So in the middle of last week I finished the last square for the blanket, but blocking & finishing was going to have to wait for the weekend. I celebrated by using the leftover yarn to make a hat in my favorite style (not sure why it put the image in sideways like that).I also made another pair of those mittens with chunky yarn, although this yarn (Araucania Nature Wool) was less chunky than the first pair, so I was able to use a smaller hook and tighten up the gauge. I wanted to decorate the cuff, but had no more matching yarn so I threw on some popcorns in a contrasting color.
And then we come to the blanket...
I had started this when the CURE campaign was announced. When the Youth campaign came along, I decided to make more squares to size it up. Originally planned for 4x5 squares (each 9"), I had just enough yarn to go to 5x6 squares, which we put me at the top end of the measurements. Although I joined the squares tightly, after sewing together the first row of 5 I discovered that I was a couple inches over the limit. So I decided to downsize back to 4x5, and add a really wide border :). I was deliriously happy when I was able to find another skein of Paton's Classic Merino at Michaels in the right color to do that. So here it is:
Now I have 10 squares left over and decided that if I added rows I could make them 12" square, do a 3x3 square baby afghans with another really wide border to get to 40" square for CURE. Not done with that yet, but will be by end of week. So I get a baby blanket and a youth blanket. Can't feel better than that!
Sent by USPS Priority Mail this morning, should arrive Wednesday.
UPDATE: I forgot to credit the source for the square design -- I was inspired by a square in this Leisure Arts booklet.
16 comments:
Everything came out so great!
cti,
Fantastic work!!!
How did you get so much done so fast?? Do you have little gnome helpers like Sue? :-)
Shirley
cti--
Lovely work! All these projects turned out so well. You were very clever with your use of the squares. Are the squares themselves your own design, or did you find the pattern somewhere you'd be willing to divulge?
Thanks for sharing.
--Becky
Becky, I'm looking forward to finding out CTI's source as well. Meanwhile, for all you crocheters, I went to google and typed in "crochet square patterns" and found sources for literally hundreds of free patterns for squares. . .
--Elizabeth D
These look just great. And I love how you thought through the designs to get the blankets the right size.
Wow - your blanket is really a work of art. It looks like stained glass! And the hat is so cute too. Beautiful work!
Hi... I updated the post to credit my source. I was inspired by a square in this Leisure Arts booklet. I changed the colors and all, but I like that diagonal square-within-a-square look.
As for working fast... well, I had started the blanket as soon as the CURE campaign was announced so I had a major head start. I took a break from it to make the Wiggles sweater, which is quick to work up, and so were the mittens and hat. I notice that I hold my hook differently than a lot of people that I see pictures of -- I don't know if that makes a difference but I go really fast that way and I find it awkward to do it the way that other folks do :). I also admit that I am obsessive when I have a project on and I use crochet to relax. There is probably some kind of relationship between job stress and crochet production :)
Cti,
You may have to post a photo of how you hold your crochet hook. Maybe it will speed me up!
Shirley
Like Bloo, I thought ART when I saw the blanket. A major tour-de-force.
Reed
I love your designs and colors, especially the hat. Where did you get the pattern?
for Irishrose51: the hat I just made up as I went along. I needed to fill in with some different colors to stretch out the variegated yarn (as I was working I could see it was not quite enough for a hat), so I figured it out while I was doing it. I like tapestry crochet which is all about color changes, so I put in the solid color bands but didn't have to time to graph out a complicated design before I started. I'll write my basic hat pattern on my own blog so I don't forget it and keep having to figure it out every time :).
Your crocheted blanket is gorgeous--the colors look wonderful together!
FWIW I posted my hat pattern at http://cticrochet.blogspot.com/2009/10/chullo-hat.html
I may have forgotten something, so if you try it and run into a problem, please let me know and I will help you out and fix it!
The blanket is really beautiful!!
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