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

X X X

Starburst Flowers for Spring

Pink and green 

has been a refreshing change

 on my hook this week!

Oh what a pleasure it is choosing new colours for a blanket!

My Stylecraft shade squares have been out again

 and I've enjoyed playing

 with these little samples of colours immensely.

I have chosen

Stylecraft Special DK

in

claret

raspberry

pomegranate

pale rose

fondant

candy floss

soft peach

parchment

spring green meadow

and

khaki

My pattern is the starburst flower by Jane Brocket

 which was in Mollie Makes issue 2

 and is also in her book The Gentle Art of Knitting

To increase speed

I make all of round 1 first

then all of round 2

I find this helps my productions rate

 as your fingers and brain remember the stitch pattern

 and there is no time wasted from changing colours

 if you make in batches of the same colour

This pattern is very close

 enabling the ends to be crocheted over

 as you work on round 2 and 3

working in batches helps make sure

 there are an equal amount of each colour too

The next job is to turn the circles into squares

 and for this I am using parchment

I am using the flat braid join on this blanket 

to add more texture

do come back next week to check on my progress!

The colourful flower square blanket

 is now complete

 and waiting for its red border

 here is a lovely daylight shot

Thank you for all your lovely comments

it pleases me much

 to know that my humble little pag

e is an encouragment to many of you!

Happy hookin friends

Heather X X X

Starburst flower baby blanket

Last week

 I showed you the making of a gorgeous set of starburst flowers.

If you missed the rainbow colours do have a read 

HERE

as promised here is the finished baby blanket

which is now waiting in its new home for the birth

of a lucky little girl!

I am often asked about the pattern for this blanket

do please read the previous post for pattern details!

Heather

x x x

Hello August

Goodbye July and Hello August!

Pheww its been hot ... too hot for me,

 but at least we feel that we've had some summer now!

August has arrived with excitement

 as we celebrate the 80th and 85th birthdays of my parents.

This weekend they hosted a birthday meal to celebrate

 and 26 of us joined together in a very special afternoon.

 Mum and I decorated the restaurant with flowers from her garden

 which we love far more than any shop flowers.

I will be giving Mum the special blanket I have made

 on her actual birthday this week

 so do watch next weekend for the big reveal!

Socialising is not really my cup of tea

 and after 2 social events in 2 days today I was exhausted!

 So I took great delight in a much needed

 afternoon of total indulgence and relaxation

 here at Patchwork House.

 I know I'm tired when even crochet is beyond me!

This week I've been busy

 and as well as working on an Elmer blanket and a V stitch blanket

 I've whipped up another set of starburst flowers for a baby blanket.

 This is going to be a beauty joined in cream.

Feast your eyes on these beauties made in my favourite 

Stylecraft Special DK

in fondant pomegranate shrimp bright pink plum magenta

 lavender turquoise aspen spring green and citron.

This pattern is called starburst or sunburst

there are plenty available on the Internet and there is one

 HERE

 by Priscilla Hewitt that you can use

This week I will be surrounding these beauties with cream

 and will of course show you the finishes baby blanket next weekend!

I will leave you know with a view of my July

I hope that August brings holidays and relaxation

Happy Hookin!

Heather

X X X

Colour choosing

Colour is the best part of my work

I love to start any new project

but especially when

 I have spent time discussing with my customer 

and helping her to choose

photos of furnishings and favourite ornaments sent by the customer

make it such a pleasure

 to choose yarn and coordinate a blanket for a special room

I have spent many happy hours

 working on this blanket 

which happens to be in my favourite colours

I love all shades of blue and green together

and it was a delight

 to work with these 10 different shades of Stylecraft Special DK

100 starburst flowers and no 2 the same

to be surrounded in the classy shade of parchment

I am so pleased the customer followed my advice

 and chose the parchment background

 instead of the white she originally ordered

it was such a pleasure

 to work closely with my customer

 and come up with a unique colour scheme for her home

to receive her comment

"Think I'm going to cry! 

This is now going to be my favourite thing in my house"

has made my day!

I hope you are all having a fabulous relaxing Bank Holiday

Happy Hookin!

Heather

x x x

Colour is everything

Oh how I love starting a new project

choosing the colours

is the best part!

this weeks delight has been a toddler snuggle blanket

in the most gorgeous bright shades

of saffron shrimp fondant magenta and spring green

Oh how I love Stylecraft Special DK!

my colour inspiration

 came from a colour palette by the wonderful

Design Seeds

and I have been delighted with the results

I have used a 4mm hook to make these starburst flowers

 using the Jane Brocket pattern from Mollie Makes issue 2

arranging these beauties is always such fun

as I ponder where they will sit

edging is always a favourite part as it makes the colours sing

I use the continuous join as you go method

 and love how fast the blanket comes together

with the bonus of no ends to sew in!

and finally

to complete this order

 is also a cute little matching dolls blanket!

 

To help those of you who are wanting to try this pattern

 I have made a collage

 showing the life cycle of a starburst flower

it uses 3 different stitches which makes it fun to make

... beware they are addictive!

I find the quickest way to make a blanket

 is to work in batches

 making all of round 1, then all of round 2

 and then round 3 ...

 this way your hand and brain remembers the stitch 

and I find that it gives me a better production rate

 and it is easier to plan equal amounts of colours too!

I hope that my work continues to inspire you!

Thank you to the many lovely ladies who write

happy hookin!

Heather

X X X