Another crochet finish!

It felt so good finishing the Carousel blanket that I immediately fished out the squares from the Dancing in the rain blanket and started to join them. I decided to use a more decorative join than I did for Dancing under the stars as I like how it looks on Carousel. Plus it’s a lot less fiddly and I find it faster to do.

Once the squares were joined, I cracked on and did the border, and here it is in all its finished glory.

I did have some incentive to get this finished. I posted recently that I intended to use some of my existing stash before buying any more. I had the best of intentions as I have a LOT of yarny stash, but then I saw a new CAL being advertised and I caved in and got the yarn pack for it.

In my defence, the design is gorgeous and the colours are stunning. The CAL starts next month so I’ll be posting regular updates on it. I’m sure you’ll see why I HAD to do it 😉

I’ve also spotted a CAL in Simply Crochet magazine, which I can use stash yarn for. I might just do that one too.

CAL – Last dance on the beach #16

This is the scheduled three-weekly post for the SAL that I’m doing with several other crafty blogs. As I’m struggling to find time to do any cross stitch, plus keep up with all the crochet that I’m doing, I’m going to use these posts for the Last Dance on the beach blankets. That’ll make sure that I finish them, and then I can get back to some stitching.

Blanket one is finished! Dance under the stars.

The joining took forever so I was happy to finish that. I’m trying not to think about the next blanket that’s waiting to be joined. I’m also happy that I managed to get all the squares the right way up.

It’s very soft and squishy. I really liked the Scheepjes yarn. It’s lovely to hook with and feels beautiful. It’s going to be great to snuggle under.

The border was supposed to be a bit wider but I liked how it looked after five rounds so decided to stop there.

I’m now debating whether to carry straight on with the other blanket or maybe do some cross stitch. Maybe I’ll surprise you next update LOL

For the stitch-a-long I’m linking up to these lovely blogs:

Avis, Claire, Gun, LucyAnn, Kate, Jess, Sue, Constanze, Debbierose, Christina, Susan,
 Kathy,  Margaret, Cindy, Helen, Steph, Linda, Catherine,  Wendy

Not everyone does an update each time, but their blogs are always worth a visit.

CAL – Last dance on the beach #15

This is the scheduled three-weekly post for the SAL that I’m doing with several other crafty blogs. As I’m struggling to find time to do any cross stitch, plus keep up with all the crochet that I’m doing, I’m going to use these posts for the Last Dance on the beach blankets. That’ll make sure that I finish them, and then I can get back to some stitching.

Last time I finished the squares for the Rain blanket which was a huge milestone. This time I’ve finished the last squares for the Stars blanket! Whoo hoo.

That’s all the squares done for both blankets now. I am so chuffed!

As you can see, once again I decided not to go with the scheduled square and did one of the previous squares. I think this one, the corner to corner square, was probably my favourite to crochet. it’s so easy to do and works up so quickly.

The Stars blanket is definitely going to be colourful. This is all 48 squares, sitting in their piles.

Pretty, yes? So, while I’d got them all out, I got some paper out and labeled each square with its week number to make it easier to lay them out in the right order. The instructions come with a chart for how to do that and it’s very random so I needed to make it as easy as possible.

Once I’d done that, out of curiosity, I laid it all out on the floor. Just to see what it would look like.

And then, I somehow found myself with a crochet hook in hand, doing the zipper stitch to join the squares together. I haven’t finished the joining, but I have done all the vertical joins and two of the horizontal joins. It looks quite good.

It feels about three times larger than it actually is when you’re joining it as all the squares are on your lap at the same time but are all trying to go in different directions. I’ve been using stitch markers to hold the squares together, while doing the vertical joins, to stop them twisting as otherwise they flap about all over the place. The stitch itself is easy peasy, but wrangling the blanket is not. There’s not much more joining to do though so there’s every chance there’ll be a finish for the next update as I only have the border to whack on next.

For the stitch-a-long I’m linking up to these lovely blogs:

Avis, Claire, Gun, LucyAnn, Kate, Jess, Sue, Constanze, Debbierose, Christina, Susan,
 Kathy,  Margaret, Cindy, Helen, Steph, Linda, Catherine,  Wendy

Not everyone does an update each time, but their blogs are always worth a visit.

