Blanket Planning

Today in the Attic we are going to have ourselves a bit of a....

....c o l o u r ~ f e s t....

....yippeeeee!!! There's nothing I enjoy more than messing about with colour and yarn, and I've got some lovely colour-filled ideas to share with you today. Colour palettes are crowding my mind day and night just now as I'm busy working on new crochet designs and projects. Playing and working with colour is an exhilarating way to be creative, I absolutely love the shivers of excitement that buzz buzz buzz when I work on colour ideas. It makes me so happy! Of course, the colour palettes I choose are just the beginning of a wonderful creative journey, but it's very important to get this part right. A bit like a map I guess - sometimes it's fun to spontaneously set out on your travels with only a vague idea of where you're going, but usually it's a good idea to use a map and plan your route.

Whenever I start planning a new crochet blanket, the choosing of colours takes top priority over the choosing of a pattern. Sometimes the colour selection is a very speedy affair and comes together within minutes. Other times I mull it over for many weeks and months before settling on a final decision. It's just such a fun, happy thing to do, I love love love love love it! I really enjoy bringing together a selection of colours that will sing in harmony and tell a particular story or evoke special memories. The above picture shows six colour palettes that I've used to make blankets during the past five years. Each one reminds me of a specific time or place, inspired by nature or relating to happy times spent with my family. 

{top row left to right : coast : cottage : cosy ♥ bottom row left to right : harmony : original : sunny}

This is the original colour selection of Stylecraft Special DK I chose way back in the Spring of 2010. I remember selecting these 17 colours in my local yarn shop, pulling the balls down from the shelf and arranging them on the floor of the shop until I fell in love with what I saw. It was so speedy, I remember that I just allowed my heart to tell my eyes which colours made me feel h-a-p-p-y. I then went on to use these colours to make a colourful Granny Stripe blanket for our caravan, and this colour palette now reminds me of all the wonderful family holidays we've had with our beloved Connievan.

 

These colours I called "Coast" and they were inspired by my childhood growing up by the sea in Dorset. It tells the story of sea and sky, of grassy cliff tops and pebble beaches. I crocheted these cool, calm colours into a ripple blanket in the Spring/Summer of 2014.

I chose these colours at the same time that I chose the coast colours, and the two blankets are a bit like brother and sister. This palette I called "Cottage" and it was inspired by my Mum's pretty cottage garden in Dorset. The story here is of warm terracotta, curvy stone paths, fragrant herbs, summer skies and the pretty colours of sweet peas, clematis, lavender and roses. The Cottage ripple blanket reminds me of Summer holidays and special family times.

Ah, here are my "Cosy" colours, how I LOVE this colour palette! These beautiful, warm, rich colours are inspired by the abundance of colour found in leaves, seeds, berries and flowers during the Autumn season. It makes me feel a teensy bit warm and fuzzy just looking at these colours and remembering the pure pleasure of this cosy blanket journey.

This colour palette is named "Harmony" and I love the calm and gentle nature of these soft blues, greens, purples and pinks. The inspiration for this blanket came from my favourite time of year (when Spring merges with Summer) and makes me think of bluebells and blossom, of babbling rivers and sun dappled woodland. The Harmony blanket was a joy to make and reminds me of riverside picnics and Sunday morning walks.

You will probably all be familiar with these "Sunny colours" as it was only last month that I completed this blanket. These colours are bright and cheery, bold and feisty, and remind me of hot summer days, big pots overflowing with bright summer flowers, lazy days, flipflops and bare arms. They are happy and carefree, and the Sunny Log Cabin blanket is one of my all time favourite makes.

My blankets do all have a very recognisable feel to them - the colours are harmonious and well balanced and very definitely "me" in a way that's hard to define in words. I love that they all have such vivid memories attached to them, and that they mean something very personal to me. Each blanket represents a bundle of personal memories and they are all very heavily inspired by colours of the seasons. I guess I have found an instinctive way to choose colours and make blankets that feels natural and genuine - I'm not influenced by what others are making or what's on-trend. This is just me making blankets for my home using colours that make me happy.

