Crochet beginnings and endings

Let’s make time for some crochet!
It’s been a long time since I devoted a whole post to crochet and yet I always have some on the go and still love it with a passion.
We’ll start with the endings. Yes, I finally actually finished a crochet blanket!

This is my Ripple Baby Blanket, made from Baby Rooster wool, a super soft, fine DK yarn that’s 100% merino wool and machine washable.
I started this blanket about a year ago to show off the wool (which we’d just got in stock) and because I was giving a class in the ripple pattern. I fiinished it a few days ago with that picot edging which was my sister’s idea (thanks Jane!), I think it’s the perfect edging for this pattern.
This is also my first FAL finish this quarter – woohoo!!

The Ripple Crochet half day class has been really popular and I have a new class coming up soon, details here.
Meanwhile I’ve made up a Baby Rooster Ripple Inspiration Pack containing 1 each of the colours I used for this blanket and for sale on our website at just £31.99. The blanket took about 1 and a quarter balls each of all 7 colours to make, but it’s quite big for a cot blanket so you could make it a bit smaller and get away with one ball each. I used this tutorial from Attic 24 blog to get started.

I also find them tremendously comforting to work on. A few months back we had a very sudden family bereavement and were all knocked for six. The only thing I could think of to do was to start crocheting these popcorn rose motifs. I had finished teaching them in a workshop the day before I got the news and I just grabbed my wools and crocheted like crazy. They got me through those first terrible days and I’ve kept going with them on and off since.

First of all I thought I might just make a cushion because I didn’t really want to start another blanket. But I was loving the way this looked too much.
I’ve wanted to make a granny square type blanket with dark wool around each square since I saw the gorgeous Afghan draped over the back of *WARNING geek alert!!*Amy Farrah Fowler’s sofa in The Big Bang Theory.  Everytime it switches to her apartment I lose track of the action because I can’t take my eyes off that crochet throw!

So I’ve kept going and it’s looking better and better! And it’s still very comforting to do.
The pattern is an adaptation of one I used for this Wedding Blanket from the book Crocheted Throws and Wraps by Melody Griffiths, which is still one of my favourite crochet books.

Meanwhile I will leave you with this amazing photo, taken recently in Kerala by one of my students. Now that’s yarn bombing!