Saturday 13 November 2010

Finally finished......


The picture above is a shot of the final, FINAL stitch of a large blanket that I've been crocheting since the beginning of March this year.

I'm extremely pleased with how it's come out.  The design is called Summer Garden Granny Square and you can find it at Attic24, the blog of the very talented Lucy.  There were 17 different colours in all but that certainly felt like not enough, bizarrely.  And I'm not pedantic about what I used - wool, cotton, acrylic, cashmere, even camel - it's all in there, it was the colour that attracted me.

I made squares that harmonised, complemented and clashed.  Individual little squares were grouped into a collection of four, then two borders was added around them.  I then joined 3 more of these squares together so they made a block of four, then added a border each of fern green and glacier blue.  I then attached 32 little squares around that and did a raspberry pink border around that.  These big squares were 2 feet across. 


Here's one I was blocking a couple of days ago (the very dark coloured wool used in the central four squares is actually a dark auberginey purple, and not black - there's no black or white in this blanket):


Admittedly there were quite a few days when I didn't pick up the hook and wool but not many.  By the end I was able to crochet without looking which makes doing it in front of the telly much easier.  This picture is all 9 big squares laid out on the floor before blocking and stitching together:


It didn't take me too long to stitch them altogether, and here's the final product:




I made this for our bed so here it is in its final location, ready to be sat on by our one remaining cat:


Isn't it fabulous? Even if I say so myself although this does mean I won't be able to change the colour scheme in our bedroom as it goes so well with the raspberry pink walls and petrol blue/green curtains....

I think it was worth every second of the enormous amount of time it took me to make it.  People who are not crafty and don't make things invariably have no comprehension whatsoever of the amount of time and effort that goes into creating something; they equate 'handmade' with 'cheap' and then baulk when told the price.

I calculated how many stitches I put into this blanket.  You're not going to believe it but I swear this is accurate - 47,000.  That's right - there's at least forty-seven thousand stitches in this.

And I'm probably going to start doing another one....

15 comments:

Antonia Cornwell said...

Holy shit, that's a huge blanket! Congratulations! I've finally just got my head around crochet recently and can see exactly how much graft you've put in. Amazing.

And of course you could change your bedroom colour scheme, if you wanted to: such a multicoloured blanket will match almost anything. It really pops against your pink walls, though. Love it.

A Woman Of No Importance said...

You have such an eye for colour, Mrs Jones, very, very lovely - Can I have one??!

I love how it all comes together in your bedroom - The colours there are wonderful, so warm... I adore your chandelier - May I ask whence it came?! x

peevish said...

It is absolutely gorgeous. It makes my eyes go a bit wonky, in a good way. This makes me want to re-learn crochet. My grandmother taught me when I was a child but knitting has taken over those brain cells.

I love your color choices. Well done!

Anonymous said...

It's wonderful! The colours are amazing - all that PINK! (Okay, raspberry, but that's still in the same family.) Well worth the enormous effort, I'd say.

mountainear said...

Fabulous. That's a major project. What next?

Anonymous said...

It's amazing. And I think I know what peevish means about making your eyes go wonky - I find when I look at it my eyes keep being directed off in another direction by the colour combinations. My grandmother had loads of crocheted cushions and chair covers, though she just used up scraps so there was no planned colour scheme at all. I haven't done any crocheting for years - in fact I have only recently got back into knitting. I think I may have to get out the crochet hooks soon though.

Mrs Jones said...

Antonia - I thought it was bigger until I put it on the bed, but it fits fine. Actually, I hate decorating so the bedroom's going to stay like this for the foreseeable future!

Fhina - Thank you. No, you can't (unless you make it yourself!). If I'd picked fewer colours then I would have had to have been more considered about which ones went where but because there were 17 I quite often just stuck my hand in my wool stash bag and whatever I grabbed was the next colour. The chandelier came from here - http://www.dutchbydesign.com/products-Gypsy-Mini-Chandelier_LM35.htm.

Peevish - I taught myself to crochet using online tutorials last winter, this winter I'm going to have a go at knitting which I recall from my childhood as being a lot more difficult than crocheting, which is why I went the easy route first. I'd quite like to have a go at crocheting jewellery from thin silver wire as well...

Pinklea - It does look like there's a lot of pink but there's actually far more shades of blue and purple in it bizarrely.

Mountainear - yeah, it was quite daunting but it still took a lot longer than I thought. Lord knows what I'm going to do next - I have a throw that I've abandoned that's made of circles and stars that I could resurrect...

Alienne - knitting and crochet have become unbelievably hip and fashionable. I like the fact that I'm making fabric from a length of yarn, and I find it much easier to crochet than to knit (but that's my next goal).

OmegaMom said...

It's lovely! And what an accomplishment!

Eileen said...

Beautifully unique and mucho envy making!

The blanket and the talent:)

Anonymous said...

I saw your blanket on Flickr and just wanted to come on here and say that I think it's blinkin' brilliant! :)

Mrs Jones said...

OmegaMom, Eileen and Ruth Marie - well, shucks! Thank you for your kind words! It really wasn't as difficult to make as it looks as there's only 3 different types of stitches in it - single chain, bobble and standard double crochet (if you're American)/treble crochet (if you're British), and that's it! It just took a long time because of the sheer size. I want to have a go at a Babette blanket next, I think...

Kelly said...

I am absolutely in awe of this afghan. I saw your pictures first on flickr and then came to your blog. You have done a magnificent job on this and it has skyrocketed to the top of my favorites list. Job well done!

Anonymous said...

It's delicious. I'm so glad I managed to catch up with your posts today. I love it dearly and my fingers are aching in sympathy.x

Sara said...

Wow! This is beautiful. I have been working on a granny square blanket for one of my girls going on a year now. I'm much better with quick projects. Hope to finish it in the next few months. Yours is so pretty laid out on the bed. Gives me a little inspiration to finish. Thanks for your kind comment at www.tangledhappy.blogspot.com. Those swirly scarves are so pretty! I think I will make a few more this year too. Happy New Year! :)

A Woman Of No Importance said...

Blogging briefly about your fabulous endeavours over at mine on Monday - amid my other ramblings!

Hope you don't mind, Mrs Jones! x