CAL – Last dance on the beach #14

This is the scheduled three-weekly post for the SAL that I’m doing with several other crafty blogs. As I’m struggling to find time to do any cross stitch, plus keep up with all the crochet that I’m doing, I’m going to use these posts for the Last Dance on the beach blankets. That’ll make sure that I finish them, and then I can get back to some stitching.

Last time I said that I was hoping to complete the squares for the Rain blanket, and I’m doing a wee happy dance because I’ve done just that.

Four lovely waffley squares for week twelve making a total of 48 squares altogether.

I’m itching to do the joins on them now but I also really want to finish the Stars squares too. Decisions…

For the stitch-a-long I’m linking up to these lovely blogs:

Avis, Claire, Gun, LucyAnn, Kate, Jess, Sue, Constanze, Debbierose, Christina, Susan,
 Kathy,  Margaret, Cindy, Helen, Steph, Linda, Catherine,  Wendy

Not everyone does an update each time, but their blogs are always worth a visit.

CAL – Last dance on the beach #13

This is the scheduled three-weekly post for the SAL that I’m doing with several other crafty blogs. As I’m struggling to find time to do any cross stitch, plus keep up with all the crochet that I’m doing, I’m going to use these posts for the Last Dance on the beach blankets. That’ll make sure that I finish them, and then I can get back to some stitching.

I haven’t made a lot of progress since the last SAL update. I managed to get the last red bobble square done, but it seemed to take ages as I was getting a bit bored with bobbles.

Then I started the final week’s squares. I could tell straight away that they’d be slow going. Each row consists of groups of half-trebles alternating with groups of slip stitches, making very shallow rows. Also, all the stitches are worked into the back loop, which is slightly more time-consuming.

The first square got about half done and had to be frogged as it was too small. I went up a whole hook size and started a second square, which again turned out to be too small. I increased the hook size and started again but it still wasn’t right. By this time, not only had I spent hours with nothing to show for it, but I was already finding the squares tedious, with eight still to go.

I’d had enough of square twelve by this point so rummaged through the previous squares to see which ones I’d enjoyed the most. It was a toss-up between the basketweave and the corner to corner so I’m doing the Rain blanket in basketweave and I may switch to corner to corner for Stars.

Basketweave is fairly quick to do compared to some of the others but with so much time wasted messing about with the other square, I only found time to do one of them.

Hopefully I can get at least the next three of these done for the next update.

For the stitch-a-long I’m linking up to these lovely blogs:

Avis, Claire, Gun, LucyAnn, Kate, Jess, Sue, Constanze, Debbierose, Christina, Susan,
 Kathy,  Margaret, Cindy, Helen, Steph, Linda, Catherine,  Wendy

Not everyone does an update each time, but their blogs are always worth a visit.

CAL – Last dance on the beach #12

This is the scheduled three-weekly post for the SAL that I’m doing with several other crafty blogs. As I’m struggling to find time to do any cross stitch, plus keep up with all the crochet that I’m doing, I’m going to use these posts for the Last Dance on the beach blankets. That’ll make sure that I finish them, and then I can get back to some stitching.

I took the yarn that I needed for the last twelve squares on holiday with me, hoping that I’d manage to get quite a bit done in the evenings while we were relaxing. It didn’t happen. I finished just one square so have three of the bobble squares for the Stars blanket done.

Just one more of those to do and then eight of the week twelve squares. Hopefully I can find the time to do at least a couple more squares before the next update in three weeks.

For the stitch-a-long I’m linking up to these lovely blogs:

Avis at Sewing beside the sea
Claire at Claire93
Kate at Tall tales from Chiconia
Gun at Rutigt
Lucy at Lucyannluna
Sue at The Magpie’s nest
Constanze at Textile Dreamer
Jess at Ever the crafter
DebbieRose at Sew Rosey
Christina at Petals and Pins
Susan at SusanPblog
Kathy at Sewing etc
Margaret at The Crafty Creek
Helen at Stitchery Nook
Cindy at Home of a floss junkie
Steph at My making do adventure

Not everyone does an update each time, but their blogs are always worth a visit.

CAL – Last dance on the beach #11

This is the scheduled three-weekly post for the SAL that I’m doing with several other crafty blogs. As I’m struggling to find time to do any cross stitch, plus keep up with all the crochet that I’m doing, I’m going to use these posts for the Last Dance on the beach blankets. That’ll make sure that I finish them, and then I can get back to some stitching.

I have another three sets of squares done, which I’m quite pleased with. Just twelve more squares to go.

