Behind the Scenes......

Hellooooooooo.....How are you?

I'm just popping in, because I wanted to tell you the story of a blanket. I was going to do my usual yearly round up post in January, but I felt that this deserved a post of its own. I felt like it needed to be written down and remembered.

This year my hands have not stopped with a hook and yarn. It's been euphoric and draining all at once. I'll explain more about my crafty year in my round up post in January, but this blanket, well, I have thoroughly enjoyed its journey.

Here is the story of how it came about........

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I had an idea to make a granny squares blanket using pastels. I had been spending time on a project that was draining my life force, and I was dreaming of a simple little granny squares blanket that would restore my 'happy' box. 

The kind of pastels I wanted were sludgy and faded pastels. 

That was all I knew.

Then I watched a film. The Light Between Oceans. Whilst I enjoyed the film, what struck me most was the scenery in which it was filmed......and the costumes. The film revolves around the life of two main characters who live on a lighthouse on a remote island. The time is just after the First World War.

The scenery was beautiful; windswept and rugged.

The costumes; natural fabrics, wool, lace and utilitarian.
 

The colours, oh the colours, they really spoke to me. Just lots of neutrals, greys of the sky, blue of the ocean and grey blues in their costumes.

After I had seen the film, I suddenly thought how nice the idea of my pastel blanket would be if it reflected the ruggedness of the land with the hues of the windswept skies and seas in the film.

So....a new blanket was born.

I had a specific idea on what I wanted. Similar tones, and a blanket with an outdoors utilitarian feel. I chose most of my yarns to be pure wool or Alpaca mixes. I think I had only two colours which had any percentage of acrylic, albeit a small percentage. Many were tweed yarns as I wanted to replicate this connection with nature. I did not want soft or fluffy or cosy. It's funny, because usually the soft warm feel is very important to me in a blanket. This was the total opposite!

Now.....in my usual haphazard, non thinky way, I just made the squares and made enough to try and work out what length and width I would like it to be. I needed 360 squares.

They were an utter joy to make.

After working on a project that was huge and all connected, it felt like total freedom to just make the odd square as and when I could.

Turns out I became absolutely besotted with the blanket. I couldn't crochet the squares quick enough. My brain would start itching about five in the morning, so I was up with a cup of tea and a hook. Yarn and a hook seemed to go everywhere with me to get the odd one in. I made the granny square quite a compact one, as I wanted it to feel thick and tightly bound.......more hard wearing for the outdoors. I wanted them to be quite openly seamed together to create a more vintage feel. For the border I wanted something simple, plain, and utilitarian.

So......do you want to see it in all its glory? Get ready for an epic amount of pics. It was a nice day, what can I say?

meet........

Isle Of Skye

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It's everything I wanted....and more. I'm totally in love with it. It's HUGE. As usual it's way bigger than I had in my head! Of course it would be, it wouldn't be me if it wasn't big. 

360 squares. I made a basic granny square, but I wanted it quite compact so the blanket would be tight and robust. I just omitted the chain one from in-between each cluster, and did 6 trebles (uk) on the corners without any chains. I used a 3.5mm hook using dk yarn. It turned out just how I wanted it to turn out. It sort of links it to the era of the film in my mind (which is somewhat fitting too with Rembrance Sunday this weekend).

It's SOOOOOOOOO heavy. Oh my word it is heavy. Ridiculously so. The squares are compact and tightly crocheted, and using mainly pure wool yarn, crikey.......it's hard on the back to carry!

Also, I'm not gonna lie.......it has a faint whiff of sheep and wet dog. Sounds a tad gross I know, but actually, I like it. It sort of adds to the whole entity of what I wanted to achieve. It's a different one for me. I rarely just use one hue of colours. I loved working on it though. I loved how it was plain. I think my brain, at the time, needed plain. Of course, it looks totally out of place nestled in amongst my other blankets. However, this one will be amazing in the coming Winter. It's soooooooo warm. The Bear's are fighting over whose bed it will be going on. I'd like to think mine, but I am turning into the Princess and the Pea with the number of blankets thrown on my bed.

We shall see.

All I know is that I love it.

I truly LOVE it.

So there you are. One of my 2018 creations. I shall be back in the New Year with a round up post. I might even have my act together and have some photos of all the projects I have been working on. Seriously, I have been so creatively stupid this year, you wouldn't believe!!!!!

Have a super few months. I'll see you in the New Year with a round up post of all my 2018 makes and goings on.

cheerio

XXX


P.S   I forgot how long it takes to write text and upload the gazillion photos I took of this blanket. I have loved it though. I have missed it a lot this year. I have thoughts I will share in January.

P.P.S  After I published this, I went and lay under said blanket with a huge cup of tea and a book. It was HEAVEN. This thing is going to be utterly toasty in the Winter months. BRING IT ON!