CAL Mixed stitch stripy blanket #2 - tadah

So here we are with the end product of the CAL, I know that a lot of you have finished your blankets ages ago and this blanket was a long time in the making, but I am so happy I finally finished this one! 

This was a BIG blanket to undertake, and if I am perfectly honest I probably bit off more than I could chew with the CAL, so I apologise for the disorganised nature of the CAL, but at least we made it too the end!

Anyway, want to see how mine turned out? 

Ready for a colour burst to brighten your day?

Here are a few photos to show you the final blanket in all it's glory!...........  

.........spread out on our bed.........

....one reason this is such a big blanket is so it would hang over the sides of the bed and drape nicely. 

It does do this!  Yay!

I love the look of this blanket all fold up, with all the colours working together, so lovely!! 

I think the colours look better when it is folded like this than when it is all spread out, well maybe not better as such, but just as good anyway !

This is a heavy blanket as you can imagine,and used up lots of wool. 

I used mainly Heirloom wool, a mix of Colorworks, Merino Magic and Baby wool, all in 8ply.

(I sell this in my shop if anyone is wondering where they can get the same colours :)  )

It is great to get something off my to do list and put it in my finished projects list, it doesn't happen often!

Well that's it for the CAL, I'm officially signing off on my first ever crochet along, all the instructions are on their own page so they are easy to find if anyone ever wants to make one of these for themselves.  Thanks for joining in and I hope you had fun! 

xxxxxxxxxxx

So, time to get stuck into something else, I have some Christmas crochet lined up next, can't wait to get started on it!

Bye! 

CAL update #11 - The edge!

Well, I have come to the end of my CAL, it's been a big project and taken longer than I expected, but it feels great to finally complete this second mixed stripy blanket.

All we have left to do is edge the blanket.  You can choose to edge it with whatever border you like, I have chosen something very simple and plain as I think there is plenty going on in this blanket already! :)

I chose to use flamingo for the edge, just because I still had a big ball left.  I couldn't face weaving in all those ends so I have made a casing edge that encloses all the ends without having to weave them in.  Lazy, I know, but I am happy with how it looks and it's chunkiness makes the blanket nice and sturdy.

I used a hook one size smaller so it wouldn't be too loose (3.00mm)

So anyway, in the edge colour, crochet a row of dcs down the side of the blanket, spacing your stitches as evenly as possible.  Push all ends to the back and crochet around them.

After the first row, turn and do a row of dcs back along the previous row.

Do this twice more so you have 4 rows of dc in total.

Do the same thing along the other side.

Next, simply fold the edge over and with a needle and wool, and stitch the top dc to the loops of the first row of dcs, where they attach to the side of the blanket.  Put the loose ends to the inside of the fold and they are enclosed as you sew.

And that is it!

This is the second time I have made the edge and I love how easy it is!

So that is the end of the CAL, I hope you enjoyed making this blanket if you have taken part,  Now that the instructions are finished, they will be there for anyone to have a go at whenever they want.

I've got a little tadah tomorrow to show you how it looks all completed.

Have a great day! 

CAL update #10

Hi there.

I have been working steadily away at my big blanket now for ages, and I have decided it is big enough!   So I have the final instalment for my epically long CAL, and then I will do the edge and it will be finished!!  I'm not planning anything fancy for the edge, there is so much going on in this blanket already that I think something plain and simple will be fine.

Anyhoo, here is the last !! section of my blanket:

After the 2 rows of dark pink,

double row of SC in red (right side, then turn work and go back on wrong side),

then 1 row of 4dc clusters in sky blue,

then 1 row of sc in red,

then 1 row of 4dc clusters in spearmint,

then 1 row of sc in pale pink,

then 1 row of 4dc clusters in dark blue,

Then a section of double rows of sc in

light aqua

red

spearmint

flamingo

pale blue

celery

Next I did a section of bobble stitch in flamingo and green.

Then a double row of sc in celery,

and another double row of sc in red.

