This year I have discovered a new love!
If you too like texture
and want to make the thickest, most squishy, dreamiest blanket ever,
then take a look at the waffle stitch blanket.
For my first adventure in texture and colour,
I used the
in my favourite
with a 3.5mm hook.
The colour packs I have put together also have 2 balls of cream,
as they were originally set up for the rainbow granny blanket.
I learnt how to do this stitch,
using an excellent video tutorial on You Tube
by Olivia aka Girly Bunches
You can find this
It really is a very easy stitch and you will soon be hooking,
while talking and watching tv.
This blanket has the most fabulous texture,
with interesting patterns both back (above) and front (below).
I made 2 rows in each colour to achieve this narrow striped design.
Immediately I finished the red rainbow,
I was fast onto another using
I was totally hooked and enjoying every stitch.
Colour therapy from this fabulous colours
and crochet therapy from the amazing stitch.
It soon became easy and I was hooking away fast from memory.
When you look at the waffle stitch from different directions,
it has different looks. The texture is fascinating
and I soon found myself running my fingers along the waffles.
It is so very tactile and sure to be a winner for children in pushchairs!
To frame my blankets I chose a plain linen stitch border in 1 colour.
This sits nice and flat and makes a stunning frame to the blanket.
Linen Stitch border
(UK crochet terms)
Foundation row ~ dc in corner, 2 chain, repeat, dc 2 chain, all the way round,
spacing out the dcs so as to make your blanket edge straight and flat,
we do not want a frilly blanket here!
Round 1 ~ dc in dc, 2 dc in chain loop, repeat with 3 dc in corner stitch.
Round 2 ~ 3 dc in corner stitch, chain 1 miss a dc, dc in next dc,
chain 1 miss a dc repeat then slip stitch into first stitch
.
TURN YOUR WORK
so you are now working from the back
Round 3 ~ dc in the chain space, chain 1 , dc in next chain space chain 1
repeat with 3 dc in the corner, slip stitch into first stitch. Turn your work.
Turning the work after every round helps to keep the border nice and flat.
Keep working until you have the required depth of border.
It can be left with a nice straight edge as here in the pink rainbow blanket
or
an edging can be added as in my pink/grey blanket (see later).
For this I changed to a different colour
and made the final round in reverse linen stitch.
This feels strange at first working backwards,
but you soon get into the rhythm of it.
After the bright waffles, orders started coming in
and I had the pleasure of making 2 grey blankets for customers.
Lemon, silver and white
then candyfloss, silver and white
is the most fabulous place for crochet inspiration.
Try searching for appropriate hashtags
and you will have hours of pleasure discovering new people to follow
and new ideas to make!
I was inspired by many wonderful blankets and crocheters
and next discovered the square waffle blanket.
For this pattern I learnt from another excellent video tutorial on You Tube,
by Natasha aka Buttonnose Crochet, you can find this
This time I chose blues,
denim, cloud blue, silver and white,
and again the reverse linen stitch edging
completed my square.
By now I was totally smitten with this
gorgeous
squishy
warm
cosy
blanket
and decided I needed one in my own life!
Sitting under a blanket to rest is a big part of everyday life for me.
So it wasn't long before I had picked out the beautiful soft vintage colours
I used 8 shades,
duck egg, parma violet, grape, pale rose,
mocha, vintage peach, mushroom and grey.
My border this time was made in stripes,
using up the oddments I had left and I like the simple straight edge here.
If you too have caught the waffle bug
do share your photos in my Facebook group
and use
#inspiredbythepatchworkheart
as a tag on Instagram.
It makes me so happy to see what you are making!
My blog has recently been updated with 2 new pages
and
to make it easier for you to find things again in future.
Yoy can find these pages listed at the top right of the blog.
Take a look now and see what a wonderful resource this is!
Happy hooking friends
Heather
x x x