A Tale of Five Blankets - Chapter 5

Welcome to the last (but not final) chapter of my Tale of Five Blankets!

As I've already mentioned in my last post, the last blanket in this series is one that I've made just a few weeks ago.

I've also mentioned earlier, that I've sold most of my yarn on Ebay a while ago. And while the auction was still on, I was shopping with John (yeah, he's still around, too *gg*) and my Mom at a big grocery store and saw this color gradient acrylic yarn and thought right away that this would be perfect for a baby blanket. My Mom liked it, too, but I told her that I definitely won't buy any more yarn, when I've just managed to finally get rid of most of my stash. But of course the yarn kept sitting and nagging in the back of my mind.

So, just a few days later I gave in, drove back to the grocery store, bought four balls with two different color gradients, and started this blanket right away. Four days later it was finished :)

I've used my favorite double-ended crochet pattern again, and the final size is 81 x 71cm. For the border, I've worked a round of sc's, followed by a round of 2dc's in every second sc, followed by a final round of a front-post dc / regular sc combination, that I had already used for the previous blanket in this series.

The yarn for the front side is Calista Color acrylic yarn by Schachenmayr, but either it's a brandnew yarn or completely outdated, because Google hasn't found a single (correct) entry to this! Thank god I've found it at the grocery store!

For the back I've used Stylecraft Special DK in cream, because it's the same quality and yarn-weight as Calista.

So that was it - the fifth chapter of my Tale of Five Blankets. But the whole story isn't told yet...

I'm so glad that I've found my way back to crochet and I'm really back in "the flow" right now. While I was posting these five blankets here, I've managed to

- finish three (!) more baby blankets

- make some cute little easter ornaments

- design a brand-new mandala pattern

- design another brand-new mandala with matching coasters

and

- (accidently) design a new square pattern.

So, there's a lot to look forward to. Just hope I don't lose my mojo again :)

Have a great Sunday,

A Tale of Five Blankets - Chapter 4

Hey girls!

I'm back today with Chapter 4 of my Tale of Five Blankets. Today it's another (classic) Granny Square Blanket.

It's been a while since I've made it, but I think I had seen a picture on Pinterest of a crochet blanket with a grey background and thought I'd like to try this, too.

I really like the way the colors "pop" on this background, don't you?

Once more, I've used the fabulous Stylecraft Special DK acrylic yarn, and although I haven't written down the colors, meanwhile I'm able to recognize them by heart: Clematis, Sherbet, Saffron, Shrimp, Apricot, and Aspen. The tiny squares are framed with one round in Cream, and then joined with the continuous join-as-you-go method in Graphite (okay, I had to look that one up *gg*)

For the border I've used the block stitch pattern again, and finished it off with border no. 120 from Edie Eckman's book "Around The Corner - Crochet Borders", it's a front-post dc/regular sc combination. The final blanket measures 78x78 cm.

I'm also happy to say that this is the first blanket I've actually sold. My sister-in-law wanted something special to give to her friend who recently had her first baby, and this blanket was the one she picked from my pile of the five blankets that I'm showing you in this series.

The first four blankets you've seen now have one thing in common: I've made them all before or during my long blog break. The last one in the series is a brand-new one, that I've made just a few weeks ago. Turned out I still know how to hold a hook and where to place my stitches! :)

See you all next time for the final chapter of my Tale of Five Blankets!

A Tale of Five Blankets - Chapter 3

Hello World!

I hope you've enjoyed your week-end and found some time for crocheting or enjoyed the weather - which btw has been exceptionally nice in k-town on Saturday! I've been crocheting a lot in the past few weeks, too, but before I show you my new stuff, there are still some more chapters in my Tale of Five Blankets.

Usually I have two or three go-to patterns when I start a new blanket, but this one is different. I've found the pattern on Pinterest, it's the "Juicy Fruit Afghan Crochet Pattern" and it's available for free on favecrafts.

