Colour inspiration

  

 Flowers are often my inspiration for blankets.

When I see a garden my

 brain translates the beautiful colours into yarn!

This beautiful tulip garden at the home of 

my Instagram friend Pat @relovedpreloved

was my inspiration this week

Those beautiful tulips sent me rushing to my sample squares

 and here is my colour recipe

Stylecraft Special DK 

in

pomegranate shrimp fondant apricot

spring green saffron and lemon with soft peach.

This blanket is to be a gift

 for a baby girl due to arrive at the end of June.

Half term happiness for me

 has been oodles of crochet time

and I've had the pleasure of making this little pram blanket

 from start to finish in just a few days.

The colours have been so refreshing

full of citrus appeal

and memories of childhood sweets!

I love the starburst flower pattern by Jane Brocket

(my pattern is from an old copy of Mollie Makes).

Its really quick making them in batches

 and crocheting over the ends of rounds 1 and 2.

My preferred joining method for this

 is continuous join as you go 

using the contasting colour of soft peach.

and here we have it

tadaa!

So now its just a border that remains

 and this will be some simple rows of treble clusters

 followed by a scalloped edge.

Where did May go? It went so fast

 and not a hint of summer weather here yet!

Its back to school for me tomorrow to exams, 

300 papers to mark this week

 followed by 60 reports to write the week after.

I may be absent from your feeds for the next few weeks!

Happy hookin friends

Heather

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Joining Squares Method 3 - Continuous join as you go

Continuous join as you go tutorial

(Tutorial uses English crochet terms)

1 Arrange your squares in a suitable colour order

2 Here is a map to show you the direction to work

 starting in the top right corner

3 Attach contrasting yarn in the  corner of the top right square.

 Begin by making 3 trebles to form half of the corner. 

Continue to make clusters of 3 trebles in each space.

At the corner make 3 trebles 1 chain 3 trebles in the same space.

4 Continue in the same manner along the 2nd side of the 1st square.

At the corner make 3 trebles 1 chain

5 Make 3 trebles into bottom right corner of square 2.

Before making next set of 3 trebles 

you will now link back to the first square

6 Put hook under and into the space.

7 Pull yarn through to make 2 loops on hook

8 Slip the 2nd loop through the 1st loop on the hook to leave 1 stitch.

You have now joined square 2 to square 1.

Make 3 trebles in next space

9 Continue making joining stitch in between every group of 3 trebles.

At the corner make 3 trebles, join to square 1,

 then 1 chain 3 trebles to complete the corner

10 Continue along row 1 joining all the squares along the top

then follow direction of yarn shown to complete row 1

11 Along the bottom of row 1

 - to complete a corner make 3 trebles

12 in the corner space pull through a loop

13 join with slip stitch

14 1 chain then 3 trebles in next corner

15 Continue till end of row,

BUT DO NOT COMPLETE LAST SIDE OF SQUARE 1

16 Attach square 1 from row 2

17 Work along making 3 trebles in each space

 with a joining stitch between.

At the end of the square make 3 trebles for the corner

 then you are going to join into the square diagonally above to the left.

After joining make 1 chain and 3 trebles to complete the corner

 and continue down the left side of your square.

You will now be feeling the rhythm and be ready to attach square 2 of row 2.

18 Work along joining square 2 of row 2.When you reach the corner

 you are ready to join the first group of 4 corners.

19 Join into the square diagonally opposite. 

20 Next make 1 chain 3 trebles to complete the corner.

21 When complete the 4 corners look like this when joined

22 Continue following direction of yarn

23 and you will end up back at the beginning

 with the amazing bonus of only 2 ends to sew in!

This is a very fast joining method and I like the addition of the

 contrasting colour to add a background to the blanket.

I hope you have found this tutorial helpful.

If you like this Turquoise Colour Pack you can buy it

HERE

If you have enjoyed using my free tutorial

 please consider making a small donation 

via the Paypal app on my sidebar.

 This will help support my crochet journey

 and enable me to provide more free posts in future.

Many thanks

wishing you a happy hooky adventure

Heather

X X X

Joining Squares Method 2 - Crochet together from the back

Crochet together from the back tutorial

(Tutorial uses English crochet terms)

1 Arrange your squares in a suitable colour order 

and make a final round on each with a contrasting joining colour.