This is week ten for the Rain blanket. I mentioned before that I really didn’t like the pattern for this. I could do it, but it was fiddly and time-consuming. If it had looked spectacular, that would have been fine, but it was just a rib so I felt it wasn’t worth that much effort. I found a shell stitch pattern that some others on the FaceBook group had used so tried that instead. It’s ok, but nothing special, although it was a lot faster to hook.

Rain – week ten

Next is the square for the Stars blanket, week ten. I found the pattern for this in one of my books and fiddled with it until I got it the right size. I rather like this one and it was a nice one to hook.

Stars week ten

Finally, I’ve just finished the last of the week eleven squares for the Rain blanket. This one has bobbles and was very easy to do. It’s not one of my favourite squares, but it’s ok and I’m hoping to get a crack on with the Stars squares next.

Rain – week eleven

I’ll be missing the next update in November, as I’ll be on holiday, but I’ll be back for the one after that, and will hopefully have found the time to make some progress on these blankets.

For the stitch-a-long I’m linking up to these lovely blogs:

Avis at Sewing beside the sea
Claire at Claire93
Kate at Tall tales from Chiconia
Gun at Rutigt
Wendy at The crafter’s apprentice
Lucy at Lucyannluna
Sue at The Magpie’s nest
Constanze at Textile Dreamer
Jess at Ever the crafter
DebbieRose at Sew Rosey
Christina at Petals and Pins
Susan at SusanPblog
Kathy at Sewing etc
Margaret at The Crafty Creek

Not everyone does an update each time, but their blogs are always worth a visit.

Dance on the beach CAL #10

 

I’ve finished my little catch up with the Stars blanket and have now got 36 squares for each blanket. Only 12 squares left to do for each now.

This one came out beautifully in the purple. I think the bobbles show up really well.

Week seven – Stars

This is a gorgeous colour and I loved doing that stitch again.

Week eight – Stars

Before, I’d abandoned the Rain blanket as I’d been struggling with getting the gauge right on week nine. This time I had no problems at all. I used the suggested hook size and it came out perfectly first time. I’ve no idea what the problem was last time, but these worked up so nicely and perfectly to gauge that I haven’t even blocked them.

Week nine – Rain

Week nine – Stars

Week 10 is the latest one to give me problems. I started the first square and did about five rows. By this point I was really not enjoying myself. I can do the stitch, but I don’t want to. It’s fiddly and very time-consuming. I’m going to find a substitute and do that instead. It’s a shame not to do the pattern exactly how it was designed but I crochet for pleasure and relaxation. I like a challenge but not if it isn’t fun.

I do need to get a crack on with this one now, if I can do so without aggravating my thumb too much, as I’ve just signed up for another CAL. I couldn’t help myself. It’s so pretty! I’ll get some photos of the yarn and the design for my next post so you can see just why it has to be done 😉

 

 

Dance on the beach CAL #9

Progress on this came to a halt a while ago as the arthritis in my thumb was playing up so I needed to give it a rest for a while. In hindsight, I maybe shouldn’t have attempted to keep up with two blankets as it’s a long time since I’ve spent that much time crocheting.

Still, lesson learnt and I’m taking it easier now that I’ve picked up the hooks again. It’ll take a lot longer to finish the blankets but at least my thumb will still work at the end of it.

I was having problems with the gauge on square nine of the Rain blanket so am carrying on with Stars for now and will try that tricksy square nine once I’ve got that caught up with Rain.

So far I’ve finished and blocked week five, the seagull foot prints in a lovely shade of purple.

Also week six which is the corner to corner square. The dark brown made it harder to see what I was doing again, but I got there in the end.

Week seven is currently blocking and I’m halfway through week eight, which is one of my favourites to crochet.

Dance on the beach CAL #8

I’m almost caught up with the Rain squares now. I just need to do this week’s. They’re easy enough, but the gauge is a problem again. I’ll get there though.

Week seven was easy and fun to do, but took a little longer as it was done mostly in dc. I liked that a lot of people in the FB group did different motifs, but I liked the hearts so stuck with that. I may do something different for Stars though.

Week eight is probably my favourite stitch so far. It’s waffle stitch and although I’d used the technique before, I hadn’t used it for that particular stitch. It’s a lovely texture and worked up really quickly.

I’ve also done a few more of the squares for the Stars blanket but need to block them before taking a photo.