Just had to share my Mood Blanket ... I am beyond delighted, it looks toooo beautiful.
I joined a CAL in January, calling for a blanket to be made over the space of twelve months. The brief was mainly that, but also that your 'moods' should be reflected in the colours of the blanket. Well, I mulled over this part of the CAL for a while, and decided that my blanket would eventually be many squares of 'upbeat mood' colours and only a few in 'downbeat mood' colours. So I decided to simply make up the squares in my very favourite colours, in random order and about five to seven squares a month. And so my Blissful Mood Blanket came to life!
Details ~
Yarn: Double Knit
Hook: 4mm
Squares: I used the Maybelle Flower Square for the squares. My Rose Valley was one of the first blogs I ever read, and just knew, when I saw this beautiful square, that I would use it in a project in the future sometime.
Joining method: During the early stages of the Mood Blanket CAL, I met another wonderful blogger from Zooty Owl Cards ...... . I was so thrilled to discover that she was a fellow country-lady .. she lives in South Africa too, and in the same city! I spotted a joining method she had used and asked her to share her secret! Here is the link for this very easy and attractive joining method.
Border: Another blog that I have followed forever is The Patchwork Heart, and I first saw this border on one of Heather's fabulous blankets. Here is a useful link that explains how to do the border. I used this pattern but with four dc groups (you can see the groups clearly in the pictures). This fitted in better with the spacing I used that would accommodate the number of stitches on each side of the blanket. The finished size : 60" x 94" / 150cm x 240cm.
And so now it is finished, ready for a little wash and then to be packed away till winter comes round again. It was fun, very satisfying and immensely enjoyable to work on a project for twelve months. Stressful .. No; Blissful .. Yes!
I have already started sorting through patterns of beautiful squares for my 2015 blanket!
Have an amazing weekend
Cheers Pat xxxxxxxxxx
~Sunshine Mandala~
I wanted a slightly bigger Mandala so I decided to enlarge my first pattern, by adding a few more rows, and this was the happy result! Here is the link to the pattern
which has rows 1 - 11, Row 12 follows below!
Notes:
- Use either chain stitches or standing dc/hdc/sc to start any row in this pattern or Maybelle Flower Pattern or any patterns that I may post in future. Sites showing how to make standing sts can be found on my previous post here
- Descriptions of the Double 2dc cluster are also in my previous post for the Maybelle Flower Mandala.
Here are the additional rows:
Row 12: Attach yarn in any sc stitch, with a chain 3 (or standing dc) into this stitch, make a Double 2dc cluster, ch 2, sc into centre dc stitch of shell, ch 2, Double 2dc cluster into sc in between shells, chain 2. Proceed round circle in pattern and join to top of 3 ch (or top of standing dc) to finish the row. (16 Double 2dc clusters and 16 sc's)
Row 13: Attach yarn in any 1ch space of a Double 2dc cluster and do 1sc, ch 4, 1 Fp sc around sc of previous row, ch 4, sc into 1ch space of cluster, ch 4. Continue in pattern and join with a sl st into first sc to end row.
Row 14: Attach yarn (or in the case of my example) sl st into any 4 ch space. Ch 3 (or use standing dc), 3dc all into 4 ch space, 2 ch 4dc into next 4 ch space. Continue in pattern and close with a sl st into starting 3 ch (or top of standing dc)
Row 15: Attach yarn to top of first dc in any group of 4dc. Ch 3 (or standing dc), 1dc in next dc stitch, 2ch, 2 dc in each of next 2 dc sts, ch1. Proceed in this way, you will see each group of 4 dcs from previous row will have 2 dc 'legs' 2ch and another 2dc 'legs' and each group separated by ch1. This is the foundation row for Row 16, which completes the Maybelle flower petals to mirror the petals in the centre flower.
Row 16: Join yarn to any 1ch space (or keep the same colour yarn as I did) and make 1sc to start the row. 7 dc into 2 ch space, 1sc into 1ch space 7 dc into 2 ch space. Continue in pattern and finish with sl st into starting sc.
Row 17: Join yarn into any dc stitch, and sl st a border into each dc stitch around the petals, sl st into first sl st to end row.
ET VOILA!!
I will be posting a photo 'how-to' shortly, just in case you find it easier, like I do .. to follow a pattern that way.
Exciting news has just been posted regarding Yarndale 2014 ... Lucy from Attic 24 has details on how to take part in this fab event; also Zelna from Zooty Owl has exciting Yarndale news of her own .. be sure to take a peek at her Yarndale blog post!!
I am excitedly setting about designing a new Mandala for my contribution; these wondrous wheels are sooo addictive, make one of the many patterns available, I bet you will have number two on your hook in no time!
Hugs
Pat