The finished blanket (it's a baby blanket again) measures 90 x 70 cm and of course I've worked with Stylecraft Special DK again. The colors are Cream, Clematis, Sherbet and Saffron.

What I really liked about this pattern is the border: It starts with shells right away, so there's no need to work into the side of the stitches when you're making the side border. I've never been good at that, so this edging really did me a favor here :)

All in all it's a fun and easy pattern, and I've really enjoyed making it. Maybe I'll be using it again one day :)

Coming up next: one more Granny Square Blanket :)

Wishing you all a great start into the new week,

A Tale of Five Blankets - Chapter 2

Welcome back to my Tale of Five Blankets!

Today let's talk about this Granny Square Blanket:

Again (like the first blanket in the series), this is one that I had already worked on before my blog break, so here's the end result.

It's the classic Granny Square pattern, joined with a continuous join-as-you-go method. I ususally end up making Granny Squares, when I've frogged another project and don't really know what else to do with the left-overs. Just like in this case. :)

For the border I've used a pattern that goes by the name "block stitch" I think. A round of 3dc/ch1, followed by a round of 1sc/ch3 worked into the ch1-gap of the previous round, followed by another 3dc/ch1 worked into the ch3 of the previous round and so on. For the last round I've just worked reverse sc's - that always makes for a nice edging, I think.

The blanket is again made with Stylecraft Special DK acrylic yarn, and the final size is 78 x 78cm. I think, a blanket made with squares looks best, when the final form of the blanket is a square also (and not just any kind of rectangle).

It's funny - although there are so many amazing square-patterns available, somehow I always end up with the classic version. I don't know why, maybe it's just pleasing for the (i.e. "my") eye, or maybe it's just so satifsying and relaxing making them, almost like some form of crochet meditation *lol*

I guess, when I've found something that I really love, I always come back to it - it's the same with food: I like to look at the menu, but I always end up ordering the same. Schnitzel in a German restaurant, Pizza at an Italian place, and combo no.11 supreme at Taco Bell *lol* - god, I miss Taco Bell over here in Germany!! :)

So please tell me your opinion on that - what is your favorite go-to pattern when it comes to Granny Squares? Do you also like the classic one? Is there another alltime favorite? Or do you like trying fancy new and interesting squares?

I'm looking forward to your comments on that and will be back next time with a completely different blanket.

Have a great week-end everyone!

A Tale of Five Blankets - Chapter 1

Hello, hello!

In my last post I've already showed you a glimpse of the five blankets I've got lying around here.

Today let's start with the pink one in the middle, shall we?

In fact, before my long blog break I had already showed you this blanket as a work in progress, but never the final result. Well, it' finished now :)

Once again, I've worked with my favorite double-ended crochet pattern, which is available for free on Woman's Day. It's made with Stylecraft Special DK acrylic yarn in the colors Candy Floss and Bright Pink. I still love the reversible effect this pattern creates, don't you? (Spoiler: this won't be the only blanket in this series made with this pattern...)

The blanket measures 85 x 75 cm, and has a simple *(sc, ch-1, sc), skip 1 stitch* pattern as a border. (I don't even know which kind of border the original pattern suggests, I always decide spontaneously when I get there *gg*)

I actually made this blanket for my Etsy-Shop but never got to put it up for sale. Truth is, I never really felt comfortable with my shop, because there were so many difficult things to consider, like international shipping conditions, taxes, general business terms and conditions - all that stuff frightened the hell out of me. So I basically had two options: consult a lawyer and get it right, or drop it completely. I then decided to drop the shop completely, because by then I had already lost interest. But - right now I feel like I want to give it a second chance and maybe start a shop on a german platform, we'll see.

Coming up next in the "Tale of Five Blankets"-series: another Granny Square Blanket...

Meanwhile in k-town...

