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.