Most days I will find myself having a jolly good play around with yarn colours, it's become a bit of an addiction to tell the truth. You may remember the Stylecraft Colour competition that I helped to judge last year - I've become very familiar with this yarn during the 5+ years that I've crocheted blankets with it and know the ins and outs of the colours very well. There are now 83 (eighty three!) shades to play with in the Stylecraft Special DK, and I am very lucky to have most of those colours on my shelves here in the studio.  

Although my colour palettes generally come from within my own memory banks, I do also keep a kind of a visual colour journal of images which inspire me. Sometimes it might be an image on the internet (I have a colour board on Pinterest where I collect images that inspire), and sometimes it might be images in a book or magazine that have me reaching for my bowl of yarn pegs. I take photos of my pegs with the image, then file them away on my computer for future pondering. The above two images were inspired by the pages of Mollie Makes magazine which has a very distinctive colour palette, it's a sort of eclectic vintage/retro/neon brights mix which I find very appealing.

I also collect greetings cards and postcards, labels, wrapping papers, snippets from brochures, magazines, leaflets, catalogues. I keep anything that sparks a happy feeling or sets my creative colour cogs whirring, I'll have to show you my scrapbook pages sometime. I tend to live life with eyes and heart wide, wide open, seeking pleasure in my surroundings and soaking up inspiration wherever I can find it. I just love the thread of colourfulness that runs through my days, it makes me very very very happy.

Yesterday I started a new blanket, oh deep joy! I've decided to make another Cosy Stripe blanket using a palette of beautiful, soft colours which are very pretty and Spring-like. The colours were originally inspired by one of my lovely Facebook followers (thank you Sheena!) who wrote to me and asked if I could create a cupcake-inspired colour palette for her. The idea was so appealing I just couldn't resist, and so here I am at the start of another blanket making journey. There will be a yarn pack coming to my shop in April if you fancy hooking up some sweet stripes for Spring - I'll keep you updated with my progress. 

Oh yes, I even made myself a cupcake board on Pinterest  - do go and feast your eyes, it's quite the most delicious inspiration.

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Comments

[Katie B]

Takes me back to wrapping threads around strips of card ... do you remember?!
Beautiful combos Lucy - you still have a great eye for colour - v inspiring, & I love the Cupcake Palette.
Lots of love,
Katie B X X

[Teresa Kasner]

I love the cupcake pretty colors in your new blanket! I just ordered some pastel-y colors also and will look forward to seeing how yours works out. ((hugs)), Teresa :-)

[Srikala Raghwan]

Greetings Lucy,

This is Srikala. A very prosperous happy new year to you and your family.We had met once, in the Yarndale 2015.

I made a granny square blanket. But as the rows increased, the four corners were not inline with the middle. the corners were sagging very much and finally my granny square blanket wasn't a square at all. However, when I see yours, its of perfect shape as desired.

Would you please advise me in this regard how to make a perfect granny square blanket? do I need to block it or flip it the wrong side facing me or change the sides to start off a new row??

Thanks much,
Srikala.

[CJ]

What a brilliant post, so lovely to hear a little about your process for choosing colours. My favourite is the cottage mixture I think. I can exactly imagine the pretty cottage garden that inspired you. CJ xx

[Charlotte]

It is great seeing your blankets like this. I have done the original granny strip and have 2 of the sunny parks but after 4 squares it was not my cup so tea. Will do a granny strip and wonder if I could do the cosy strip with the other pack. My daughters gave me 2 packs of the coast and I have started a king size ripple. Really want to do them all except the sunny squares. Love the cupcake colors

[Kath]

A lovely, soft colour palette, so different from your usual, but still very Lucy! Each time you show us a new blanket, I think, "This is my favourite." Truth is, they're all gorgeous in different ways. Thanks for all the colour at a gloomy time of year!

