Saturday, October 22, 2011

Magic Blanket Ride: The End...

It's done!!! A long ride has come to an end, and today I can finally show you my huge, reversible, grey and white double-ended crochet blanket with multicolored stripes, also known as "The Magic Blanket":



I finished the blanket on Thursday and waited until the weather was less dull and cloudy to take some sunny pictures. Today's a cold and sunny day, so I had a little photo session this morning. It still bothers me, that it's almost impossible to get a good full-size picture, so I leave it with these two full-size shots:

(Left: the girl's side - Right: the boy's side)

The final size of the blanket (including the border) is 150cm x 175cm (~ 59in x 69in). Those of you who have followed my statistics might wonder, why the size is still 150cm, although I've added a border - I have no idea, maybe I haven't measured right when I started the blanket, maybe the border draws in a little. Talking about the border, let's have a look:


Remember that I've worried about the border in my last post? It was so much easier than I thought it would be! I've found out that with this pattern, I need exactly one sc for a white stripe, and one sc between the stripes to get a flat border, so there was no calculating stitches or wondering where to place them, it all worked out perfectly!


I'd like to thank you all for your great suggestions concerning the border! Have you checked out Little Orphan Skein's awesome tutorial for a leapfrog border? It's a great idea for a striped edge like mine and of course I've given it a try. However, I've also tried using just the white yarn, and since the stitches where so easy to place, it looked quite neat and inconspicous - so in the end I've decided to make the base round with white, because it was much quicker and I was eager to finish the blanket.


Although I've seen lots of elaborate borders in Edie Eckman's book, I thought a simple border would look best for this blanket. After the white base round, I've made a (1sc, ch1, skip one sc) round with grey, after that a (1sc, ch1) round with white (placing the sc's in the ch1-spaces), then another sc round in grey, and finally - still in grey - a round of reverse sc's, like many of you have suggested.


Now my final evaluation: I've really enjoyed making this blanket and I'm so in LOVE with the finished result, it's the softest piece of fabric I've ever created with a crochet hook! My Mom and Dad immediately fell in love with the blanket when I showed it to them, so maybe I'll make another one for them next year for Christmas (I wouldn't manage it this year, and for now I need a little break from this pattern).

Hey, thank you all so much for joining me on this Magic Blanket Ride! I really enjoyed sharing my experiences here with you, and you really motivated and helped me with all your nice comments and helpful suggestions, you're great!! :)
And now...


The Final Statistics (including border):

Width: 150cm (~59 in)
Length: 175cm (~69 in)
Colored Stripes: 36
Yarn Usage (basic colors): 21 balls of grey + 15 balls of white
Timeline: July 1st - October 20th 2011 (with a big break from August to mid-September)
Days actually worked on the blanket: ~ 51
Estimated hours worked on the blanket: ~ 172

Now that this blanket is done, I can finally start with the next big project. Unfortunately I can't tell you more about it (yet), although I'd really love to! It's kind of a secret project, in fact it's so suuuuper secret, that I don't even want myself to know about it *lol*. But I know that I cannot work on a big project without sharing anything at all, that's why I started the "Thursday Thoughts" - I'm a fan of good quotes and thought I'd collect some of my favorite quotes here and share tiny little glimpses of the new project until I can reveal it. And I promise, I will! :)


21 comments:

  1. Woohoo!! Such a great feeling when a blanket is finished!!
    Esther.

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  2. Your blanket turned out beautifully. Congrats on finishing such a large project. Looking forward to hearing more about your secret project. :-)

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  3. It looks great! A lot of work, but well worth it, I'd say.

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  4. It's beautiful Barbara - I like the girl side and the boy side. The border you chose works very well with the magic blanket. Great work. :)

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  5. Oh goodness! You are OUTSTANDING! This is so phenomenal! I love it! I wish I had your diligence. I could never do anything so complicated and make something so large. Nice work :)

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  6. Deine Decke sieht toll aus! Und genau richtig zur Kuschelzeit fertig geworden ;-)

    LG
    SelMama

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  7. I love it! What a great job you've done!

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  8. Congratulations! That is one stunning blanket! I really love the reverse SC edge - it really finishes it off perfectly. I have complete blanket envy now!!! Have a fab week.

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  9. Wow - I love ❤ the double effect - beautifully finished off with the edging

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  10. This. Is. Stunning!!! A job well done - you will not be chilly in bed this winter :)
    xo,
    wink

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  11. Wow it is stunning. Lovely. Really fab. x

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  12. Hola. Te ha quedado preciosa¡¡¡
    Un saludo.

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  13. Hi Barbara! Suuuuper!!! Deine Decke sieht wirklich fantastisch aus und macht sich richtig gut auf deinem Bett! Und wie die bunten Streifen leuchten. Hast du wirklich toll hingekriegt!!!
    Hab eine wunderschöne Woche! Barbina

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  14. Es maravillosa!! adios al frio con ella Barbara, un trabajo de sobresaliente!!!
    un abrazo

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  15. Barbara - congratulations on a gorgeous blanket. Is this double-ended technique similar to tunisian crochet? The fabric you make looks very similar... Also, where did you order the hooks from? (I live in Italy so a UK site would be convenient for me).
    Thanks!
    ann

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  16. Liebe Barbara,

    Deine Decke ist ein Traum...die Farben sind wirklich wunderschön und am meißten gefällt mir das Du zwei verschiedene Seiten hast. Einfach genial und ich gratuliere Dir ganz herzlich zu dieser absolut gelungenen Arbeit. Habt ganz viel und lange Freude damit und viele liebe Grüße,

    Marion

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  17. It looks GREAT!!!! I love that it is reversible. Looks cozy, too. Thanks for sharing!

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  18. Woowee it's an amazing blanket well done, the border looks great. xx

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