The second blanket C10 is finished, using up all the remaining rust and yellow blocks. I joined them using double crochet, the same as for the first blanket. This time I wanted to do a double crochet stitch edging too, so I did several rows of rust and brown, since there was no more yellow yarn. I like the way it turned out.
I am not so happy about the shape of the blanket. I have long wanted to do a medallion arrangement of the blocks, but for that you need odd numbers of blocks both in the rows and the columns. I was pleased to see that here I had exactly enough blocks for a 9 by 13 arrangements. I did not stop to think that it would make a long narrow blanket until it was too late to change my mind. So I had to leave it, and the blanket is 1.55m by 1.05m. It would have been better shorter and wider. It used up 720gr of yarn.
So, overall it was extremely inexpensive enjoyable crochet. The end results were not that good.
I seem to have a waiting list of blankets to be finished. I have finally - nine months after finishing the crochet of all the blocks - made time to join the blocks for blanket C10. This was very enjoyable bus crochet for over a year. When I got the blocks out again I realised that I had forgotten that the blocks were different sizes and that I would have to do two smaller blankets.
The first blanket consists of all the brown and the larger rust blocks. Again I joined them using a crochet slip stitch and I did the edging using one round of double crochet and one of crab stitch. I think it worked OK. I could have thought more about the arrangement of the blocks. The extra rust block might have been better placed in the opposite corner.
The result is a light blanket, 100 by 113 cms, a perfect size for a child. Personally I like the colours, although I can see that many would not. They come across as 1970s colours. I washed it in the machine without problems.
I really like the pattern that the decreases make and the texture that they give. The slip stitch join makes a ditch on the right side and I don't mind it at all.
Now I am fastening the ends of blanket #154 and I will finish it before going on to continue with the rest of the blocks for blanket C10.
It was while I was crocheting together blanket C9 that I realised how much I enjoyed the crochet, and I looked round for yarn suitable for a crochet project, something I could do on the bus. So it needed to be portable and easy to do. I remembered this 4 ply yarn that I bought in a charity shop about a yarn ago. It came in a plastic bag - nearly one and a half kilo. I managed to convince myself that it was a wool blend, so it would do in the blankets. But I think I was wrong. It is much more likely to be pure acrylic. For crochet it would do fine.
The colours are nice - two shades of yellow, rust and brown. The yellows and rust are crepe, so ideal for crochet as it gives a nice definition. Together the colours look good.
I enjoyed doing the Erika Knight's hexagons, and I wanted something similar. In Jan Eaton's book 200 crochet blocks I found a pattern for a square block in trebles without the gaps that you get in granny squares. It is a very easy pattern, easy to do and easy to follow. I memorized it after the second row.
So now I have finished the yellow blocks. The rust yarn turned out to be thinner than the yellow, so I can't put them in the same blanket. I tried the brown one. It is thicker, so no good either. The brown yarn is an ordinary 4 ply, ie not crepe, but it must be spun with a z twist because it splits very easily, so it is more awkward to crochet. The yellow yarns were a dream.
That means that I'm heading for two baby blankets - one yellow and one brown - instead of one adult sized. I'll leave the rust yarn for crocheting together. I still enjoy it very much, and I wonder what I can find to do on the bus next.