Next I did a section of granny stripes in sky blue and pale blue then sky blue again.

The last section of the blanket is 5 double rows of sc in

red

dark blue

mid green

celery

flamingo.!

And that is the end of the main part of the mixed stitch stripy blanket!!

Just the edge to go now, so close to finishing, I really want to get this finalised before the weather gets much warmer, it is a very heavy, warm blanket!

Thank you if you are still with me on this CAL, I know I have been unreliable in it's progress, and a lot of people have got on with it and made up their own sequence, which is great.  I have seen many beautiful blankets finished months ago!  I apologise for my poor CAL admin duties, it seems I am not great at regular postings, maybe next time I will choose a smaller, more manageable project!  Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the process, and created something unique and special along the way!

These instructions will be put onto the CAL page so that anyone can have a go at making their own mixed stripy blanket when ever they like, it's never too late to join in!

I'll be back with a post about the edging and a few pics of the whole thing finished, this blanket deserves a tadah, even if we are all sick of the sight if it!! :)

Have a great day y'all, and thanks for visiting!

Crochet Along Update #9

Hello. 

I have been making some headway with the mixed stripe crochet along blanket, so here is the next bit!

After the red dc cluster row and the dark blue row of sc,

1 row of 4dc clusters in spearmint, ( 3 stitches between each cluster),

then, 1 row sc in dark blue across top of clusters,,  (every 4th sc in gap between clusters),

then, skinny stripes, 5 rows of sc, all done on the right side, alternating between pale pink and sky blue, 

then, a zig zag section in light aqua and flamingo, 

then, 2 rows sc in mid blue, (up and back),

then, 2 rows sc in green, (up and back),

then, a section of outlined clusters in pale blue and celery, 

then, 2 rows sc in dark pink .

That's where I am up to at the moment.

I thought I would show you a couple of pictures of the blanket at the minute, so you can see what it's looking like all together, (very busy!!) it is starting to get nice and big!  

I am over half way now, so the end is in sight!  

I know a lot of you have already gone ahead and finished your blankets, (well done!) but I am still going to complete this project, I'm just a bit slower than you guys!  

I am lacking a bit of self discipline and let myself get side tracked by other ideas that just have to be made right now!

Anyway, have a great day and happy hooking!

Crochet Along Update #8

Hello.  Life has been so busy recently, I'm afraid to say I have let my blogging slip, there has just not been enough hours in the day to find inspiration and take photos for posts.  I am busy doing interesting things that I will tell you about soon, just got to find the time to put a few posts together!

Anyway, today I thought it was time for an update on the mixed stripe crochet along blanket, I had a look and the last update was way back in April! Yikes!  This year has kind of slipped away from me, so I apologise for the lack of posts about this project, I have been distracted up other crochet fun along the way.  On the other hand, I have seen lots of great mixed stripy blankets being completed on Ravelry, so obviously you are taking this pattern and running with it yourselves. And I've even seen another crochet along inspired by my blanket and she is much more organised than me!  I'm glad you are not necessarily waiting for my updates to forge ahead, it could be a bit frustrating for you if you are! 

So now I am going to make a concerted effort to finish this blanket! 

Heres what I have added this week:

After the pink granny stripe and 2 rows of sc in red (start 1st row on front then turn and do 2nd row going back),

Next: 2 rows sc in green,

Next: Catherine Wheel section in sky blue and dark blue (see earlier post for details on Catherine wheel stitch),

Next: 2 rows sc in green again.  (10 sc in each repeat of the catherine wheel pattern to keep the same stitch count in the rows)

Then I did a section of sc stripes, with 2 rows of sc in the following colours:

pale pink 

pale blue

pale lime

watermelon

mid pink

watermelon

pale lime

pale blue

pale pink

Then I did a row of 4 dc clusters, with 3 stitches between each cluster.  (Start this row with 2 dc, miss 3sts the 4dc in next st and so on)

Next, 1 row of sc across top of cluster row, with every 4th stitch going into the gap between clusters.

