Granny Stripe Blanket Finished!!

OK drum roll please......the moment we've all been waiting for...ok so me and Darren!!...the finished warm and snuggly, thick and cuddly and oh so colourful blankie!!!!

It has been wonderful to wrap myself up in it whilst laid out on the sofa this last week. It has been finished to perfectly time with the cold weather too! I have made it for us to snuggle under on the sofa, not for the bed. For a size guide - this is a super king size bed!

I love it so much that I want to make another one! Not because I want the experience of making - don't get me wrong I enjoyed every moment...but because I don't want to share it with Darren...I want my own!!! So we'll probably get one each now!! Somehow, I don't think that Darren will object!!

My blanket was made using 100% acrylic yarn. It is 80 stripes (160 rows) plus a border of 4 rows of border. The starting chain was 300. There are 12 colours. I used between 150 - 200g of each colour. Some colours have more stripes than others, so I used more of the yarn.

My colours were chosen randomly but as I went along I tried to even the colours out. I also wanted to ensure that the same colours were not used too close together.

I started the blanket at the end of June and finished it last week. So that's about 4 months.

What can I say...I love it love it love it!!!!

Yet more granny striped blanket

So it's getting there... but been dare I say it...I've been a bit bored of working on my blankie for the last week or so. I know I'm as shocked as you are - in fact I am disgusted that such stripey goodness and pleasure can have turned so quickly to boredom.

Perhaps it was doing the same thing all the time and I was missing my knitting (which is after all my main passion - sorry crochet!!!) but then I couldn't focus on knitting either, so I did some looming. The only items I really make with my looms are hats and scarfs but it is something I don't need to think about, so I finished an unknown UFO, a scarf in blue eyelash yarn. Then I made another. Then I got some yarn from my stash and started making more scarfs (make 5 in total) .....then I got bored of looming.

So I made 2 tops for charity. One of which was an adapted pattern from Ravelry to make a preemies Baby Surprise Jacket. http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/baby-surprise-jacket-preemie-sized Many thanks to everyone who helped me find the BSJ pattern!!

It really does look wierd and that it can't possibly be a jacket - all through making it I couldn't figure it out!!!

Then suddenly I could see it!!!!

  Sewn up and with buttons....

The back....

I wasn't really convinced about this when I was laying it out, the sleeves didn't seem to sit right. The front seemed to be bigger than the back. I thought I had maybe done something wrong. But with a bit of slight stretching into place, I think it looks nice and I am rather happy with it!! It was very quick and easy to make and very little to sew up. All the sewing up you have to do it the top of the sleeves/shoulders. Can't wait to do more and make Elizabeth Zimmerman's original BSJ!!! Next time I'd like to make it stripey and see what the effect is....the pics of stripey ones look really nice.

Anyway....The good news, as far as I am concerned is that my blankie is back at my side and I have started enjoying making it again!!! I brought it downstairs after lunch and so far I have completed a lovely deep purple stripe!!!

Just had to blog about it and post my other pics...this way the distractions are behind me for a while so I can re-focus and finish blankie!!

So wanna see what it looked like before my last purple stripe??? Well if you don't close your eyes now!!! Cos here it is!!!

I laid it out on our bed which is a super king size bed....

If you are still reading - thanks alot and well done at looking through so many pics!!!

More Granny Striped Blanket!!!

On Sunday we got a fantastic new camera from Argos..it's an Alba SL1231 reduced from £159.99 to...wait for it....£59.99!!! Unbelievable bargain!!! Absolutely fantastic camera!!!! Our only hesitation with it is that it takes a Li-ion battery and we now want to get a spare as the last thing we want to have happen is be out and have the battery die...which did happen today...I'll post our lovely day out pics later.

But for now check out these lovely scrummy pics of my blankie as taken by our new camera!!! It has really captured the colours...Be warned I did get a bit carried away!!!

...I just love how is looks all crumpled together - so squishy and snuggly...

...to give you an idea of how big it is now...

I love it love it love it!!! But I've got so much more to do. Darren thinks it's nearly done???!!! Is he crazy?? Yes, well no, it's because he feels it's ready in length fo him to snuggle under on the settee (which is my plan for it) but I don't just want a lap blanket...I want to snuggle up from head to toe under it!!!

Oh and to top off what a lovely day we've had (been to Yeadon Tarn for picnic, drive around Yorkshire countryside, visited Studley Royal at Fountains Abbey and then went to Brimham Rocks) I've lost 2 lbs!!!! I've been clinging onto them for the past 2 weeks and finally decided to get rid of them!!! That means folks that I've now lost my first stone!!!! Yippeee!!!! About time as well!

Update on Granny Stripe Blanket

Ok so Lady has to be in on every photo I take - this is my best side mum - my scar still shows through my hair on the other side!!!

I've fiddled with the colours when uploading them to try and capture their true colours which is why they are not exactly the same in each picture. It feels lovely and warm when I'm working on it - needless to say with this heat I'm not always able to sit with this on my knee!!! I'm going to take it with me to work tonight, so hopefully I'll get lots more done!!

By the way to get an idea of the width - I have folded the blanket - it is 3 times as wide as what is shown.

New crochet blanket

So this is my latest project. It is a blanket inspired from Lucy's design at
http://attic24.typepad.com/weblog/2010/05/granny-striping.html I have tried doing blankets like this before but I could never get them right, so thanks alot Lucy!!! We do love your work!!!

The colours in the photos really aren't the true colours. The greens are brighter, the photos have muted the colours quite alot...shame...and you wouldn't believe how many times I've tried to get the colours right - I give up for now, cos at this rate I'll have finished the blanket before getting the photos I want!!! lol



My blanket started with a 300 st foundation chain...amazingly I have counted right!!! Yippeee!!! I was rather nervous about that....after all that's alot of stitches to rip out, esp after doing a row of dc!!

I then did my first 2 rows of trb in the same colour...


It was at this point that I took photos yesterday but they were all really blurry. So after completing more blanket last night, I have just taken these....the green I am currently working with is actually a really bright green, this looks more aqua for some reason.

So I have alot more to do but it is coming on really quickly. The great thing is I can crochet this without having to think about the stitches as they are just repeats of 3 trb in each space....nice and simple.

And nice and cheap, it is all acrylic from my stash. Balls are all 100g and cost 99p for some and £1.10 for the rest.