Crochet Lucky Dip!

I have been working away like a maniac, the last few days to share this with you:

 

 

That's right, after many weeks of crochet... well, some weeks more than others...  Some weeks a whole lot more and some weeks, really not a lot!  Anyway, i have FINALLY completed my last square.  That is 378 squares in total!  <Insert fan fair here>

 

 

I have coveted this blanket design for so long.  Since issue three of Mollie Makes magazine in fact, where I first drooled at this bedspread, in designer-maker Lisa Stickley's Clapham flat (www.lisastickleylondon.com)  And Mollie Makes I do believe is almost two, so that is quite some time!

 

 

 

So when I happened upon a similar looking design in an old magazine from the 70's, I was delighted and set to work...

 

 

While I was crocheting away, I added a handful of mixed coloured squares simply because I was getting bored:

 

Being careful to make sure than none looked like a nipple...  After reading of the horror story of one crocheter whom I follow on Facebook, who spent an afternoon crocheting two lovely circular cushions for her sofa, to be ridiculed by her teenage children because they looked like boobies.  Never crochet anything circular or sausage shaped in pink or flesh colour!

 

 

I spent any free time over the last couple of days sewing in all the ends of about the last 150 squares.  All I can say is, I'm so glad I didn't leave the sewing in of all the squares til the end or I may have actually gone mad!

 

 

Oh crochet how I love you so, and how I hate you also in the same breath....

Look at me, I'm a crochet machine....

Don't look at me, I want to shut you away in a cupboard and not continue....

You make me want to do a happy dance...

Oh crochet how you drive me to insanity at times...

Yet when you are complete, you will look so shweet upon my bed....

Oh crochet I will not let you get the better of me!

 

(See what this project has done to me!)

So now I have come to that part of granny square blanket making, where the whole thing needs to be joined together.  This is the main reason I have moved the square making up a gear.  The weather is starting to get warmer now, and I'm really not sure it is possible to sit with a woollen blanket on your lap piecing the whole thing together, whilst sweating like a pig, no matter how much you want to complete it!

 

 

In an effort to keep my sanity I am breaking trend with all my OCD ways and will not be laying out and planning out my design before I start the assemblage.  I have stuck all the squares in a huge laundry bag and will be using the lucky dip method.  Oh my word, this is not like me at all!  I wanted to try a different way of working, because over thinking it can often be quite hard work and ends up a bit of a headache.  It is really quite liberating to be working in this way!  And of course, if I did pull out, say four of the same colour in a row, I could have a sneaky reshuffle and re pick!

 

Are you working on any crochet projects at the moment?  I would love to hear what you are making!

 

Roses, turquoises and pinks

So far, so good. I am already about 180 (ish) squares into my next crochet project.  This is to be a large afghan to cover a double bed (400 squares approx.)  The colour scheme is light, dusky and dark rosy pink, turquoise, pale blue, green, off white and light purple.  I am also, although at a snails pace, working on a hand embroidered double quilt in simialr colours.

 

I have tried to work with yarn I've been given, and shape it into a project which works, rather than outright buying a whole bunch of new colours.  Not only does my purse feel the benifit, it encourages me to work with colours I might not necessarily choose.  It will look slightly different once it is laid out in its entirety, as there will be a more even spread of colours throughout.  So although I think I may need to buy a few odd extra balls once I'm further along, I'm not panicking just yet!

These are the other yarns I've not used yet (along with various repeats of all the other colours.)

Now, you may be wondering how I've had such a quick turn around between this afghan and the last...  Well, I can tell you that I'm not that super speedy at the old crochet malarky.  I was already part started on this project.  The two blankets started as one. (one large afghan for my double bed.)  Then I was given more yarn, had a change around of colour schemes in various rooms as they were slightly confused.  I ummed and ahhed a lot, and after much deliberation decided to split it into two projects.  The first, a large sofa throw (which I finished a couple of weeks ago,) and the second, a double bedspread.  This also explains why I am using the same pattern again.  I wouldn't normally (although I do really like the block effect of the colours in this pattern,) I would normally move onto pastures new and mix things up, so as not to get bored.  But I am technically recycling the left over squares, to finally complete the bedspread that I originally set out to make.  I do like to make things complicated for myself!

 

 

Now this is the quilt I am working on.  Some of the squares still have the water soluble pen in the background from where I've drawn the design on before embroidering.  I am waiting to wash it all out on completetion though, as I worry it may come appart where its tacked in place if I fiddle with it too much.

 

 

Hello, its a little birdy!

 

 

All the squares are different, from flowers to birds, words to tea cups, I've tried to keep the pictures as varried as possible.  I can tell you, that is hard with so many squares to fill!

 

 

Some lovely Tilda fabrics, and a small bird house :o)

 

 

Boing!

 

 

Not all of my squares line up perfectly, but as mum says "its the homemade look." And I hope that my pukka embroidery skills make up for that.  I never have been very fond of measuring and straight lines anyway!

Crochet Marathon!

 

 

Very happy this morning as I finished piecing together my granny square afghan just before bed last night.  So am finally getting to enjoy the fruits of my labour!

 

 

And indulging in a little light cushion rearranging ;)

 

The finished blanket measures 112cm x 194cm, so is pretty large and is approximately 160+ hours work. I probably could have got away with it being a fair bit smaller, as half the blanket hangs down the back of the sofa and can't be seen.  I do however like a blanket to be practical as well as pretty.  And there is nothing worse than chucking a lovely handmade throw over yourself for a nice nap, to find you can feel a draft.  And no matter how much you wiggle and jiggle about, and manouvre the blanket over yourself, you just can't get comfy cos your bum is hanging out the side of it!

 

 

I am also feeling a little smug because there was very little wastage of yarn.  I normally make a project and  end up with lots of little odds and ends in all sorts of colours, and have no idea what to do with them!  But with this blanket, I used up all the leftover pieces of wool to join the squares together.  I even unpicked a couple of squares over towards the end, to finish of the very last parts, rather than start a new ball !

 

 

A lot of work, but wirth it all in the end.  I hope you enjoy my pictures!