Patchwork Blanket

 

Hello!  I am so glad this blanket is finished, it is pretty and I quite liked working in these colours, but I am also yearning to work in a more subdued palette again. The colours and blanket remind me of the sugus chewy candy we used to gorge on as kids.  During road trips we challenged one another to unwrap and stack as many sugus as possible before shoving it in our mouths to chew and chew and chew until our jaws ached! Ah, I loved taking a trip down memory lane with this piece.

Patchwork Blanket

Squares: Single Crochet (US); 14 x 7 squares = 98 in total; each square 15 x 15 cm
Click on Pattern for new tutorial

Size of the Blanket: 110 x 220 cm.  I decided to steer away from the initial square I planned and am really pleased with the final dimensions of my blanket 

Hook Size: 5mm

Yarn: Raeesah Summer Cotton Yarn available from Charming Wool

Bobble Edging: See Heidi Bears for her lovely pattern and tutorial.   

This is a heavy throw and I decided to line it in a white toile with a whimsical black pattern to help keep the shape of the piece.  Because of the weight of a big blanket, I think that this yarn is more suitable to smaller baby blankets and projects such as handbags, cushions and toys.
Raeesah colours are really pretty and clean - a combination of hues and tints.  I think this is a great yarn for those enjoying a more solid look opposed to slightly mottled effects of hand dyed cottons.  I personally prefer the mottled effect and have an affinity for greyed down or toned colours, however I am quite in love with this blanket. 

Colour planning: Granny Square Color Pattern Generator.  I have written about the colour generators in this posting and even though I never planned to use this yarn and pattern for a blanket (I bought the yarn for The Teen to keep her fingers out of my Vinnis stash!) the idea of a fun, colourful patchwork blanket just stuck. Using the initial colours as a guideline, but replacing the white with cream and adding a red to the combination, I regenerated this pattern

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Have a great Valentine's Day and weekend. 

The husband is in Qatar and the kids and I will lick our wounds (still in South Africa) by licking a gelato each. Italians opened an authentic Gelateria nearby and I have already sampled the Pistachio as well as Cinnamon Honey flavours. Yum! 

Here is the very first pic the husband took in Downtown Doha. I love the grit and character.

Cheers!

Patchwork blanket hanging from the hooks

This year has certainly kicked off with a big bang and I can't believe how busy January has been!  

I just crossed out this coming Monday morning in my diary and will either sleep in or spend the morning at the beauty parlour, depending on whether I can actually haul myself out of bed for a pampering session.  

We have been shopping (cardigans, shrugs and leggings to transform our minis and sleeveless tops since the official dress code in Qatar requires shoulders and knees to be covered) and entertaining relocation agents; applied for all sorts of clearance certificates and submitted those to Foreign Affairs for Legalisation after the Attorney took it via the High Court for Authentication.  A final stamp from the Embassy and The Husband's work visa is in place and he is off to Qatar tomorrow.  Let's hope that they don't take their sweet time processing our residency permits since we will only join him after all of those are in place. 

The fight to locate a misplaced/missing unabridged birth certificate here at Home affairs is also in full swing.  For goodness sake, when will this country's Home Affairs Department actually get their own affairs in order? The absence of proper systems and the volume of missing documentation boggles the mind. We just laugh, it is part of the experience of living the way we do.

Meanwhile I take time out at night to work on my patchwork crochet blanket. This is a sneak peek of the squares and colours, but you might be interested in knowing that I am also using stronger colours such as red and purple in the design. I have a soft spot for the simplicity of single crochet stitches and the blanket consists of 100 squares all hooked in the same pattern. Single crochet also seems to be a clever solution to a yarn that splits just by the eye staring at it.  I am using Reaasah by Kismet yarns, a 100% cotton worked up in a hook size 5mm.  I find it interesting that the cream/natural does not split at all.  Hmm perhaps the splitting can be attributed to the dyeing process? 

This is all for now, enjoy your weekend! 

Oh, I couldn't resist -  this is what the more vibrant squares look like.

Cheers!

Star-shaped Pillow

 

I grabbed a 5 mm crochet hook and white cotton yarn last week and hooked this scatter cushion (12 pentagons) to show you I can also make something that is neither scarf nor throw!  I am finally enjoying the pure joy of hooking in monochrome but have to admit that I started a throw resembling a patchwork blanket a few days ago.  I am still keeping it under wraps to see whether I like the way it is turning out, but so far so good! 

What are you working on?  I see many bloggers are participating in the Crochet Mood Blanket CAL and it is interesting to see what associations all the bloggers are making between colour, design and emotion.  What a spectacular idea!

Pentagon Amigurumi Pattern:

Row 1: Ch4, close to form ring

Row 2: Ch1 to form first sc, 9 sc = 10 sc

Row 3: ch2, sc in same space (first corner), sc in next st, *sc, ch1, sc in next st to form second corner; sc in next st* repeat 4 times

Row 4: ch2, sc in same space (first corner), sc in next 2 st, *sc, ch1, sc in next st to form second corner; sc in next 2 st* repeat 4 times

Row 5: ch2, sc in same space (first corner), sc in next 3 st, *sc, ch1, sc in next st to form second corner; sc in next 3 st* repeat 4 times

Repeat until desired size, in this case 12 rounds with a 5 mm hook in Raeesah Cotton Yarn

12 Pentagons assembled as per above images result in a round ball. 

 In order to achieve a star, place the two halves to fit exactly on one another, point to point, side to side.