives a lovely dense yet flexible fabric which is soft and very warm.
Garnstudio Drops Merino
Garnstudio Drops Merino Extra Fine L to R: 15 Lt greyish green:14 steel blue:01 off white:22 med purple:21 purple:13 denim blue:20 dk blue:19: lt grey blue:26 pistachio
The photos are washed out, although it hasn't rained that much today we have had enough of dank, miserable and wet weather around here the past few weeks, it's hard to get decent photos even in the conservatory!

I will be back on Tuesday to restart the One a Day crochet-a-long (cal) for the New Year, this is my project. Hopefully the weather will cooperate for some much nicer photos.

I will leave you with some inspiration, Kristen's original Beach Stripe Surf Blanket from her lovely Cozy Things Blog.

Edited to add, here is my French Stripey Throw finished!

24 comments:

  1. Hello Fiona

    Oh my word, your blanket is GORGEOUS, I love the colours and pattern it's just stunning. I can hardly wait until it is finished, and such a brilliant idea to keep on working until the end.
    luc
    irene
    xxxx

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh my, now I regret Not buying that yarn on sale. This is a very promising project and I can't wait to see more of it!
    Happy to hear that One a Day will continue in 2013, as I do have a new project which is perfect for it.

    Oh and congrats on being featured on Facebooks Creative Crochet Crew, your ripple and you deserve it!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think they rotate the sales quite regularly.. I am going to spot when the cotton has a sale, probably in spring I think. I am still recovering from the shock of being featured on Creative Crochet Crew FB page!

      Delete
  3. Yay! I love the start of a new project, and this one looks gorgeous! How lovely to have 'posh' yarn! I have a pattern lined up that I'm going to knit using something a bit special, I'm just saving up the pennies to buy it!
    Karen x

    ReplyDelete
  4. Wow, looking wonderful so far. I've been building a stash of "posh" yarn over the last 12 months....just got to be brave enough to use it now :0)
    Jacquie x

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Keep squirreling it away, not quite as bad as posh fabric, at least you can undo crochet, you can't uncut wrongly cut posh fabric!

      Delete
  5. What a lovely blanket ~ I love the look of that merino yarn and the colours that you have chosen are among my favourites ~ looking forward to seeing the blanket grow :O)xx

    ReplyDelete
  6. Looks fabby Fiona. Really great with the mix of single stripes and yummy yarn too!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You inspired me, now worrying that I don't have enough yarn, I will have to calculate the size it should be before the next post!

      Delete
  7. Oh Fiona- that is gorgeous (I am so in love with the color 'blue' at the moment!) I love the pattern too. It's 'tighter' than the granny square. So pretty!
    PS...I ordered my yarn today to make the ripple afghan! *happy hamster dance*

    ReplyDelete
  8. Wow, all those blues together is stunning! You will love that family heirloom forever!
    ((hugs)), Teresa :-)

    ReplyDelete
  9. The blues are true earth colors and this combination looks made in heaven! Very tempting to start another blanket myself..I agree with you on the "posh" yarn.. for me StyleCraft was posh enough and i bravely ordered it after lots of blogger world temptation..Am going to treat myself to "posh" yarn one fine day!!

    Waiting to see your final piece of this French Blue Oceanic Throw!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Hi Fiona,

    Your blanket is just gorgeous. Such wonderful colours. Thank so much for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Hi Fiona,

    Your blanket is gorgeous. Can't wait to see more photos as you whizz along those beautiful rows :-) Thanks so much for taking the time to share.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Oh, this is going to be stunning, Fiona. Is stunning already! How fabulous to start the New Year with a new project that you had been dreaming about for a while : -)

    ReplyDelete
  13. Wow...your blanket looks amazing! I love the colours and the pattern is brilliant.I am currently making lots of solid grannies (LTB's pattern) in wintry shades of silver grey,graphite,parchment etc - all Stylecraft ( my usual! ) but I'm always thinking ahead to the next project and I think I may have just found it :) Totally agree with you about the great service from the two ladies who run "The Woolshed".I ordered. Some "Drops Big Delight" wool from them when I was over in England last year.I place my order late on a Saturday evening and my wool arrived the following Tuesday morning-less than two working days to arrive on the south coast of England from the north of Scotland ,beautifully packaged ......and the wool was a bit gorgeous too !
    Thankyou for posting your new blanket progress (love the name btw !) Can't wait to see it finished ,Fiona.
    A Happy New Year / Bonne Annee to you x

    ReplyDelete
  14. That's a lovely pattern! Perhaps a tank top made of this pattern? It just looks so comfy.

    Reminder for American crocheters: double crochet UK = Half double crochet US.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Love it...How wide is this? What quantity of each color did you buy? Beautiful
    Thank you,
    ddbadalucco@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Dee, all the answers are here http://knitknatknotuk.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/french-stripey-throw-done.html?m=1

      Delete
  16. Hi, is there a pattern for this blanket? It's very nice and I would like to give it a try. I'm still learning and would love to get an understanding of how to start off the blanket. Thank you :-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The pattern is linked at the end of the blog as Beach Stripe Throw.

      Delete
  17. Is there a pattern available for this?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The Beach Stripe Throw link at the end of the post is the pattern I used.

      Delete

Comments are very welcome, thank you for reading!

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...