My Villa Villekulla Blanket: Tadah!

It's me again...

Are you as astonished as I am? Yes, this is my second blogpost in one day. But I forgot to write about the blanket I made during the winter and which I took with me to Denmark to take some nice pictures at the beach. 

After I had finished my "Tiny Granny Blanket"  (you can find pictures of it here) I had so much leftover yarn that I decided to do another blanket. I was not feeling well that time, around autumn last year, and I was looking for a simple pattern that I could just 'hook away'. 
 
I chose the granny stripe pattern, just simple granny clusters in all the Stylecraft Special DK colours I had in my stash. 
And here it is hanging over the railing of our holiday house in Denmark: 

 My wonderful blanket that gave me so much joy when I made it!

  Every time I started hooking these rows I forgot about my worries and my poor health. Hooking is a kind of meditation when the pattern is easy, isn't it? Working on this blanket was really therapeutic. I didn't really care for the colour sequence, I just wanted to use up all that was left from my other blanket. So it was very easy to work on this blanket, no pondering about neither the pattern nor the colours.

I am in love with this colourful blanket, and it is doing very well on the beach, as well.

 

  The border is a simple one, as well. One round of granny clusters in Sherbert, 2 rounds of double crochets (US dc) in Aster and Meadow, 2 rounds of single crochets (US sc) in Lipstick and Cloud Blue and the crab stitch (also Cloud Blue) as the finishing round. 

It is a big blanket, as all my blankets are that I have made so far. We are all tall in our family and it is important for all of us to have warm feet when snuggling under a cosy blanket.  It is 2,02 x 1,35 m and I used the following 18 colours: 

Pomegranate, Plum, Fondant, Lavender, Spring Green, Aster, Turquoise, Lipstick, Shrimp, Saffron, Meadow, Green, Magenta, Sherbert, Cloud Blue, Claret, Wisteria and Clematis. 

This blanket is frequently used by all of us but my son likes it best. He always tries to get this blanket when he is snuggling on the sofa. It makes me very happy seeing the kids using what I have made. 

 There are already three handmade blankets in our household. I still can't believe that I have the patience and the perseverance to finish a blanket. And there are even more ideas for blanket in my head. I think that the blanket fever got me. However this is an illness I like to have!

Take care,

Viola

  

 

Back again....

...and almost feeling well again.

I am back here after an unintentional break of more than half a year. I am really sorry for this and I am stupendously happy to be back again. I missed you! But I really had a rough trot the last months. I was ill almost all the time.

COUGH - my mostly hated word at the moment. I coughed many, many months, days and nights, almost non-stop. And when it was getting worse I got high fever and a real bad cold. Nobody could find out what was wrong with me. One doctor thought that it was allergic asthma but he couldn't find out what the allergenic substance was. My GP finally asked me if my problem could be a psychosomatic one and if I would be willing to recieve a therapy. I almost agreed because I was truly worried that I would never get better again and there was a tinge of despondency and forlornness seeping into almost everything I did. It was so hard to keep going, my illness affected our daily life enormously.

But then J and I finally found out what the problem was. It was the new laser printer my husband used in his home office. I couldn't tolerate the toner powder of this printer. His office is on the first floor right next to our sleeping room and the toner powder just spread everywhere.

The first thing we did was to banish the printer from our house. Then we started to clean up. I washed all our clothes (oh my, have you ever washed everything you have at once???) but it was a good opportunity to weed out all that was old or no longer fitting. We cleaned everything, the shelves, the cupboards, the books, Cd's, we even moved the all furniture to clean behind them. I also washed all blankets, cushions and the plush toys of the children. Woohoo, long live the washing machine!

My bronchial tubes are still a little inflamed and sore and I easily feel tired and worn out but life is getting better from day to day! I keep on telling me that I just have to be a little more patient and then one day I will feel strong and cheerful and I will be my happy self again!

Enough about that. I have to show you lots of things. Working on my crochet projects has been one of the few things that really distracted me from my worn-out state during the last months. Crocheting is kind of a therapy when everything is going wrong, isn't it? At least for me it is.

First of all, I finished my 'Tiny-Granny-Blanket'. Do you remember it?

