A Tale of Five Blankets: Chapter 9

Hello there,

I'm back today with a new episode of my Tale of Five Blankets.

This is a special blanket, because it's the first baby blanket that I've designed myself. It's a star-stitch variation, so I thought "Starlight Baby Blanket" would be a nice name for it.

Before I started with this one, I had already posted a test-swatch on Facebook, that looked like this:

As you can see, I've made a few changes to the original idea: Some of the colors seemed a little bit too strong, so I changed to lighter, softer pastell colors. For the test-swatch I've also worked the star-stitch-rows with colors, and the dc-rows in between with cream. For the final blanket I did it the other way round, and worked the star-stitch-rows in cream and the dc-rows with colors, but basically you could do it either way :) Once again, I've used Stylecraft Special DK in Cream, Lemon, Apricot, Clematis, Sherbet, and Spring Green.

What I really like about this pattern (other than the fact, that it's easy to do), is that the two sides look slightly different, but both of them are beautiful :) The blanket is for sale now in my new Dawanda-Shop (shipping to Germany only).

Hope you like this new blanket as much as I do, if you're interested I could write down the pattern and share it here, just let me know! :)

Yarnsicles

Hello World!

Hope you've all had a great Easter week-end with lots of time for family and crafting! I did. :)

What I want to show you today is a little something I had already posted on Facebook a while ago: Yarnsicles! :)

These are popsicle sticks wrapped in yarn, so the name yarnsicles seemed good to me. I had been wanting to make some samples of my Stylecraft Special DK yarn for a while, and I had seen something similar before on Lucy's Attic 24 and was also inspired by Sarah-Jayne's "Yarnspirations" on Bella Coco.

Both Lucy and Sarah-Jayne use wooden clothespins for their yarn-samples, so I wanted to do the same. But in a half-hearted search for some clothespins (already knowing that even if I found them, I wouldn't have enough for all the different colors in my stash), I found something that would do the job as well: popsicle sticks!

I had bought them a few years back for a craft project I've never even started, so I had plenty!

I've wrapped the yarn around one end of the stick in two tight layers and tied the ends to a knot. On the other end I've written the Stylecraft name for the according color. On the back (which is not shown) I've also written the color number.

Working on this fun little project made me realize two things: 1) I've gathered quite a lot of different colors over the years and 2) there are still so many colors missing in my collection, I need MORE yarn!!! (sounds familiar? *gg*)

Anyway, these yarnsicles work great when your trying to come up with a new color-combo for your next big project. And they're also nice to look at, aren't they? :)

And since I've also stocked up on my favorite cotton yarn (Catania by Schachenmayr), I thought about making some yarnsicles with Catania, too. Probably have to order some more colors first... :)

A Tale of Five Blankets - Chapters 6-8

Hey there,

you're probably confused that the Tale of Five Blankets continues now, although we had already reached the last chapter with Chapter 5. But - just like in real life - sometimes the story continues, even when it seems that you've already written the final chapter, isn't that true?

So, enough with philosophy - meanwhile I've finished several more baby blankets, and instead of coming up with a new creative title every time, I just thought I'd continue this tale, so all my new baby blankets can be found under the same tag. And since I'm hyper-productive right now, I'm gonna show you three new blankets in one post today (with three more still waiting in line *gg*).

Let's start with my favorite one:

For this modern girlie-blanket I've used a great pattern that I had tried once before (click here). It's the Dot'n'Dashes pattern by Darla J. Fanton and it's available for free on Red Heart. The pattern is for three different colors, and since I had been quite pleased with the result of using four colors in my first blanket, I thought this time I'd go with five colors.

As usual, I was working with Stylecraft Special DK and used the following colors: Creme, Grey, Silver, Clematis, and Plum. I really do love this pattern, because it's so easy to do (actually a no-brainer that allows you to watch TV while the blanket is growing almost all by itself), but the result with the interesting structure is just amazing! Definitely under my personal Top 3 of my favorite blanket patterns!

Another favorite pattern - and you know that already if you're a regular reader of my blog - is the double ended crochet pattern (also by Darla J. Fanton) which I used for the next blanket:

The pattern actually creates a stunning two-sided effect, but in this blanket the effect is more subtle, because of the light colors I've worked with. (The effect is better when working with two high contrast colors).

For the front side I've worked with Calista Color by Schachenmayr, a beautiful color gradient yarn, and for the back side I've used white Rico Acryl Soft yarn.

And last but not least, I've made another traditional Granny Square blanket :)

As much a I like this pattern, it's also a sign that I had to frog another blanket, because that's what I usually do: if I have to frog another project that leaves me with bits and pieces, I end up using them for granny squares.

The yarn is Stylecraft again, and the colors are Silver, Cream, Clematis, Sherbet, Spring Green, and Apricot.

All these blankets are for sale now in my brand-new (german) Dawanda-Shop. Yes, that's right - I decided to tackle this adventure, with all the necessary inconveniences: registering an official business, filling out tax forms, setting up professional terms and conditions, getting a packaging license, and so on and so on. Since I'm just getting started, I'm only shipping to Germany right now.

And to make this post complete, let me also mention that I set up a new (german) Facebook-Page Babydecken made in k-town to accompany my shop and - mainly - to make my new business known in the area where I live. But any likes are welcome :) Of course my regular Facebook-Page that runs with this blog is still active, too!

I'll be back here soon with some more blankets, one of them with a free pattern for you! :)