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!

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.

Attic 24 Bag lining and a re-purposed basket

I've not been very inspiring recently. I have been plodding on with my French Stripey Throw and it is 3/4 done. Well I have used 75% of the yarn but cannot contemplate buying anymore even though I would like it to be bigger, for our bed not a single. I dug out some old Laura Ashley curtains and the easiest way to shorten them was to cut off the old tape as all the string was beyond hope to unravel, so I finally got my sewing machine out for the first time in 9 months or so. Our room now has denim coloured curtains with cream sprigs and this throw would look fabulous with them when finished. my plan is to start going round and round soon, the border helping to widen the throw, and making sure I get every last yard into the blanket so it is as big as possible.

The good thing being I also turned up a couple of other pairs of curtains and I got round to lining my Attic 24 "Lucy" bag at last! The stripey fabric were blinds in the bathroom about 15 years ago, I don't do subtle very well! I knew the fabric would be perfect and it was rediscovered in the moving house process. At least my hook and scissors don't make escape bids anymore.

Once the bag was done (hint, it is far easier to line BEFORE handles are sewn on the bag!) I still had loads of material left so a basket got lined as well, I made some fabric ties and threaded them through and now the yarn doesn't snag in it's lair. It is now a re-purposed basket, ha ha!

It has been so grey and so wet for so long that sun was a surprise last Tuesday. I managed to get out for a good walk with the dog and got a bit lost in the woods, it feels very suburban here compared to our old house but  there are still plenty of country walks that don't involve getting in the car first, thank goodness. I found my way out of the woods and found these snowdrops nestling the bank of the stream. The grass even dried out enough for me to mow it twice, and scarified. How a pocket handkerchief piece of grass can yield 10+ grass container loads of grass is beyond me, the house had been empty since the summer and I am not sure the grass had much attention since the summer. I was going to cycle the Sustrans Route 33 bike path today but it is so windy I fear I may end up blown on the railway line!

Roll on Spring!

 

One-a-Day 8th Jan 13 Tuesdays Tallies

Happy New Year! Yes I know I am a little late with Tuesday's Tallies, but New Year's Day itself was a little too early for a Tuesday's Tallies progress post, unless we were totting up the empties, or in my case ripped out rows due to missing a stitch the night before!

How many of us have started a new project, and how many of us are determined to finish their WIPs BEFORE starting anymore?! I managed to finish my Vintage Granny in time for Christmas and have been immersing myself in a self indulgent project with Drops Merino Extra Fine aka "posh" yarn. It is stripey so hopefully I can say 2-5 rows a day. I have done around 75 rows in the last couple of weeks. Here is my French Stripey Throw story to date.

Add caption

I do have a few concerns, mainly "will I have enough yarn?" but fortunately it is a pattern I can just keep on going until the yarn runs out. It is 110cm wide and measuring about 35cm to date and I have used about 8 balls of my 28 balls. I think I may need more! I am wondering if the wisdom of this dense pattern was wise with my posh yarn but it's too late to rip now as I have sewn in so many ends. I am determined to keep up with my ends this time.

What are you working on? Even if the aim is a square or a strip or a few stitches every day then progress builds over time. all are welcome to join in even if this is your first or thousandth project,  we can all enjoy our projects and be inspired.

I made bagels for the first time at the weekend, it was really strange to boil dough before baking but they turned out OK, if a little misshapen! They tasted great

See you next week. Happy knotting.

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!

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

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 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!

Vintage Solid Granny Squares Blanket Throw - Done!

As promised, here is my Vintage Solid Granny Squares blanket all finished and DONE! I really enjoyed making it over the last 3 months, it has moved house with us and now has gone to live at mum's in Cumbria, it was her Christmas present and I think she loved it!

There are 16 colours of mainly Stylecraft Special DK for the squares and the 17th is teal used to do the double crochet join (just the inner two loops wrong sides together) and the border. It tones with mum's patchwork quilt and living room colours, although the gold is a bit off the wall. The colours are listed at the bottom of this post here. I forgot to take a picture in the room it was designed for.