[Tracy🙂]

Really looking forward to this pack becoming available. The colours are so pretty. I wish I could put colours together so well, but I lack the confidence. I don't find adult colouring relaxing, because I worry about my choice of colour being wrong. Keep on doing what you are doing it is so inspiring.
I hope you continue to feel better

[Astrid]

I love the colours . Almost finished the Sunny log cabin. Addicted to your blankets.
Waiting for april to see them in the shop.
So much pleasure time by hooking , relaxing and coming in harmony with my thoughts.

[Becky]

You have an amazing talent and a keen eye for color! Thank you and lovely work! :)

[Kate]

I was looking at your cupcake pinterest board and thought that any of them would be beautiful to serve at a wedding instead of a wedding cake. I love coming to your blog to see all the color. On a dark winter's day, it is uplifting. Wish I lived near you.

[Daphne]

Oh Lucy you've done it again, those beautiful pastel colours! How can I resist, I'll have to hurry and finish the cosy blanket I'm making, had the kit for Christmas, hope you are feeling more like your old self, keep on writing if you can, I'll keep on reading, love your blog so much, look after yourself, enjoy all that colour.

[Sarah White]

Love all your blankets especially the harmony one. I use pegs to play with colour too but they don't always make to the blanket stage just enjoy the playing. Look forward to your next chat . Enjoy your fireside Sarah @motherbirdmakes

[Kate]

I've just finished the harmony blanket, thank you! Your blog and the blanket have been great therapy for me this winter. I just don't know which blanket to choose for my next project!

[Anne at Shintangle Studio]

Lucy, this is one of my all-time favourite posts on your blog. It's a huge treat to see your various colour palettes altogether like this and particularly fun to see how your choices are changing as time goes on. Wonderful. More than a year ago, when you were inviting people to crochet along with you on your coast ripple, I committed to starting my own, but said I'd do it in deep reds and blues. I finished it! I'm not on instagram but you can see it here: http://shintanglestudio.typepad.com/blog/2015/10/firewater-crocheted-throw.html. My blanket is certainly not your palette, but I would never have done it had I not been inspired by your lovely seaside hues. I really, really hope that sometime you will show us your scrapbook pages.

[Lis]

Love all your blankets! Made a few bags, and am halfway through a blanket.....
I've recently found a magazine (in country New South Wales!) I hadn't seen before, called Daphne's Diary (http://www.daphnesdiary.com/en/) which has a mix of colours that I find very appealing... reading through your comments I think I need to pick out the colours (maybe I'll even need to make some colour pegs!) and see where that takes me.....

[Susan Smith]

Wow, wow, wow!!! All so gorgeous and a feast for the eyes and senses. Take care.

[Katrina]

Your colours resonate, but most importantly, and most heartfelt-ly, you resonate ... "I tend to live life with eyes and heart wide, wide open, seeking pleasure in my surroundings and soaking up inspiration wherever I can find it. I just love the thread of colourfulness that runs through my days, it makes me very very very happy" xxxx

[Emma]

Such beautiful cupcake colours, I am always so excited when you start a new blanket Lucy! I would love to see you do another 'squares' blanket like the harmony but maybe in warmer colours with a red base?

[Claire]

There is so much pleasure to be had in the planning of a creative project, I think - almost as much as the actual doing of the project for me!

[Linda]

Is there a place on this blog where you disguss in depth the making of your color pegs.

[Kathy Wolfe]

Love,love,love it can't wait to make this one. love your eye for color

[Jo Bleaden]

I also love choosing colours and have been inspired in similar ways. I must thank you for introducing me to Stylecraft a few years ago. It has made blanket making so much more affordable and paved the way for infinite possibilities x

[Holly]

Those cakes look so delicious! Your colour combinations are always really inspiring.

[tinke]

I love the way you put the colours together, enjoyed this post. There comes a day I will make one of those blankets of you ;>D

[Suzanne]

I'm in love, love, love with the pastel(cupcake)colors!! I finished the Cottage blanket last year and the Coast blanket last week so I'll be anxiously awaiting this yarn pack so I can start a new blanket.