Hey there,

Thank you so much for all your nice e-mails and comments on my last post! It's so awesome that you're still here with me after my long break! Guess I have to stick around a little longer then... :)

I've already mentioned in my last post, that I haven't been lazy those past years (at least not when we're talking about crochet *gg*), so here's a little teaser of the blankets I've hooked up while I was away from blogland:

Plus, there were four more blankets that I've made for friends. Unfortunately I gave them away without taking pictures, because I was not blogging at that time... :(

Hey - maybe I could call them and ask if they can send me pictures and then I'll do a "The Lost Blankets" post, wouldn't that be fun?

Anyway, I don't want to bore you with a looooong post today, so I thought I'd show you my current blankets one by one, each in a separate post, starting this week. Sounds good?

Okay, then I hope to see you soon back here in k-town! :)

PS: my "Patterns and Tutorials"-Page is up and running again, thanks for your patience!

Another Baby Blanket in Progress

The WIP I want to show you today is a typical (although rare) case of "Pinned it - made it".

Isn't that one unique and lovely pattern? A while ago, I've already posted a picture on my Facebook page, and of course some of you wanted to know where I got the pattern from. Unfortunately there's only a picture tutorial on a russian site, but this pattern is so easy-peasy that you should be fine!

And you know what I like best about this pattern? Although there are what feels like zillion ends to weave in...

... in the end you just have to knot them together, and add some fringes! I'm not that far yet, but if you've checked out the photo tutorial I've mentioned above, you'll know what I mean - genious, isn't it?

I've tried to keep my color-choice similar to the original version, but I bet this pattern looks awesome in strong and bright colors, too! If you try it, please let me know, I'd love to see more variations of this beautiful pattern!

Wishing you all a perfect Sunday,

The Crochet Comeback

Hey there!

I'm finally back with the one thing that this blog was supposed to be about: Crochet! And today I'm going to show you not one, not two, no - I'm going to show you three new WIPs I've got on my hooks!!

Let's start with something that I have already posted on Facebook last week:

I had a whole lot of "likes" for this projects, and I'm glad you all seem to like this pattern as much as I do. It's called "Dots and Dashes Crochet Throw" and it's available as a free download on Red Heart!

The original pattern is for three colors, but I'm using four colors of the fabulous Stylecraft Special DK: Cream, Saffron, Spring Green and Shrimp. Since I'm not planning to make a full-size throw but only a baby blanket, it should be finished pretty soon.

I had started this project with yarn that I already had in my stash, and of course it wasn't enough, so I had to re-order. While waiting, I already started the next blanket with my all-time favorite double-ended crochet pattern that I had already used for my own Magic Blanket and my Mom's Christmas Blanket:

The yarn is Stylecraft Special DK, too, and the colors are Candy Floss and Bright Pink. The reversible effect looks good with these colors, don't you think? I've got the pattern in my "Crochet Master Class" book, but as I had already mentioned the last time I used this pattern, there is a free version on Woman's Day. (But keep in mind, that you need a double-ended crochet hook for this technique!)

And since all good things come in threes, here's my third BIP (Blanket in Progress):

This is a pattern I've been dying to try for a long time! It's a vintage ripple pattern by Churchmouse Yarn and Teas and available for sale on Ravelry. Although I like the pattern a lot, I'm not completely satisfied with my color-choice here: the contrast between Cream and Pomegranate (also Stylecraft DK) looks great, but then I switched to lighter colors (Candy Floss and Sherbet), and I'm not happy with the contrast here at all! I might start this one all over again with different colors, we'll see!

So, now maybe you wonder, why I'm working on three blankets at the same time, but the answer is quite simple: I've finally decided to open my own Etsy-Shop sometime soon, and I need some highlights for the grand opening. Right now I can't tell when I'm going to open the shop, but first I need some more things to fill the shelves, right?

By the way: have you noticed the new design on my blog and Facebook-page? I feel like I needed a new start after several months of crochet abstinence, and a new look is always a good idea. So in case you might have worried that this blog is dead - it's definitely very much alive, and I hope you'll check back soon, to see what else I've got on my hooks... you didn't really think I'm only working on blankets, did you? ;)