Patterns

It’s finished! Beautifully finished. Not until just now – tracking back through my photos have I realised that I started this pretty hexagon blanket in May. In my mind, it has been on the hook for much longer. You can read my previous blog post at the beginning of the project here.

I began learning to crochet to whittle down my stash of yarn…well that worked out well! Yarn continues to bulge out of wardrobes and from storage boxes. All those years ago I had in my mind that I would make endless mixed coloured blankets – not caring of the colour combination and slowly all the errant balls of wool would become fab vintage style bedcovers.

Ha!….lovely idea, what happens in reality is that I might start using yarn in my stash and then…oh I need another ball of cream….wouldn’t it be nice to chuck a duck-egg blue in here. The stash remains the same.

Some balls of yarn are so pretty, so expensive that they almost take up squatting rights in the stash collection. Eventually they begin to speak to me and I lose patience. I determine that really that ball needs to be used and that is how the English Spring Garden Hexagon Blanket began.

Many years ago my husband bought me a ball of sock yarn, hand-dyed by a very upmarket producer. The base is a pretty rose pink, with highlights of a shocking cerise and flecks of green, yellow and blue. I want to call it ‘Tutti Fruitti’.

Instead of making a pair of socks with it, which might eventually wear out, it occurred to me that it would make a really pretty centre for a granny square or hexagon. The shades reminded me of the faded pastel prettiness of an English paper piece quilt…and that is how the design evolved. If I had the time I would make a hand-stitched patchwork quilt, that is not going to happen. Instead I reached into my stash to grab all the spare balls of Stylecraft Bellissma and Bambino and set about building the first rows.

In essence every centre uses the pink sock yarn. The next row on is Clotted Cream Bellissima. Row 3 was a coloured Bellissima and then the final row is the cream again. The seasoned crocheter will now be shouting at the screen….’Hang on Lady! You are mixing your yarn weights!!’  – Yes my friend, yes I am… does it matter too much?…no not really. But what I will say. A word to the wise – the sock yarn is a slippery little sucker. The centre seems to easily unravel. This is an event that could make any crocheter burst into tears. I have secured the centre of each hexagon with judicious weaving in. I have taken time and care to do it. Over the past year – this blanket has been a slow burn. I have started and completed another blanket since. I knew though, that this blanket would be coverlet for the base of a bed. I knew all along that the blanket would belong to me.

If you were thinking of making similar,

You could use Stylecraft Head over Heels in Red Potts, or perhaps West Yorkshire Spinners Signature 4ply in Pink Flamingo.

I have used Stylecraft Bellissima: Precious Posy, Sugar Snap, Denim Dungarees, Mellow Yellow.

Stylecraft Bambino: Clotted Cream, Vintage Pink, Soft Pink, Vintage Blue, Little Boy Blue, Heather and Sage,

I joined each hexagon by double crocheting the edges together and I edged the whole blanket with 4 rows of half treble.

Do I love it? Yes…

Is it soft and cosy? Yes….It makes me smile – in some ways this is blanket is probably me, yarn form, full of the hope of Spring.

I am so thrilled that so many of you said lovely things about my Soft Summer Blanket. Many of you have already begun to make the blanket. That makes me so happy.

I am thrilled that my lovely friends at Stylecraft have been willing to sponsor a Giveaway. They have generously given us 2 balls of each colour – so that is a stupendous 14 balls of yarn. You will also get a beautiful shade card for this blanket from Simply Shade Cards.

So if you would like to enter you can either leave a comment/like & tag a friend on my instagram account. Or you can leave a comment at the end of this blog post. I would really lovely to know who you would like to make the blanket for.

The blanket pattern recipe is available for free in this blog post.

I would like the yarn to go a good home and someone who will be thrilled to make the blanket. If you haven’t caught my Instagram Live September series – then do pop over to Instagram and have a look in my IGTV and there are a series of hints and tips.

The Giveaway finishes for entry at 6am British Summer Time on 24.09.21 – Good Luck!

A few weeks ago I told you about a blanket I was making. The original plan was to make a boxy granny square cardigan. I made the cardigan – it looked appalling. I very nearly threw it in the bin – in a fit pique! Luckily sense prevailed and I didn’t. I un-picked the majority of seams and managed to salvage the majority to form the beginnings of a new blanket. The Soft Summer Blanket.

So what did I do since last we spoke? Well I have quite a few lap blankets for outdoor evenings and indoor sofa snuggling. I thought it might be nice to add some granny stripes and make a blanket large enough for a British single bed. Approximately this works out at 130cm width by 180cm length.

I have placed the squares in the centre and then worked the rows of granny striped around. The colours are soft with pinks and duck egg, but there is a zing with the yellow and a little low tone with the denim which knocks out all the sickly sweet colours. A few of you on instagram have asked me about the colours and have been keen to see if the finished result. For me this isn’t so much a designed pattern but more of a riff on a theme. The seasoned crocheter could easily copy what I have done – but for the beginner I thought I would just note down here more of a recipe.

If you do make a version do send me a photo – but also please do comment below and link to the blog post if you like it – I love to hear your feedback.

Soft Summer Blanket Recipe

I used my favourite 3.5mm hook and approx 2 ball each of Stylecraft Special DK – Pale Rose, Powder Pink, Denim, Cloud Blue, Cream, Duck Egg and Mustard.

Stage 1:

Make 36 x Granny Squares which have 6 rows. Make rows 1-5 in different colours and try to make sure there are equal distribution of colours. Don’t use pale rose in rows 1-5 but use it for Row 6 (the last row) for each square.

Basic square

Stage 2

Starting with the Duck Egg I then worked 16 rows of a granny square clusters around the outside of the 36 squares. Each row was a different colour – however the 2nd row, and following 2 x 5th rows were cream.

Stage 3

I then added more single rows to each end of the blanket to turn it from being a square into a rectangle. Starting with a cream row, I added 14 more rows. The first and every following 5th row was cream. I repeated the colour striping on the otherside of the blanket.

Stage 4

Finally I worked an linen stitch edging around the blanket.

Round 1: With RS facing using 3.5 mm hook, join cream to the top of any treble 1ch, 1dc into each tr, and ch st around, work (1dc, 1ch, 1dc) into each corner, sl st first ch. Fasten off. 

Now you will work 3 rows of linen stitch. Use a different colour for each row.

Rounds 2-4: With RS facing, attach yarn A, 2 ch, miss 1dc at base of ch, (1dc in next st, 1ch, miss 1 st) rep around, work (1dc, 1ch, 1dc) in each corner, sl st in first ch. Fasten off and weave in ends.

There you go – a Soft Summer Blanket. Perfect for a single bed or it looks lovely at the bottom of a King Size bed. I have used the normal crochet abbreviations in this free pattern and if you need any further help with learning to crochet do have a look at my book – How to Crochet which has a great introduction to the Granny Square Technique or my book Granny Squares Home which has some lovely patterns for bed spreads and lap blankets and all the techniques and stitches are explained in detail.

I don’t mind telling you that I am rather thrilled that I have been able to redeem this previously failed project. I have already dragged it outside for evening snuggles and found Stanley claiming ownership a couple of times. I suspect that come the autumn months it will have pride of place at the foot of our bed. Now what else can I fix?