Retro nautical crochet travel blanket with pom pom border - DONE!

I can't remember when I started this throw, it was sometime earlier this year, probably between April and June. It was a lovely summer and I hooked up a lot of squares outside joining as I went, now it is November and my throw has basically been finished for about 6 weeks but I had to finish off the border, and then I ran out of yarn for the pom pom trim, and then I had to wait for lipstick to come back in stock, then I got ill. Never mind, it is all finished and I am very happy with how it turned out.

It's a throw for the king size bed in our spare room, I thought it could be the traveller's room, whilst en route to wherever our family and friends are off to next. Really it is middle daughter's bedroom as we moved here whilst she was away at university, but her home is still with us whenever she wants to be home. However, the "en route" room was really hit upon because I discovered this gorgeous VW classic camper van fabric and made some curtains.

I made some curtains very badly, I re-did them 3 times, the blackout lining was a nightmare and I was very cross with myself. I only did one curtain for each of the 2 windows, I have not taken close up photos as the workmanship is so bad! Even more annoyingly I cut the fabric incorrectly, and one was too short, so I had to buy another length, the shop I bought it from is very reasonable for make up charges so in the end I spent as much as if they had made them, properly, silly girl.

The colour inspiration for the blanket came from the material, although I added in a couple of extra colours (navy and claret) for some more contrast. As ever I raided my Stylecraft Special DK stash, so I only had to buy an extra ball of each colour, 11 colours in all; 2 reds, 5 blues and 4 neutrals. The squares are classic 4 round granny squares, working 3 rounds and using join-as-you-go aka JAYG on the 4th round. then I sewed in the 2 ends per square very religiously after each half row, I lose the will otherwise. I weave the ends in very thoroughly in several directions before snipping, I wouldn't trust just crocheting them in.

Retro nautical throw finished 22nd November 2013

SIZE: 190cm x 190cm including the border and pom pom trim, 170cm square without

YARN: Stylecraft Special DK weight 100g balls)
#1246 Lipstick      3 balls
#1123 Claret         2 balls
#1203 Silver          2 balls
#1218 Parchment  2 balls
#1005 Cream        2 balls
#1011 White         2 balls
#1302 Denim        2 balls
#1034 Sherbet      2 balls
#1019 Cloud blue 2 balls
#1011 Midnight    2 balls
#1003 Aster         2 balls

HOOK: 4mm

PATTERN: Classic Granny Square so the start of each round is not obvious 4 rounds, JAYG as fourth round.
4ch and sl st to a loop
1st round Work into loop catching tail of yarn as you go
2ch (counts as 1tr) 1tr 1ch *3tr 1ch repeat from * twice more 1tr sl st to 2nd chain from hook to close. sl st to corner space  NB Only one chain space in the corners on the first round
2nd round 2ch (counts as 1 tr) 1tr into corner space 2ch 3tr into same corner 1ch *3tr 2ch 3tr into next corner 1ch repeat from * twice more 1tr sl st to 2nd chain from hook to close sl st to corner space NB Two chains for each corner space now
3rd round 2ch (counts as 1 tr) 1tr into corner space 2ch 3tr into same corner 1ch *3tr into side space 1ch then 3tr 2ch 3tr into next corner 1ch repeat from * twice more then 3tr 1ch 1tr sl st to 2nd chain from hook to close sl st to corner space
4th Round 2ch (counts as 1 tr) 1tr into corner space 2ch 3tr into same corner 1ch 3tr into side space 1ch 3tr into next side space 1ch *3tr into next corner 1ch then JAYG into corner of adjacent square by slip stitching from above 1ch 3tr into same corner space JAYG into next side space from above (NO chain required when JAYG on side spaces) 3tr JAYG into next side space from above  repeat from * once more if 2 edges are being joined JAYG into both corners (so 3tr 1ch JAYG into first corner JAYG into second corner 1ch 3tr  and finish final edge/s as set sl st to close. All squares but the first one on each row are JAYG on two sides.

Granny Cluster Border classic granny clusters, work 3tr into each space but just one 3tr cluster into the JAYG space between the 2 corners, as you can see in the close up below. Also, to stop a wavy border DO NOT WORK A ONE CHAIN SPACE BETWEEN THE CLUSTERS!! I worked 9 rounds changing colour for each round and finishing with lipstick.

Pom Pom or Bobble Crochet Trim
I started a new ball of lipstick for the final pom pom border as it uses the vast majority of a 100g ball, based on this pattern

*sl st to space between clusters
ch 8
tr3tog in 4th ch from hook
ch4
tr3tog in top of prev tr3tog
slst to opp side of base tr3tog in the single stitch to close the bobble
ch4
Repeat from * to end working 2 repeats in corners.

Thanks to Laura and Sue at Get Knitted in Bristol for teaching me this adaptation of the granny square and the pom pom trim adaptation, although I may have changed it slightly from her demo!


HOOKY HAPPY INDEX: 9/10

PS this never got posted in November and December has disappeared but I got there in the end!

Nellie the elephant packed her trunk..... DONE!

Nelliephant the elephant packed her trunk and off she went to live in Newcastle!

Our lovely middle daughter is 21 today and Nellie was part of her present, commissioned when she was home over the summer from university. Nellie will be renamed though apparently, she does not want to be part of the common herd.

