Rainbow Granny, Lilypond and Sophie’s Universe

I have been making this Rainbow Granny as a quick, easy make to cover a new day-bed we have. I made it following inspiration from the Patchwork Heart, I love her colour combinations – or “colour recipes” as she calls them. I have used Stylecraft Special DK with parchment on alternate rows. The rainbow rows are: copper, spice, gold, lime, meadow, khaki, petrol, teal, violet, grape, plum, burgundy, and claret. I prefer a denser granny square so I didn’t do any chains between the treble groups, and only one chain at the corners. I went round in a square until I had the correct width and then just continued in the colour sequence until I had the length I needed. It’s been a great blanket to make, so easy so I can watch a film at the same time or if I’m having a bad M.E. day and need something brainless.

For those days when I need more of a challenge, I have started a Sophie’s Universe. There are gorgeous pictures of these creations all over blogland and Facebook.

I’m a bit late to the party and have decided to make my first Sophie in Cream, then when I’m familiar with the pattern I will choose my colour combination. You see, I’m accepting there will be more than one Sophie – they are so addictive! Actually I love the effect of Sophie in a neutral colour; she is so intricate that she doesn’t need colour and in many ways I think colour would detract from her detail. It’s the best pattern I’ve ever used, and I have been crocheting for yeeears! Dedri, from LookWhatIMade must have spent hours writing up the detailed instructions. I love it that she tells you exactly where you should find yourself after each little group of instructions. Perfect. And if it doesn’t seem to make sense, there’s a video at Its All In A Nutshell demonstrating the whole blanket. I’m totally submerged in Sophie’s Universe; I truly love it!

The third blanket I have on the go at the moment is the Lilypond CAL (Crochet-A-Long) by Janie Crow and Stylecraft. I love the colours in this and I’m currently waiting for week 7 to come out next Tuesday. It’s a mix between flower squares and ripple and wave blocks, so great for keeping you interested. I haven’t decided what to do with mine when I have finished, I think I may hang it as a wall-hanging, but the question is where?!

Joining The Granny Squares

I’m having a really lovely time right now joining the granny squares for the blanket I have been making. For me this is one of the best bits – not sewing, if it were sewing the granny squares would be in a bag behind the sofa and the blanket would never be finished! Joining the squares with double crochet, on the right side so you end up with a ridged effect. So I’ve joined them all in one direction, so its starting to look quite blanketty. Now I’m doing the rows of double crochet in the other direction, so no thinking about which colour to add next, no reaching for squares out of my basket, just rhythmically hooking, calm, relaxed, meditatively making a blanket as I go. The finished achievement is in sight, but I’m still enjoying the hooking. Perfect. Ahhhh.

Blankets

I am currently in the middle of making 2 blankets:  a ripple one which is for me:

and a granny square one I am making for my daughter Jude. 

I love making blankets; they are my favourite thing. You just hook away, without any fiddly bits to think about. The ripple is the best, you can do it without thinking but its not too boring or without shape – just count to 4 every now and again. I also love that you can snuggle under the blankets while you’re making them, making hooky time comforting and productive at the same time. 

The ripple blanket I am making was originally going to be bright red, purple and fuchsia pink, but when I started with these colours it didn’t look anything like I had imagined in my head, just horribly garish; so I started again with these 3 colours. I’m using grape, pale rose and raspberry from Stylecraft DK. I love Stylecraft yarn; it is a cheap acrylic so easy on the purse strings but is as soft as the more expensive cashmerino. It may be acrylic but it’s not plastic or squeaky, perfect for blankets. I decided not to do regular ripple spacing but Interlocking ripple as described by Lucy from Attic24 here. I love the way different colours come to the fore as you look at it; sometimes it’s the raspberry which zings at you, but look away and back and it could be the pale rose you notice most. Much more interesting!

The second blanket I’m currently making for Jude is from Nicki Trench’s book Cute and Easy Crochet. She calls it the Camellia blanket and I made a cotton version a few years ago for my eldest daughter Hannah in the colours Nicki suggests. It’s very classy. This time around I’m doing it in Stylecraft DK (of course!) using parchment for the main colour.

What I love about this granny square blanket is that you don’t have to sew it up at the end. The squares are crocheted together using a double crochet stitch. This gives a very distinctive finish as well as being preferable to do. 

I’m supposed to be making the granny square blanket first as Jude is asking for it, but the ripple seems to be getting there more quickly – I do enjoy hooking a ripple – sorry Jude! I’ll put Ta-Dah! photos on when they are finished.