The Evolution of a Blanket

Anyone who crochets or knits will have a number of projects going at once. The thing is yarny people cannot work as fast as their ideas keep coming. Before one project is finished another has begun, if not literally, then in the imagination. It’s interesting how this works. One idea tends to lead to another and before you know it you have many irons in the fire, or should I say hooks.  At least that’s how it works in my life.

Over a year ago I began a very ambitious blanket project. We had just purchased a new king size bed and I wanted to make a blanket for it. I found a bedspread for a great price and wanted a blanket, made with squares to match it. This blanket would be folded in thirds, and placed on top of the bedspread at the foot of the bed, available for the cold nights when the bedspread wouldn’t be quite enough. It would of course contain the same color scheme as the bedspread, which meant only 4 colors. This was my plan.

I found some luscious yarn, Plymouth Encore, at a local yarn shop, and bought enough to get started. I’ve used this yarn before in several previous projects and it is so very soft, a mixture of wool and acrylic, machine washable/dryable, and lovely to work with.

The plan was to make the squares, (Flowers in the Snow pattern) and use the join as you go method for joining them together. Unfortunately, it didn’t take me very long before I discovered I would be needing A LOT of squares, like over 200 in order to make this blanket cover a king size bed. Yikes!

I lost heart! I didn’t think I’d have the where-with-all, stick-to-it-ive-ness commitment to actually pull it off. (Remember, I like making dishcloths because they’re short and sweet projects!) So I changed plans and made 2 pillows using the flowers in the snow square pattern, varying the colors in the rounds so no two squares are exactly the same.

 

But what about a blanket? I still wanted a blanket. So I decided to make a ripple blanket using Lucy’s pattern. I’ve made several small blankets with her pattern in the past and knew it would be great. Trouble is I found myself losing count quite frequently as I worked on the rows (long, long rows at that!) and I’d have to go back, tear out stitches and correct my mistakes. In addition to that I found working with only 4 colors got to be a bit boring! So I added 3 additional colors, 2 different shades of green and a beige, this time using Vanna’s Choice yarn, because I had those colors on hand in my stash.

And while the additional colors weren’t actually in the bedspread they coordinated nicely. That helped with the boredom, but it didn’t help with the issue of losing count, and having to rip out rows.

A king size blanket is one huge undertaking!

So I changed patterns again and decided to go with Lucy’s granny stripe. Now this pattern I can practically do with my eyes closed. It takes very little concentration! Perfect project while watching TV or vegging out in general.

So, here it is over a year later and how much have I completed? I’m about halfway there! I don’t have a definite plan in mind for the border but that’s OK since I’m nowhere near needing to add one yet.

I’ll keep you posted when I actually finish it…hopefully before it gets too warm to hold a heavy blanket on my lap. Of course the way this winter has been going I expect it will be some time before that happens so finishing the blanket shouldn’t be an issue! That is, unless I get side-tracked with other projects!