a very sunny blanket

Phew, I finished my latest crochet blanket. I am always exited about starting a new blanket but invariably, there comes a point when I can't be bothered anymore and finishing becomes a chore. I don't get this feeling so much with blankets made up of smaller units, granny squares or something like that. I like to arrange and rearrange small squares into rows then larger squares then blankets, it satisfies me need for sorting things. Long long rows of simple crochet are a bit mind-numbing though, aren't they? On the other hand, long long rows of simple crochet offer something to keep you hands busy when you spend an evening watching one bad TV show after the other, or when listening to audio books.

I am a master procrastinator when it comes to choosing colours and yarns. I am a master procrastinator, full stop. To circumvent the problem I decided to use an 'Attic24' yarn pack with a preselected assortment of yarn. I chose the 'sunny' pack. The yarn is Stylecraft Special DK. If you are a crochet fan you will know Lucy of Attic24 but just in case you don't, here is a link to her blog. Lucy has been creating lovely crochet blankets for a long time. The latest blanket CAL included two versions for the sunny yarn pack, a log cabin blanket and a granny stripe blanket. I chose the granny stripe blanket for the simple reason that it satisfied my need for something that works up quickly without the need to concentrate. I hear you say that really, for a granny stripe blanket you don't need a pattern, or indeed a yarn pack but if you are anything like me you'll know that the simple task of choosing the colour of the next stripe can be so agonising that it might take several evenings of arranging balls of yarn, and re-arranging them. Quite possibly a further few evenings frogging the latest stripe and starting all over. If on the other hand someone else decides for me, Lucy in this case, I honour that because no doubt she has agonised over the succession of colours as much as I would have. Having said that, after completing week 4 of the CAL I decided to freelance after all. I went for the lucky dip method with a tad of cheating. Ok, quite a lot of cheating.

There are 18 shades of various luridity in the sunny pack. I probably like about half of the shades, feel ok about a quarter and couldn't stand the rest. It pained me to use those but in the context of the blanket, they are ok. I made peace the unloved shades. The 18 colours were repeated 'at random' to give a cheerful and not at all lurid whole. The pattern called for five repeats, each random. My blanket was nowhere near the required length after five repeats and I added a 6th (grinding my teeth by that point). I chose a smaller than usual hook to get relatively tight stitches, for durability more than anything.

Can I just mention the ends? There were a lot of ends to darn in. Every now and then I would get busy sewing with my darning needle. I would promise myself 'if I darn 12 ends I will treat myself to a chocolate/glass of wine/dance around the living room'. I am of a simple mind, I fall for my own briberies, even if I don't have any chocolates in the house.

I am not a big fan of wide borders and made mine quite minimal. That's the official line anyway. I followed the pattern for the first two rounds, one round of granny stripe, followed by one round of single crochet. There were a further two rounds of single crochet variations which I omitted because I could't decide on the colour and because I lost the will to crochet. It looks just fine as it is. Yes?

There you are, a new blanket for the the children and the dog to destroy cosy up with. Stylecraft Special DK is remarkably hardwearing yarn and even the dog found it impossible to chew through a ball when he stole one. He is a top notch yarn destroyer. The kids love the new blanket, it is a good size and easily wraps two little boys. 

As you all know, I am a yarn snob and I don't like the feel of Stylecraft Special DK. It is 100% acrylic and no matter how soft it is, I still don't like to touch it and I don't like the smell of it. For me, it has to be squishy wool that smells just right. It is hard to describe the emotions I am flooded with when I bury my nose in a new ball of lambs wool. Divine. 

I really like the blanket and I am happy that I used all the colours in the sunny pack. I don't have much left, not enough for anything substantial anyway but I might donate the remnants to our school for a bit crafting. 

Wishing you a happy second half of the week! xx