The Nellie the Elephant African Flower Pattern is so clever, made up of crocheted African Flower Motifs; mainly pentagons with a few hexagons, octagons, one heptagon and a square too! Initially I joined the motifs as I went using the join as you go tutorial in the pattern, but I found it hard to see and it was slow progress, so I decided to switch to working the motifs and then sewing together which was far more preferable. Sewn above, join as you go at the bum end below!

The colours were chosen back in September by the birthday girl, from my Stylecraft Special DK stash, the pattern calls for 4 ply/fingering but by using a smallish 3.5mm hook I just made a bigger Nelliephant. I had to steal buttons from the cardigan I was wearing that night for her eyes!

Pictures were hastily snapped on my phone as I had rushed home from a half day at work to finish an ear, sew both ears on and make her plaited tail before packing her kicking and trumpeting into a bubblewrap parcel and bundling her off to the Post Office with an hour spare to the last post. Good old Royal Mail looked after her very well and she was safely delivered to the opposite end of the country in 24 hours.

Rear of the Year 2013

Nellie the Elephant finished 6th November 2013, started Sept 2013

FINISHED SIZE: Um, I forgot to measure!

YARN: Stylecraft Speacial DK
Parchment (main colour)
Mocha
Meadow
Pomegranate
Pale rose
Grape
Emperor
Candy floss
Burgundy
Plum
Lavender

HOOK: 3.5mm

PATTERN: Nellie the Elephant African Flower crochet pattern by the talented Heidi Bears

HOOKY HAPPY INDEX: 8/10

I am just finishing off the border on my retro nautical throw so another "done" post is due very soon, and then I am going to knit <shock> <horror>

Retro-Nautical Crochet Throw

I have not blogged for a long time, and I have missed it. I have been reading other blogs off and on and find them all so inspiring. The trouble is that we moved house and now that I work full time, in a physically demanding shift work job, the weeks just slip away. I do still spend a few hours a week crocheting though so I have some catch up to do here! Just a taster today, my new creation, I seem to have called it "retro nautical" for some reason. I am over half way through but here is a taste, and I will explain more soon about it's destiny!! Rest assured, French Stripey Throw has long been finished and I need to share that too!

I promise I will not be absent for so long now!! I have to go and jump on my bike and pedal 5 miles to work now, I have also become a bit of a cycling geek.

One a Day Project - Tuesday's Tallies - Week 2 - Not Just Another Granny Square Blanket

I am enjoying this crochet throw. It is not difficult but I am glad I mastered the Join As You Go method, even if you still have to sew in ends separately. The fast progress inspires keeping up with the ends. Just 8 colours, how restrained?!

Cath Kidston inspired Granny Blanket

  Last week’s tally was 31

Solid Colour Granny Squares

Finished another 17, an average of over two a day but I also had to undo 3 sides of the remaining 17 squares I had not joined last week, joined them as I went and finished all ends off securely! The JAYG looks a bit like blanket stitch, I am liking the effect more and more.

So 48 in total, a nice tidy 4 rows of 12, the finished tally will be 12x12 rows so 144 but…

Week 2 - 48 squares!

Although very lovely, plain squares are not as interesting as can be. I have started a central oversized square to replace 16 solid squares, changing colour every round. Well I have nearly finished the big square so really another 12-14 squares.  My goodness there are lots of ends that I haven’t woven in yet.  The equivalent of 60 squares, nearly half way!

Crocheting simple granny squares gives me a lot of brain space to think, I am in danger of adding another “extra” to this blanket too.

How is everyone else doing with their One-a-Day?

One a Day Project - Tuesday's Tallies - Not Just Another Granny Square Blanket

 I have decided to keep myself on track for a new project. I am joining in Carole's (aka Gingerbread Girl) Tuesdays Tallies. I think it's a bit like making yourself go to Weight Watchers for knotty peeps, I will be shamed if I don't make progress each week (by myself, not anyone else) and to be honest keeping the target to a manageable "One a Day" should be feasible! One granny square a day and not one slice of cake a day!

So my "One a Day" is my "Not Just Another Granny Squares Blanket" in single colour basic Granny Square blocks. My youngest, S age 16, has requested Cath Kidston inspired colours, I would prefer to add a few more but these are the ones "we" are sticking with, 8 colours of trusty Stylecraft Special DK including white. I tried the "join as you go" method to save sewing up at the end, bit it was a disaster. It looked like a lumpy bumpy unmatched mess. I was following Attic 24s excellent photo tutorial, but I was on a very very slow mobile phone connection in North Wales and the photos wouldn't load, so I just made do with the text, bad decision! So I had rattled off about 30 Six round squares leaving long ends for sewing in.

Pre JAYG

Yesterday, after getting home, I decided to have another look. Easy peasy lemon squeezy with the photos, Lucy is brilliant! The trouble is I am now having to undo 2-3 sides of the last round and JAYG..in some cases running out of yarn, but I am getting there.Top down, not bottom up, is the secret.

Undoing  so I can JAYG!

So my tally is 31 squares, hopefully they will be all ship shape by next week and I can blast along JAYG rather than undoing as I go! I am running out of yarn on some squares so some botching is going on, shh, keep that secret to yourself.

First 14 Granny squares are joined

Sorry about the picture quality taken after dark tonight. To flash or not to flash, that was the question.