So – at the start of this year I promised myself that I would re-learn to crochet, and more specifically that I would learn how to do a ripple blanket.
Which I did, with the expert and brilliant help of Lucy at Attic24.
Three successfully completed ripple blankets down the line, I now know that I definitely CAN do it! All of them have been given to special people for special occasions, and now the time has come to do one for myself.
(Oldest son calculated over dinner last weekend that each one used over 4.5 kilometres of yarn. So nearly 14 kilometres of yarn altogether. Wow.)
But I fancy a change (and maybe a new challenge?), so this time it’s going to be Lucy’s latest project, her Attic24 Harmony Blanket.
I bought the yarn for it in August before we went away on holiday, then realised that it was going to be far too bulky to take away with me. Then I thought, start on one colour-way square at a time, so I sorted out the 5 colours for the first version of the squares, put them all in a bag with the pattern, crochet hook and my trusty tin of useful bits and pieces. And carried the whole lot around with me to Oxford, Paris, London, and Northamptonshire (twice) without ever getting any of it out of the bag.
Somehow it felt too daunting, to tackle the 11 page pattern. Not enough mental stamina or energy or quiet time (actually combination of all three together) to face it.
So, this afternoon when I finished all the jobs that really needed me, I sat down and determined to do the first square.
Of course, as ever, it turned out to be so much easier in reality than in my head. And here I am with the first square completed, and (I measured it, as instructed) exactly the right size. And I’m sure they’ll look neater and be quicker to do as I go along. (The light’s not good this afternoon, so the photo in no way does it justice).
Just another 125 squares to go then. Oh, and the joining and the border. So, not an overnight project.
But at least I now realise that I can get away with just taking a bit of each of the 5 colours with me, or even just doing say a couple of rounds of two colours on a train journey, to make the whole thing more portable.
And I have at least learned one lesson from the past. I shall rigorously follow Lucy’s advice to sew in the ends as I go. Otherwise there will be hundreds and hundred and hundreds of ends to sew in. And that’s a boring boring lot.
the magic jug 
Well done – hope you don’t suffer from mischevious cats like I do – see latest blog post!
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No, no cats here! I do hope nothing precious was spoilt….
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no damage – these were just from my scrap wool bag
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I hope you do progress posts – I love watching these things come together 🙂 . (Lucy’s blankets are beautiful! And were you as amazed as I was by the displays she put together with all the crocheted flowers?).
I love having a project to take with me, for times when I’m sitting and waiting, or sitting and watching (but don’t need to be watching vigilantly), but for me, those projects have to be dead easy and fool-proof. Last night I was trying to knit a hat while watching my youngest son’s hockey practice, and I dropped two stitches. I guess that’s my long-winded way of saying that now that you’ve got the hang of the crochet squares, you’ll likely have more success with them as a take-along project, than you did on your previous trips, when you still needed to figure things out.
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Oh yes, those flowers were just glorious weren’t they! And I love her exuberant use of colour.
I always have something on the go, usually socks. But I’m home ill with flu at the moment, and once I was over the worst have had a few times when I felt up to crocheting – and you’re quite right, a few more squares in I can see all sorts of ways to carry less around with me and just get on with it, especially on my very long train journeys.
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I love Attic 24! Lucy’s stuff I’d gorgeous. I really like the idea of producing something large and useful like a blanket but I cannot crochet. Yet. I’ve been thinking of trying to learn. Can you recommend a book or website – basic, simple, step-by-step?! Thank you. I really like your ripple blanket – gorgeous colours.
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A couple of suggestions, though I honestly can’t remember learning to crochet, I think it must have been when I was at school (so a long time ago!).
I have an old Ladybird book called Learnabout Crochet (this one from 1975 – I inherited it from my m-i-l). It looks really simple and easy to follow, and you don’t have to go on and make a tie for your younger brother, or a maxi-dress for your dolly. Seriously, once you’ve tackled how to make a chain, then how to do a few rows of double crochet, a few rows of treble crochet, and some slip stitches, you cracked it. One thing to bear in mind – English and US stitch terminology are different, and confusingly so as they use the same stitch names to mean different things.
You might find the book in the children’s library, or else something else in the adult library.
When you get to that point, Lucy’s tutorials are really, really good – there’s an art and a skill to writing technical instructions clearly, and she surely has it.
And the colours of my blanket are down to Lucy as well.
Do give it a go, it really is very easy once you know those few stitches. Buy a 4mm hook and some double knitting yarn, and just play with it.
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Pls excuse typo – predictive typing on my phone!
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But it does sometimes come up with rather imaginative alternatives to what I intended, so not all bad!
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