murat
There are many (oh, so many) things I love about making crochet blankets, and right up near the top of the list is the gentle way in which they become absorbed into family life as soon as they’re big enough. Once a blanket gets past the scarf stage I very rarely seem to store it in my yarn bag – it just gets folded up and left on the table or the arm of the sofa or a chair ready for the next time I want to add a row or two. It’s from that point onwards that the blanket belongs to the home – the Little People begin to snuggle under it and the kitty certainly knows how to take advantage of all those lovingly hooked stitches.
It makes me ridiculously happy to have my blankets strewn around the furniture, and to see them being used and enjoyed. Yes, the Springfrost blanket is still a work in progress, and yes for me personally there is also an underlying element of “work” in those carefully thought out stripes. But I do really love to use my blankets during the weeks that I’m actively making them, and I hope that it’s the same for you too.
Week six of this gentle crochet-a-long is upon us and it’s time to finish up with these soothing, therapeutic rows. As usual, the very last row of the Springfrost blanket brought a heap of mixed feelings down upon my head – yaaaaaaay, the end is in sight! But noooooo, I’m not ready for it to be over! Awwwww, I LOVE crocheting this blanket so much, but oooooh I can already feel the itch inside my creative brain with a new design brewing. I mean, we do still have the border to get excited about so the journey’s not over quite yet, but we are certainly on the home straight.
This week there are a smaller number of stripes to complete (8 instead of 18) so you can either take your sweet time with them, or knock them out over the weekend. A reminder that the final row (colour Spearmint, shown above) is a simple row of trebles which creates a neat top edge. So when you turn your blanket ready for the final row, chain 3 as usual, and then work 1 treble into each stitch along.
It’s delightfully satisfying to crochet that final stripe and see all those neat stitches lining up for the finishing edge.
I have to tell you that I am obsessed with the texture of the Springfrost blanket….
…..oh my, it is SO PLEASING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It has just the right amount of bobblesomeness, and such a satisfyingly high squish factor, no wonder the kitty makes a beeline for it whenever she gets the chance.
I really enjoy taking these progress photos each week – I think I mentioned last week that I get a kick out of laying the blanket out so that it’s all flat and smooth like a rug, because it’s not often I get to enjoy my blankets in such a visual way.
It certainly allows me to appreciate all my hard work creating a “random” colour order – I can tell you that a LOT of thought goes into the colour placement of the stripes each week so that they balance and harmonise as a whole. Have you noticed that the white stripes are all placed an equal distance apart???
Let me show you how the whole of the blanket looks once all 95 stripes are complete…..
……woop-woop!!!!!!! Ninety Five stripes of pretty Springfrost colour to make you smile 🙂
I’m SO happy with the perfect winter-spring look of these colours. They are like a clear bright day with a real chill in the air. Fresh, with an uplifting winter-is-over feel. It’s exactly what I was thinking about when I first started to work on the colour palette back in the Spring of last year.
I hope these final stripes deliver you some wonderful hooky pleasure, and that you’re also looking forward to seeing the edging I’ve designed…..I’ll chat a little bit more about the final CAL instalment in a bit.
Here is the colour info for Part 6 of the Springfrost Blanket. Click on the following link for the printable worksheet…
Remember that this list of colours refers to the stripes, so crochet two rows of each colour.
88. Blue Marl
89. Pistachio
90. Cloud Blue
91. Pale Rose
92. Mushroom
93. Duck Egg
94. Meadow
95. Spearmint (remember it’s a row of trebles as the very last row)
NOTE : If you are making a larger double/king blanket with two yarn packs and you want to add some extra length, you can add some additional stripes, as follows :
96. Blue Marl
97. Powder Pink
98. Lincoln
99. White
100. Parma Violet
101. Cloud Blue
102. Duck Egg
103. Meadow
104. Pale Rose
105. Pistachio
106. Mushroom
107. Wisteria
108. Baby Blue
109. A Hint of Silver
110. Spearmint
I’ll be giving you Part 7 of the CAL in two weeks time on Friday 24th February – this will be the pattern and tutorial for the Springfrost border.
The border I’ve designed is going to be made up of narrow rounds, and I’ve picked out seven colours :
- Parma Violet (the cold ground)
- Baby Blue (a clear sky)
- Lincoln (frosty leaves)
- Pistachio (fresh spring buds)
- Powder Pink (early blossom)
- A Hint of Silver (a chill in the air)
- White (a frosty finish!)
You are of course free to pick out your own colour sequence, especially if any of the colours listed above aren’t your favourites. You might also decide to work less than 7 rounds, although I do hope that you’ll choose white as your frosty finish, because it’s going to look wonderful (!)
A little reminder that you’ll need approximately 20g of each border colour, and the easiest way to check is by using digital scales, either kitchen ones, or these pocket scales which are brilliant (find them on Amazon here).
Next Friday is given as a “catch up” week in the CAL, which means you can carry on hooking if you’re taking the slower approach, or take the opportunity to darn in your ends and get your blanket ready for the border to begin. I’ll most likely still be popping onto the Attic to share a chatty blog post with you next week, but I hope you are OK to wait a little longer for the final part of the crochet-along.
Wishing you a soft and squishy week full of cosy comforts!
x
♥ SPRINGFROST BLANKET INTRODUCTION