I had taken these fotos last summer and it was such a joy to work on this blanket. My daughter loved to play with the colours, she often adviced me which colour combination had to be the next one. When she sat next to me playing with the yarn and the squares we nattered about school and friends and the yarn colours and in the end she knew all the names of the Stylecraft colours I used. 

Here is my blanket in its full glory!

It is a large blanket consisting of 532 mini-grannies, the size  is 2,00 x 1,45 m. 

I used 35 different colours of Stylecraft Special DK.

 Pepples, our dog, is always watching what I'm doing.

 I really love the colourful jollity of this blanket and it is much thicker and warmer than my rainbow ripple blanket.

The border is simple, just 7 rows of granny stripes in plum and pale rose. The last row is a stitch I just learned, the crap stitch - and it is gorgeous! It gives such a neat and solid finish to a blanket. I am so happy that I found out about this stitch.

Here are my two crochet blankets.

They are real beauties and already well-used on the sofa. My son loves the ripple, my daughter the granny, it makes my heart sing in joy when I see my kiddies snuggling down in these blankets.

There is so much more that I want to show you but this is it for today. I have to decorate the house for spring and Easter, we just managed to put away the snowmen and snowflakes - no more snow for me, please. I hope that spring is coming soon, I long for the sun and some warmth. 

I'll be back soon (really soon) to show you more of my makes. Have a beautiful weekend!

Viola

Granny blanket love - my 'join-as-you-go' method

A while ago a visitor asked for a tutorial on how I join my granny squares using the 'join-as-you-go' method. I thought I could try to work out a photo tutorial, this is my first one, I hope that everything gets clear, ... here you are ....

My blanket is made of 3-row granny squares. I generally have no chain in between my granny clusters and 2 chains in my corners and that is what my Join-As-You-Go Tutorial will be based upon. I work my tutorial in US terms (which make much more sense to me than the UK terms, sorry for all my readers from the UK).

Start with one completed square.

Crochet a second square until you are making the last round. In the last round you just crochet two sides and then you begin to join the second to the first granny square.

 When you reach the end of the second side of your granny (the last 3 double crochet cluster) make one chain like you normally do in a corner. Then lead your hook from the front to the back to fetch the yarn in the pink corner of your first granny, pull it through the corner and then your loop. It is the easiest if you twist the hook while pulling the yarn through the corner, so that you won't drop the yarn.

 Next you make a chain without joining, just like normal. Make your second 3dc cluster in your squares corner.
Now you have connected the corner of your first granny with the corner of your second.

  To join the side of the blue granny you repeat the joining procedure in every space between the granny clusters: Lead your hook from the front to the back to fetch the yarn in the space between granny clusters (don't forget to twist your hook), pull it through the space and then your loop. 

 

 When you reach the second corner, you do the same as in the first one: Make a chain, then lead the hook form the front of the pink corner to the back to fetch the yarn, pull it through the space and then your loop. Next you make a normal chain.

 Your grannies should be connected by now and you can finish the last round of your second granny.

 Now I want to join a granny to a corner with 3 granny squares (a grey one on the right, a red one in the corner and a light blue one on the left). I start with making 3 clusters of the granny I want to join (the pink one in my picture).

The trick is to only join into your right square and the one to the left and skip (in this picture) the red one in the corner. You do it like this: Lead your hook from the front to the back to fetch yarn in the grey corner, pull it through the corner and then your loop. This is the 1st chain that you usually make in the corner. 

Then lead your hook from the front to the back to fetch yarn in the light blue corner, pull it through the corner and then your loop. Make a chain without joining, this is your 2nd chain that you usually make in the corner.

 Now make 3 dc cluster in your corner and continue to join to the light blue square like you did before.

 Join your last corner like you did with your first (chain -join-chain), finish your granny square and there you are! All nice and neatly joined.

 If you have any further questions, please let me know. I am always happy to help. 

It is such a joy to work with these grannies, I do almost nothing else at the moment. Playing with the colours is so satisfying, I can't understand anymore why I was so afraid of starting a granny blanket.

 This is my progress so far. I joined already 199 grannies. What a joy! 

My other blanket is lying neglected in the basket. But I will continue with is soon, so that I can show it to you, as well. 

Take care of yourself,
Viola