Monday, May 27, 2013

Stash Buster Blanket Ta Dah!

 Happy Memorial Day! I know this can be a very sad day for some. I, for one, am very grateful for all those who have served our country and sacrificed to do so.
 It has been cold and raining here in Eastern Iowa. Not much outside weather this weekend. So, I finished another blanket. I have been working on this blanket for a while. It was always an in between project. I would work on it while figuring out what to make next. I had no real plan for it, except to use up the Stitch Nation Bamboo Ewe wool that I had left. The yarn is discontinued and I had quite a lot of it. I really liked it and when it went on discount, everywhere, I bought all I could find. I started with a granny rectangle, then grannied from there.

Not terribly sure that I like the acid green in the center, but I did use up all of my yarn.
This was a fun blanket to work on. Not sure what I will do with it  It was for a friend, but that acid green bothers me. We will see. Do you like my pile of yarn on the floor in the first photo. I have my family trained. We cleaned the whole house, top to bottom, on Saturday. Notice that nobody dared to touch my yarn. I thought it was kind of funny. Either that or they have a different idea of what putting things away means.
 I am off to work on and write up the flat oval patten to line an oval basket. I will do the tutorial for the whole lining, not just the bottom. Talk to everyone soon. :)

P.S. I want to add that I was inspired to make this when I saw the Wendy Blanket. I came up with the rectangle pattern and this pattern on my own, but I think the Wendy Blanket is gorgeous.

Extra P.S. I have gotten such positive feedback on this blanket that I have put the instructions on how to make it here.
Here we go. This is three stitches less than the tutorial I wrote. Ch. 28, then dc in the 6th ch from the hook. Work a dc in each stitch until you have 18 dc. Join to the first ch with a slip stitch. You should have a loop at each end with 5 chains. I had to make it three less stitches than the tutorial so that the three round granny squares would fit.
For the second row, change colors. I do it on the side, three dc's from the end. From here you can follow the granny rectangle tutorial, it has photos. http://mamakashi.blogspot.com/2013/01/three-things-snow-ta-dah-and-granny.html
I did 6 rounds after the foundation round. Then I made 16 granny squares with only two rounds. I used the third round to JAYG. I joined the first square on the corner of the rectangle and worked around. After completing the joining of the 16 squares I did 6 rounds in granny clusters. There are 6 rounds between every group of granny squares.
I made 32 granny squares for the next round of granny squares. The same way, starting with two round squares and joining with the third round.
Again, 6 rounds to seperate granny rounds and then 48 squares. Then 6 rounds to seperate.
For the last set of granny squares I made 64 squares. That was it for the squares. Then I did 2 rows in the same color (this is the main color for the last part of my blanket. After the first two rows, every other row is this color). After the that I used aqua for a round then the main color (blue) then aqua again. Then blue, then I put a red row in, I had to use up my red. Back to blue and then the kelly green, alternating with another round of blue then green then blue to finish it off. For the border I did a row of blue in sc (dc in uk). Then I did a row of sc all the way around with each corner having 2 sc, 2 ch, 2 sc in them. For the red round I did an sc, ch1, sk a stitch and sc, ch1 all the way around. The corners have an sc, 2 ch, sc each. For the last row of teal sc in the top of the sc stitches and then a long sc in the skipped stitch. A long sc is the same as an sc, you just insert the hook in the skipped stitch on the row below. I hope that makes sense. For the corners I did two sc, ch 2, 2 sc ea. The last row is the main color, blue and I hdc (htc) around the whole border. Each corner has two hdc, 2 ch, 2 hdc. Then fasten off. There are tons of ends to weave in on this blanket. I did them after completing each round of granny squares. I think it took longer than making the blanket. I hope this makes sense, if not, feel free to contact me anytime and I can help. Have fun and I can't wait to see what you make. Thanks, Kashi.