Giveaway Winner

Thank you all so much for entering my giveaway.

 All of the 309 comments make me feel so very humble,

 as I read why you like my blog. You really are an encouragement

 to me to keep on sharing and posting my daily mugshots!

So down to business . . .

£25 of Stylecraft Vouchers and a bag full of Patchwork Heart goodies

was obviously a very tempting prize!

As I worked my way through the comments I found several repeats,

 so some were deleted to make it fair. I then used a random

 number generator and counted down the list to find a winner.

So with great pleasure I announce the winner is

Ann Fitzgerald

I have emailed Ann and am waiting for her reply.

 If anyone reading this knows her please give her a nudge!

When Ann has received her prize I will share photos next week.

Many thanks again for all your lovely comments

, I am so lucky to have you all

Heather 

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The Batik Rainbow Blanket

A few months ago you will remember,

I had the privilege of visiting Stylecraft Mill along with the other blogstars.

 We were treated like royalty

 and showered with gifts to share with you all!

One of these gifts was a pack of the new

  Stylecraft yarn Batik.

This is a 20% wool 80% acrylic mix with a speckled appearance.

 It comes in cute 50g balls and is available in 16 beautiful shades.

So what a pleasure it has been

 to design a blanket

 that would showcase this new yarn.

I began by trying out a new block to me, from an old favourite book, 

200 Crochet Blocks by Jan Eaton.

you can buy this from Amazon.

(Note the UK version has a pink cover

 and the US version has a blue cover!)

I wanted to use a small square

 so chose the Wisteria block and just made rounds 1 to 4.

Playing with the colours is my favourite part!

I soon realised that the 16 shades have been created to work well

together, which is a joy for us crochet artists.

I have used 1 50g ball of the shades

indigo

cherry

 teal

old gold

violet

coral

storm

raspberry

pistachio

heather

olive

sage

plum

and

10 balls of

biscuit for the joining and border.

I worked with a 3.5mm hook

You can buy the yarn 

HERE

So I set about making squares

 using 4 rounds of colour

 and the 5th round of each square I made in biscuit.

Some balls made 7 squares and others made 8!

This will be due to varying yarn thickness

 and differences in my tension.

So I had 99 squares when complete

 which I arranged in a rectangle 9 x 11.

I'm frequently asked how do I plan the layout of my blankets

 to make them look random. Well my trick is to play crochet Sudoku!

Just using my eye I try to place only 1 of any colour

 in each row or column and it works well!

My first layout was a random mix of the squares as seen above,

 but this just didn't sing to me! I knew that the Batik yarn

 was more special than this so I had a second play!

This time I was happy, very happy indeed!

I chose the layout above blending the colours

 from 1 corner of the rectangle to the opposite one.

Joining is my favourite part of blanket making

 as you see it come together so fast.

I have crocheted the squares together from the back,

 using UK dc through both loops.

 This gives a really strong join with a nice simple look.

 You will find a tutorial for this method

HERE.

The first view of the blanket is always so exciting

 and here above you can see it with the first direction of joining done.

The second direction of joining

 completes the blanket into one piece

 and look what a wonderful surprise I found!

 As 4 squares meet and are joined

 a flower is formed from their 4 corners!

 This is made from the pattern of the squares

 and nothing to do with the joining method.

What a delight!

When you stand back and view the blanket from a distance

there is another surprise to behold . . .

can you see the diagonal pattern made by the holes?

Oh what a joy, this rainbow blanket of plain squares

 has so much to delight in it!

Here's a close up of the join and the formation of the flower.

This joining method creates a ridge on the back of the blanket

 and smooth flat finish on the front.

With the blanket complete it was time to choose the border.

I can highly recommend this border book

Around The Corner by Edie Eckman,

It is written in US terms and has written instructions and charts.

I have used border number 27

 after beginning with a foundation round of trebles first.

So here it is

my Rainbow Batik Blanket

Tadaa!

If you would like to try this yarn for yourself

 (or treat yourself to any other Stylecraft yarns or patterns)

I am hosting a little

 competition

for my UK followers.

You can win yourself a Stylecraft bag of goodies,

filled with some Patchwork Heart treats

and £25 of vouchers!

(The vouchers can be redeemed in UK, at any bricks and mortar yarn shop.)

To enter

simply leave me a comment on this blog post,

 telling me what you enjoy about my blog.

You must make sure that I can find your email

 to contact you in case you are the winner!

A winner will be drawn at random on

 Sunday 25th September

 so you have 2 weeks to enter!

The fun of this rainbow blanket is that it looks so different

 from every direction!

This blanket is a winner and it is a keeper!

 A new blanket for Patchwork House!

If you are not a fan of wool, do not despair!

I have had some comments from followers on Facebook and Instagram

who either cannot wear wool or who would prefer a more affordable option.

As you know I listen to all your comments and aim to please! 

I have plans to make the same blanket again

 in Stylecraft Special DK using the flecked yarns,

 so watch this space!

I wish you all a happy hooky weekend

and look forward to reading your comments.

Don't forget to comment here now

 to be in with a chance of winning!

Heather

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This post was sponsored by Stylecraft Yarns