The squares are from Little Tin Bird's lovely Elmer or Solid Granny Squares pattern, I got addicted to them making the Provencal style gingham cushion.  

The border was made up as I went along, as far as I can make out, a round of treble in teal, then double crochet in pale rose (I alternate direction working the border so it doesn't curl) then treble chain etc the third round in teal, then double crochet all around in Mint, then a staggered treble chain space round again, then double crochet in grape then a round of trebles in teal and I finally finished off with Attic 24's picot border again, just like on the cushion.

I love these neat squares, more so than ordinary granny squares, they seem more contemporary. One can be worked up in 20 minutes and carrying a ball of yarn around is so easy.

I loved the way they sat in piles on the footstool, I kept counting them.

However joining them all together, so the slightly different sized squares looked the same size, was very satisfying. I do find random very difficult though. I approached it in a Sudoku style, a colour should only appear in a column or a row just once, occasionally twice.

Here come some more gratuitous pictures, wish I could do the fancy photography others manage!

The tree was up when the border was being finished off.  

Vintage Solid Granny Squares Blanket finished 18th December 2012, it took me about 6 weeks as I started it as we went to France at half term! I was not overly happy that the border was a bit wavy, but other than trying to take the flat photo who notices? No I am not a perfectionist, but I am pretty happy with it!

FINISHED SIZE: I forgot to measure, each square was about 10cm so about 180cm x 130cm I should think with join and border.

YARN:  Stylecraft Special 100% acrylic Double Knit in 15 colours, each square is about 15m yarn. Mint and gold were other makes as they were colours lacking in Stylecraft. 17 in total. Colour inspiration was from the super talented Sandra of Cherry Heart fame and her Giant Grannie Patchs blanket
Mocha 1064
Copper 1029
Meadow 1065
Silver 1203
Gold (King Cole Big Value DK 323)
Mint (Stylecraft Life DK 2342)
Pale Rose 1080
Sherbet 1034
Claret 1123
Parchment 1218
Apricot 1026
Raspberry 1023
Soft Peach 1240
Grape 1067
Walnut 1054
Aspen 1422
Finally Teal 1062

Hook: 4mm

PATTERNS: Solid Granny Squares (or Elmer Squares) pattern by Little Tin Bird
The border was as described above finished off with Picot Edging by Attic 24

HOOKY HAPPY INDEX: 9/10

Links to the One a Day/Tuesday Tallies posts on my Vintage Granny progress are here:

Vintage Solid Granny Blanket Week 1
Vintage Solid Granny Blanket Weeks 2 and 3
Vintage Solid Granny Blanket Week 4
Vintage Solid Granny Blanket Week 5
Vintage Solid Granny Blanket Week 6

Vintage Solid Granny Blanket - Wk 1- Tuesdays Tallies

It has been a while fellow knotters, a very slack blogger I have been! Since my last post, after moving house, we have also had a flying visit out to France to close up our holiday rental gite White Shutters for the winter. We also started extensive refurbishing of the kitchen.  Our old people carrier was loaded with kitchen carcass base units and a lovely new range cooker that was installed in the island unit in the kitchen. We only had 4 days but boy did we work hard, the pool is now hibernating, the Virginia Creeper cut back and the shutters closed for the winter hibernation. 12+ hours in the car each way and evenings in front of the wood burner means lots of crocheting time too. Look what I started about 3 weeks ago.

A square takes about 15 minutes...so a square can be hooked up whilst the rice cooks, a square in the car waiting for an appointment and before you know it there are...

113 squares...oh my gosh how did I make that many without realising? The colours even go with my lovely new Sandstripe Satchel too! I wonder if the colour influence was also in my subconscious?

I started with 6 each of 6 colours, took another 10 colours with me to France and have 10 each  of most of those colours. I will add a couple more colours possibly. This throw is totally inspired by Sandra's beautiful Giant Granny Throw over at Cherry Heart. I am making this for my mum for Christmas, to coordinate with a lovely patchwork quilt she made years ago. I am having to remember the colours but they seemed to be so similar to Sandra's that I am mainly just sticking with her brilliance in picking out colours. The yarn is all good old Stylecraft Special DK with just the gold from another brand. The square pattern is of course the wonderful Elmer square by Little Tin Bird

I knew I loved this square having made the Gingham Cushion back in the summer. This time the last round on all the suares will be in teal, and hopefully I can work out a suitable join as you go method that will work with the solid squares.

