I have to warn you - this post is very much a festival of Ta~Daaahing over my newly completed Rainbow Ripple Blanket. If you are not in the mood for gratuitous shots of bright coloured yarn, and artfully draped blankets then I suggest you skip this post and come back another time :D If you are, then sit back and prepare your eyes for a burst of rippling lovely~ness!
You may remember me starting this blanket way back in February 2010. It has taken a long time to finish it - 18 months to be exact but it finally is finished and I have to confess to being absoloooooodely and completely in love with it.
Just look at those gorgeous rippling colours...it sends me into a slight trance looking at it. In fact, this will be the perfect Dreaming Blanket...imagine one of those days where the need to snuggle up and spontaneously nap occurs... It fits the bill perfectly.
I used a lovely bunch of colours from the Sirdar Sublime Cashmere Merino DK range. Needless to say, it was not a cheap blanket to make; and that is also one of the reasons why it took me so long to complete (I had to keep saving up for new yarn supplies). However, it is beautifully soft, and naturally warm and I know it will become a well loved, well used blanket over the years (which kind of justifies the expense).
The measurements of the blanket are approximately 130cm x 130cm square. I would tell you how many balls of wool I used, but as it's taken me so long I've kind of lost count.
There were heaps of ends to weave in, which I finished off last night. There is something very pretty about all the little inchy bits of wool collected together in a bowl.
The pattern, which is fantastically simple to follow, can be found at Attic 24 Blog here.
My sofa is becoming one of my favourite, and most comfortable places to be in the whole house. It is a feast of colour and soft yarn...I love it.
So what next, you may be asking - of course I'm still working on my Japanese Flower scarf which I started in June and it's coming on nicely in fits and starts. But it seems I cannot be without a Big Project. No, there has to be something on the sidelines that I can go back to over time, that may take a while to do but is satisfying in that it's there and can be picked up and put down as the feeling takes me.
A Blanket then. Another one.
And this time a request from my daughter; 'please can I have a blanket for when I get my new Big Girl's Bed?'
How could I possibly say no to that? So I dug out the only pattern that I'd been itching to do, from a rather lovely book I treated myself to some time ago:
You can find this quite cheaply on both Amazon, and The Book Depository websites. There are some gorgeous things to crochet in it, but this is what caught my eye:
See that blanket? Oh my - heart stoppingly glorious!! I am already With Wool for this...
...these are some of the colours my wee one helped me choose, much lighter than my normal bright palette, but she likes the wool that looks like sweeties. I'm waiting on three slightly more vibrant shades to be delivered that weren't in stock in my local wool shop and I think that these will stop it looking too wishy washy.
The wool I'm using for this project is a rather cheap acrylic one. The stuff in the picture is King Cole Big Value DK (a couple of pounds for a 100g ball). I've worked up a few squares already and whilst it's a pretty soft yarn and will make a perfect blanket for general everyday use (read den making, snuggling, spilling drinks on etc) I'm finding it a teeny tiny bit greasy to work with after a time. I'm guessing it's because acrylic yarns are oil based, but I'm going to bear with it as it ought to be cheap as anything to make; which in these cash strapped times is a bit of a Good Thing isn't it?
Right - well that's about it! If you're still reading along after all those hooky yarny pictures, thank you! I'm so glad that you stopped by today and would like to thank you for taking the time to visit and read. Also, apologies too because my little trips around Blogland haven't been so frequent just lately due to me having a rather Busy Time of it both work and family wise, but I will endeavour to catch up with you soon and just wanted you to know, I haven't forgotten you.
Sending you love
J x