 So that is where I'm up to at the moment, hoping very much to have another update next week, this is going to be my main project for a while, to try and get it finished!

Have a great day, and happy hooking!

Crochet Along Progress and Update #7

Hello.

I thought it was about time for another crochet along post. 

 I have just seen that my last one was back in January, so this is well over due! 

Sorry about that!  So on the off chance that anyone is still interested in this project, I will post some progress. :)

First up though, I thought you might like to see how my blanket is looking all up, I think it is getting to a reasonable size, about half way through now, and is quite a heavy piece of fabric!

...it stretches out for miles!!

Look at the lovely neat folded edge, and then the horrible, scary loose thread edge below, I think I will be using my cheats edge to deal with all those threads, don't think I could face all that darning.

...It is hard to take a picture of it all laid out, it has gotten quite large, there is a lot of wool used in this blanket already.  I think my colour selection may have gone a bit off course here and there, but I guess this is such a big blanket that I might get away with it.

Are you getting on with this project?  I am trying to concentrate a bit more on this blanket, but I keep finding side projects that get in the way!

So here is the new bit I have made since the last update:

UPDATE #7

After the pink and light aqua outline cluster pattern, 

in mint, starting on right side, 2 rows sc (up and back), then

in light blue 1 row 4dc cluster pattern, then

in dark blue 2 rows sc (up and back), then

a section of chevron stripe in red and light pink, then

in pale blue 2 rows sc, then

a section of bobbles in green and mid blue, then

4 x 2rows of sc in pale blue, celery,red and light aqua, then

3 rows of granny stripes in flamingo, pale pink and flamingo again.

So that is where I am up to at the moment!

 I have also managed (I hope) to add a linky thing to this post, so if you'd like to share a link to your mixed stitch blanket I'm sure everyone would love to visit and admire them!

Thank you to all the lovely ladies who have sent me emails with picture of your blankets, I love to see what you come up with from this crochet along!  Most of you are miles ahead of me, so it gives me some incentive to get cracking with my blanket. 

Have a great day, and I hope the linky thing works!

Crochet Along Update #6

Well I have been busy crocheting away on my big blanket recently, so I thought it was time for a new bit of the crochet along, in case anyone is still persevering with this on going project!

I have put the next 2 photos close together so you can see what I have done in a bit more detail, there is a bit of overlap, but I hope you can see what I mean.

Ok, here's what I have added :

After the lime and pale blue Catherine Wheel section comes

2 rows of sc in light aqua, (up and back),

Catherine Wheel section in salmon and mid blue,

2 rows of sc in mid green, (up and back),

4 single rows of sc alternating dark blue and mid green,

3 rows of tr clusters granny stripes in red, lime, and red again,

2 rows of sc (up and back) in each of the following colours, mid green, pale blue, spearmint, watermelon, and dark blue,

a section of outline cluster pattern in pink and light aqua, (see earlier update for this pattern)

....and that's where I'm up to at the moment!

I measured my progress so far and it is around 75 cm long so far, so I'm about a third of the way through.

How is your blanket growing?

Would you like me to organise a little linky thing so we can all share our blanket progress?

I will add this post to the bottom of the Crochet along Page so it is easier to find all these updates.

Talk soon!

New Years Day round here.....

Well hello there!

Happy New Year to you all!  How exciting, a brand new year to contemplate and fill with lots of interesting living!  Bring on 2013, it's going to be great!

Last night we went to a party at a friends home and saw the new year in with lots of lovely food, way too much champagne, a few very potent, delicious cocktails, late night disco dancing, and some great company and conversation.....we had a great time!  

My 2 younger boys came with us, and they and their friends spent the night swimming and playing in the pool and generally running amok!

It was a very late night for everyone, and the whole house was very sluggish this morning! (Jesse was out with his friends at a local party and didn't get home till 4.45am, so they didn't surface till lunchtime)

Needless to say I have spent a fair amount of time today slothing on the couch with the tennis on (tennis on the TV makes me feel very summery!) and my stripey mixed stitch blanket on my knee, happily hooking away.  