It was so nice hooking in fromt of the woodburner with bread, cheese and wine for supper after a hard day's graft!

It's a good job mum doesn't "do" computers so I am not spoiling the surprise! It's nice to be back on course with Tuesday's Tallies again, keep up the good work organising us "One a Day" Carole!

Not Just Another Granny Square Blanket - DONE!

Another Granny Square Blanket, but with a simple twist of a giant granny middle. However, it is my first granny square blanket, not just another one to me. Not very radical, but I disobeyed youngest daughter, whose blanket it is, and decided I wanted to work in a bit more interest. Starting with the intention of a 12x12 sqaure throw ie 144 six round solid granny squares. I thought I would try join-as-you--go or JAYG for the first time. Except I didn't mug up on the method before going away on holiday at the end of August. Six rounds because I am lazy, and it is quicker to make as you have fewer ends to sew in.

But I digress, the brief from my 16yo was a "Cath Kidston snuggly blanket for TV slobbing" so it didn't need to be big but it is big, plenty big enough for her double bed under the eaves in the attic! It covers two on the sofa too, we tried it out tonight as I am holding off on putting the heating on still.

The blanket has taken about 5 weeks, I got a move on the first week as we were on holiday so no PC and no guilt crocheting in the evening or a few squares over a morning cup of tea in bed...holidays are like Sunday every day.
I was using 8 colours of Stylecraft Special DK as commissioned by the customer: Candy Floss: Cloud Blue, Fondant, Lavender, Lemon, Lipstick, Spring Green and White. I tried to be random, but keeping the lights and darks spaced and fairly even in each row. The giant granny was not that giant, and replaced the centre 16 squares, so 24 rounds it was.

 The edging is 6 rounds of granny clusters, how easy is that?!

I officially love JAYG, it is a bit quicker than sewing up, as you are sewing in an end that still has to be fastened off if you JAYG. I just love the country blanket stitch effect. I found it easier to do on a table to get the tension even on the join.

 The patchwork teddy was made by my mum aka Granny when our smallest one was born 16 years ago, she also made our other two girls one in different colours at the same time.

Not Just Another Granny Square Blanket finished 3rd October 2012, it took me 5 weeks!

FINISHED SIZE: 190cm square
YARN: 2 balls each Stylecraft Special 100% acrylic Double Knit 100g in 8 colours, up to half a ball of each left
Candy Floss 1130
Cloud Blue 1019
Fondant 1241
Lavender 1188
Lemon 1020
Lipstick 1246
Spring Green 1316
White 1001

Hook: 4mm

Solid Granny Square Pattern (UK terminology)

Ch=Chain Tr=Treble SlSt = Slip Stitch, Sp=space
Start with 4Ch join to a loop
Round 1
6Ch then 3Tr into loop
(1Ch 3Tr 3Ch 3Tr) into loop, repeat 3 times in total.
2Tr and join to 3rd chain
Round 2
Sl st into corner chains 6ch
6Ch then 3Tr into same corner chains
(1Ch, 3Tr into 1 ch sp, 1Ch, 3Tr 3Ch 3Tr into corner chains) repeat 3 times as before and finish with 1 ch 2tr and join to 3rd ch.
Round 3-5
Continue as set
Round 6
Complete first side to corner chain, Ch1 (not 3) then follow JAYG instructions on Lucy's Attic 24 photo tutorial. I chain 1 when turning a JAYG corner.

I have no idea if this is the correct method, just how I did them. Often there are no1 ch spaces on granny squares and just 2 chains to turn the corner, do what you prefer! I am also sure this pattern will have been written down somewhere before, I am not claiming to be original.

Happy Hooky Index: 9/10

I enjoyed taking part in the One A Day and Tuesdays Tallies on Carole's blog
Here is how it came together
Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
Week 5