Sew the final end in on each square using a darning needle.

2 Place 2 squares together with right sides facing. 

These will be the right hand squares on the 1st and 2nd rows.

Attach yarn through both corner loops

3 Place hook through both of the 1st stitches 

(4 loops on hook) and make a dc

4 Continue along whole row making dc then fasten off at the end.

Repeat for all rows in the same direction.

5 The joining stitch will form a ridge on the back of your work.

6 Turn your blanket

 and complete the rows in the opposite direction.

7 When finished the front has a smooth neat join

This is a very strong join. I like the addition of the

 contrasting colour to add a background to the blanket.

If you have liked this Turquoise Colour Pack you can buy it 

HERE

I hope you have found this tutorial helpful.

If you have enjoyed using my free tutorial

 please consider making a small donation 

via the Paypal app on my sidebar.

 This will help support my crochet journey

 and enable me to provide more free posts in future.

Many thanks

wishing you a happy hooky adventure

Heather

X X X

Joining Squares Method 1 - Crochet together from the front

Crochet together from the front tutorial

(Tutorial uses English crochet terms)

1 Arrange your squares in a suitable colour order

2 Use a contrasting colour for joining

3 Place 2 squares wrong sides together. 

These will be the right hand squares on the 1st and 2nd rows.

Attach yarn through both corner loops

4 Place hook through both of the 1st stitches 

(4 loops on hook) and make a dc

5 Continue along whole row then fasten off at the end.

6 Repeat for all rows in the same direction.

The joining stitch will form a ridge on the top of your work.

7 Turn your blanket

 and complete the rows in the opposite direction.

This is a very strong join and I like it made in a

 contrasting colour to add another dimension to the blanket.

If you have liked this Turquoise Colour Pack you can buy it

HERE

I hope you have found this tutorial helpful.

If you have enjoyed using my free tutorial

 please consider making a small donation 

via the Paypal app on my sidebar.

 This will help support my crochet journey

 and enable me to provide more free posts in future.

Many thanks

wishing you a happy hooky adventure

Heather

X X X

Hexie Happiness

Hello and happy half term!

How wonderful to be full time Patchwork Heart for a week!

 I am totally in my happy zone!

A few weeks ago

 feeling that my creativity was being stifled I began playing.

I was inspired by the wonderful colourful images in my feed 

on both Facebook and Instagram from the talented

  Sue Pinner

So I dug out her book

Granny Squares

and started playing with hexies

Join as you go is my favourite joining method

I love the texture it creates and making the blanket as I go.

These tesselating shapes are just perfection to me!

I loved the simplicity here

 of working with just 3 colours

I used 

Stylecraft Special DK

in

fondant pomegranate and raspberry

it was so easy to work out 

which colour order came next

 as at each corner 3 hexies meet 

meaning that you just need 1 of each

I worked from the centre outwards in rounds

and love the hexagon shaped blanket with its uneven edges

It wasnt long before a simple picot edging

completed the blanket

and it was sold!

So what next I thought . . .

colours

BRIGHT COLOURS

and a bigger hexie blanket! 

The idea of this blanket was to try out some

Hayfield Bonus DK

that I had been given

This time I worked in rows

 using 11 shades

oh what fun planning each row

I love the multi coloured hexagons

and my next hexie blanket will use even more shades

Comparison wise

Stylecraft Special DK wins every time for me

 for blanket making.

I have to say again and again

 it is so soft, beautiful to work with and has great washability.

The Hayfield Bonus I found to have a very cheap feel 

and the different colours have different thicknesses so its not for me.

I'm pleased to have had the opportunity to try it

as I know many people like its large colour range.

I am sure the blanket will look great when complete though

 and have confidence that a wash with plenty of fabric softener

 will help it along nicely!

Thank you for the many lovely comments you all send, 

I am sorry that I do not have time to reply individually. 

I love to share my work to encourage and inspire you!

If you have enjoyed my posts

 please consider a small donation

  to support my crochet journey

by using the Paypal donate logo on my sidebar

Have a wonderful hooky Bank Holiday my friends

Heather

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