I was feeling a tiny bit seedy this morning, so thought a nice bowl of healthful strawberries might offset the result of a big party night.... it nearly worked, I feel healthier anyway!

We are lucky to have a strawberry farm fairly local to us, so these berries were delicious, so much more flavoursome than the supermarket ones.  I am getting the odd handful out of our garden too, if I can beat the birds to them that is!

Hope you had a great New Years whatever you are doing, and I'm looking forward to sharing another year of creativity, colour and life with you all in 2013 !  

xxxxxxxxxxx

Crochet along Update #5 and sad times...

Hello. 

How is your weekend going?

I have to say this last few weeks have been a bit of a write off for me. Life has taken a turn for the sad, with my lovely father-in-law, who had been recently diagnosed with lung cancer, dying last night.  My husband has been spending as much time with his as possible, but it still feels like a very rapid ending to a great and interesting life. It doesn't feel quite real yet, I know the next few weeks will be tough for the whole family, but they are strong, and I am sure Jack will be given a great send off and we will all try and focus on the wonderful life he had and the great family he created, so many happy memories to reflect on when we feel down and miss his presence.

I thought I would try and cheer myself up a bit with a shot of colourful crochet, I have had a fair bit of crochet time in the driving to and fro the hospital, so have managed to get a few more rows of the mixed stripy blanket done.  

I don't think I have done a progress post for this blanket for a while (mainly because there hasn't been much progress!), so here are a few pictures of it's growth. Slowly getting bigger!

Maybe 25% done? 30%?

Anyway, I hope you all have a lovely weekend and give your loves a extra special hug. 

I know I will be hugging mine.

PS. I have updated the crochet along page with the details of the next few rows that I have completed. You can find the page link on my side bar.

My creative space...still hooking on...

My creative space today is happening on the couch, some Eddie Vedder on the stereo, (are they still called stereos?) hook in hand, green wool at the ready and longggggg rows of stitches ahead. 

Kids self occupied.  Pretty well my perfect crocheting scenario. 

 Nearly time for another crochet along update if I get enough done.  

We'll see what happens today.

Joining in over here today.

Crochet Along Update #2.....

Hello!

So here is the next bit of the crochet along!

I think last time I had finished the chevron stripe pattern, so after that section I have added rows of sc in 3 colours. 

Starting with the right side facing, I have done 1row of sc in dark blue, then turned and gone back, so ending up with a double row of sc. Then I've repeated this in pale pink, and mid blue.

4dc cluster pattern

Next, I have done a row of 4dc clusters, with 3 sts skipped between them (this keeps the stitch count even overall).  The first cluster is made of 3chs and 1dc, then the rest are 4dcs.

Next, a row of sc in lime.

Next, another row of 4dc clusters in blue.

Next, a double row of sc in green ( 1 row, turn, second row)

Bobble Pattern

Next I am setting up for my bobble row with 1 row of dcs in pale blue.

The middle row of the bobble section is where you do the bobbles . 

There is a great tutorial over at Tales from Cuckoo Land here that shows you exactly how to do the bobbles in another colour, which is how I learnt how to do it, have a look over there to find out how to do this part.

Then I did another row of dcs in pale blue to finish off this bit.

Next another double row of sc in green.

(I am going to call this next 3 rows Outlined Cluster Pattern in future)

Next, one row of sc in red.

Next, one row of 4tr clusters in turquoise, made the same way as the 4dc clusters, but with trs instead.

Next row, ch1(counts as 1st st), 1sc in next stitch, then 2trtog into centre skipped st of the first row of sc in red, *then 3sc across top of cluster sts, then 2trtog into centre skipped st of first row of sc in red*, and repeat to end of row. (hope that's not too confusing!)

Next, I row of hdc in blue.

Okay that's where I'm up to at the moment, I am pretty happy with how it is working out, I have decided not to use any white in this blanket, so I hope the colours keep looking good together.

