Crochet Obsession!

As promised in my last post I am back to give you an update on my crochet activities over the Summer. Crochet has dominated a fair bit of my time and to say that I am a little obsessed is a bit of an understatement. 


First of all I will do a catch-up on my charity blankets. My regular readers will know that I am aiming to make twelve Sunshine International Blankets of Love (SIBOL) which will be donated to a local residential care home at Christmas. I am pleased to say that I have now completed eight and am well on my way with number nine.


These are my two latest finishes:- 

This is a V-stitch blanket, there are many variations of this pattern free online. I finished the main body of the blanket about a month ago but sewing in the hundreds of ends proved to be a bit of a daunting task, my least favourite part of blanket making! When will I ever learn to sew them in as I go? Finally this week I set to over two evenings to sew in all the ends and then completed the border - not to mention the SIBOL logo butterfly.

My next blanket off the hook was the tonal triangle granny afghan, another free pattern available by clicking on this link. I did make my blanket a little larger than the pattern and used a couple of extra colours.

And this is the start of blanket number nine, again a new design for me, I have done several ripple blankets in the past but this one is constructed slightly differently and has a bit more of a lacy effect. The pattern is the Gentle Waves crochet blanket by Kathie at Sew Happy. This pattern is a purchased one but there may be something very similar out there for free. The colours I am using for this were inspired by my lovely Cath Kidston coffee mug and are a bit out of my comfort zone. All of my charity blankets have been made using Stylecraft Special DK and the colours for this one are cloud blue, sage, Spring green, pomegranate, raspberry, fondant and white. The edging for this one will be crocheted using cloud blue.

Not content with just crocheting my charity blankets I also joined the Scheepjes CAL (crochet-along) 'Last Dance On The Beach'. This CAL was the idea of Marinke Slump (Wink), a very talented crochet designer, who suffered from depression and sadly took her own life in 2015. Her friends and fellow designers decided to create this CAL in her memory and thousands of crocheters took up the challenge. I am pleased to say that I have now completed my blanket in the Dancing In The Rain colourway. I did photograph it at home when I completed it but decided to take it on holiday with me because where better to photograph it than on a beach. I hasten to say that I chose a sunny day to dance on the beach rather than a rainy one though!

I always take some crochet projects with me when I go on holiday and this year I decided to have a break from my blankets and start some shawls instead. First up was the Monday Blues Shawl designed by Dedri from www.lookatwhatimade.net. 

My lovely new stitch markers/keepers made by Amy at www.lovemademyhome.blogspot.co.uk came in very handy whilst making this and seeing as I was on holiday at the seaside what better than to use the starfish, seahorse, anchor and seashell keepers.

Unfortunately I ran out of yarn five rows from completing this so had to put it on one side and wait until I had ordered another ball of yarn to finish it off. I am pleased to say it is now finished and I love it.

However I am not sure whether to keep this one or sell it, I love to see people wearing shawls but for some reason they never seem to look very good on me, I am never quite sure how to wear them and they always look better on others rather than myself.

I did enjoy crocheting this stitch and am tempted to use it to make a blanket one day.


I then moved onto another shawl, this one is the Feather and Fan shawl by Kirsten. I am making mine all in one colour using a fine lace weight yarn (Findley Dappled) by Jupiter Moon Farm in colour 132.

I think this one is going to take me awhile, I have put it to one side for now to concentrate on my blankets but I will go back to it once I know I am on target with my charity blankets.


Both of the above shawls are free patterns which can be found by following the links provided.


And if that wasn't enough I have experimented with some more yarn that I have, I am not sure about this one and it may yet be unpicked and used for something else. It is a 100% cotton yarn (Sirdar Cotton Prints). Time will tell as to whether I continue or make something entirely different.

I must say that I was glad to get back to my blankets when I returned home, I started to get a bit panicky about being behind with them but I am now back on target to complete my twelve by Christmas hopefully.


I have already planned my next three blankets and have far too many ideas whirring around in my head of things I want to try - yes, I am totally obsessed!