I am going to try and work a bit of Catherine Wheel pattern in soon, so hope that works out ok, then it might be time for some repeating of the chevron stripe and granny stripes, I'll have to wait and see!

How are you going with this blanket? 

Still having fun?

Getting frustrated with my slow posting? (Sorry!)

Are you doing your own bit of winging it crochet?

Have a great day, and happy hooking!

quick bit of crochet....

I thought I'd just add a quick crochet update.  

 This is what I am up to with my big blanket, it is slow going, each row is very long!  

I've added a few more rows, some cluster rows and a bobble row.

Pattern notes and tutorial next post!

Have a great day!

Crochet along update .....

It looks a bit crooked, but I think it will be fine with some blocking!

Hello!

So I have done a bit more of the mixed stripe blanket.

I finished the 5 rows of hdc, and then decided to do the granny stripes in red and pink.

I know you all probably know how to do the granny stripe pattern, but I will try and explain it just in case you are starting out and are not sure. It is really only the start and end of the rows that are a tiny bit tricky...

( Sc = dc, dc = tr, tr = dtr, )

Granny stripes:

Row 1 : Ch 3, then 3dc in next st,  skip 2sts,  3dc in next st, skip 2sts, 3dc in next st ......and so on to the end of the row. Bind off.( My row did not finish off evenly so I did 2dc in the second last st, and then 1dc in the last stitch, to make a straighter edge)

 Row 2 :Join pink to red 3rd chain, and chain 3, 1dc in gap between the chain stitches and the 3dc clusters, then 3dc between each cluster of the first row till the end of the row . Bind off.

( To finish, I did my last dc into the last st of the row and made sure the stitch count stayed the same to avoid the blanket gaining stitches overall) 

Row 3 : Join red to pink 3rd ch, chain 3, and then 3dc in the gaps between the clusters of the previous row, continue till the end of the row, and finish with 3 dc in the last gap.

here are the ends of each row

After the 3 granny stripe rows, I did 2 rows of hdc.  In the dark blue row, every third stitch I did into the gap between the previous rows clusters. The pale blue row is just hdcs straight across.

Next I am doing a bit of a chevron type stitch.

Pattern: 

(On wrong side) Ch 1,  *1hdc into next st, 1dc into next st, 3tr into next st, 1dc into next st, 1hdc into next st, 1sc into next st ; rep from * to end.......turn.

Change colour for 2nd row..1ch, skip1 st, 1sc into next st (counts as sc2tog), 1sc into each of next 2 sts,  *3sc into next st, 1sc into each of of next 2 sts, over next 3 sts work sc3tog, 

1sc into each of next 2 sts; rep from*.........

....till the last 5sts, 3sc into next st, 1sc into each of next 2 sts, over last 2 sts work sc2tog, turn.

3rd row : as 2nd row.

how to do sc3tog, draw up the first loop of the next 3 stitches...... 

....then yarn over and draw through all  4  loops on hook, decreasing 3sts to 1.

So this is where I am up to at the moment, on the 3rd row of the chevron pattern, next I am going to use the green again to fill in the dips of the chevrons and make it flat again.

Sorry I haven't done that yet to complete this little pattern segment.  I will edit this post and add it in when I am up to that bit!

Of course you can do more granny stripes if you like, (and in your own colours!) or leave them out  completely, but they are one of the patterns that I will be repeating throughout this blanket, and I am liking the chevron wave too, so will be doing more of these too!  

I think once I have done one patch of all the patterns I am going to use, these posts will get shorter as I won't repeat all the detailed instructions, so sorry for this long winded post!  

Anyway, how is your blanket going, are you having fun ?

A few people have been a bit concerned about how the blanket stays straight with all the different patterns, but I think just remember to keep the same number of stitches in each row and it will all work out in the end. ( ie, if we decrease in one row, in the next we increase the same number to keep it all square, hope you get what I mean!)  I am sure it will all be fine!

Ok, I am going to go and hook a few stitches before bed!

Have a great day!