Summer Harmony Blanket :: Ta-dah!

As you are probably very well aware, I absolutely love to document my crochet projects here on my blog and I get a great deal of pleasure from sharing all elements of my creative journey with you. There is something so satisfying about the process of explaining and illustrating the inspiration behind my blankets, sharing the colour and pattern choices, photographing the entire making process and then finally dancing a grand ta-dah jig. It makes me really happy to write all these little chapters that make up a blanket story, and to ponder on the whole idea of being a Provider-of-Inspiration (which is something I am secretly rather proud of). I love every little bit of putting together these posts and I can honestly say that they are very well worth the time involved in creating them. Thank heavens for this super-precious blog space of mine which gives me such a perfect outlet for my overwhelming need to put it all out there for public consumption!

The idea of making the Summer Harmony blanket popped into my head around the beginning May at a time when I was looking for something joyful and colour-filled to take me over the summer months. I needed a happy, easy-going and portable project which would result in a gorgeous family picnic blanket/throw, so combining a familiar, well-loved colour palette with an already tried-and-tested pattern seemed like a good way to go. 

I decided on my "Original" yarn pack which contains 17 colours of Stylecraft Special DK, using it to crochet 100 colourful Harmony Granny Squares.

The idea was a simple one - to crochet one hundred squares, changing colour every round so that each square would be made using six different colours. I also wanted to make each square different which gave me rather a juicy colour challenge, and I absolutely LOVED the whole process of working out the colours needed for each round of crochet. It's a good job I really enjoyed this bit, as there were 600 colour decisions in these squares!!

I hadn't originally planned for this blanket to be made as a CAL (Crochet-A-Long), but the more I thought about it, the more I liked the idea of sharing regular progress updates as I went along. As the Harmony Square pattern was already written and shared here on my blog, these updates were purely colour focused. I wrote them in such a way that anyone wishing to make a Summer Harmony blanket of their own could follow my exact colour choices for every single round.

You can read about the start of my Summer Harmony blanket {here}.

As the summer got under way, my one hundred little squares began to slowly grow. You can read Part 2 of my Summer Harmony blanket journey {here}.

Part 3 is {here}.....

....part 4 is {here}....

....and finally at the start of July I had one hundred beautifully bright squares ready to be joined together. You can read Part 5 of my blanket journey {here}. 

I really, really enjoyed the joining process - it's a huge amount of fun to turn a stack of individual squares into an actual blanket. I used a join-as-you-go method which involves attaching the squares at the same time as the sixth/final round of each square is crocheted. You can find the Harmony Square joining tutorial {here}. ....

During July the weather was often warm enough for me to crochet outside in my little back yard, and gradually the blanket began to take shape. 

It took me three weeks to join all one hundred squares, and it was soooo exciting to see the result of my careful colour choices creating a "colourwash" effect across the blanket.

Finally, on the 24th July I darned in the very last ends.....

.....and got all giddy about spreading the blanket out and getting to finally see my colourwash design come to life.......

........yeeeeeeeeeeee-haaaaawwwwwwww!!!!!!

It worked!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Such a special moment, I honestly felt so, so, so chuffed that I managed to create something that looked even better in real life than it had in my mind. So happy!

Once the one hundred squares had become a blanket, it was time to design and make a border. I knew that I wanted to create a deep border using every one of the 17 colours, and after a bit of playing around I came up with a pattern and a colour scheme that I hoped would make the perfect finish. You can read about my border design {here}

I absolutely LOVED making the border and I think it was my favourite part of the whole blanket. Making and joining squares is a huge amount of fun, but there is no denying that it involves quite a bit of faffery. There is a fair bit of snipping and darning that goes on, and a great deal of stopping and starting as you work your way through six hundred colour changes. So by the time you reach the border, those long, long rows suddenly feel like absolute bliss. It's hooky heaven!

This border is made in 17 rounds, and measures a fairly substantial 10 cm. I am so very pleased with how it worked out, it's everything I hoped it would be and as you'll see in just a moment, it does a perfectly amazing job of framing the squares and stopping them from feeling too chaotic. I've called this border "Skinny Block Stitch" and you can find the tutorial for it {here}.

I get asked frequently on social media about blocking my blankets, so I thought it might be useful to tell you how/why/when I go about it. Truthfully I don't often block my crochet blankets, as I find that they just don't seem to need it. Particularly when working striped designs, the stitches generally sit quite flat and the rows behave themselves and keep their shape. However, square designs do often benefit from a little bit of blocking, mainly to help neaten out any ridges or unevenness that occurs along the joined seams. You can see in the above photo (before blocking) that the join-as-you-go method created little ridges, which was mainly due to my tension being on the tight side. In time and with use, these ridges would have flattened out by themselves, but I felt I wanted to give my blanket a little bit of a head start on this process.

I'm lucky to have a reasonable stretch of furniture-less blue carpet on the Attic floor which is generally big enough for me to lay out small blankets for blocking. This old carpet strangely resembles the flocked boards that we used to use for fuzzy-felt, which means that I can flatten, smooth and gently stretch out my crochet directly on the carpet and it will stick fast without the need for pins. It's rather amazing, although it is an absolute mare to vacuum as every little bit of fluff sticks hard and fast.

Anyhow, once the blanket is gently stretched out with it's joins smoothed flat and it's corners straightened, it's time for the Steam Treatment.

I use a low to medium heat, with lots of water in the tank and set about moving the iron over the entire surface of the crochet so that the steam huffs and puffs right down into the yarn fibres. 

The iron stays about an inch above the surface of the crochet and it's all about the heat and moisture from the steam. It's not about putting any pressure on the crochet at all, remember that the iron does not touch the yarn at any time!

You should find that the surface of the crochet feels quite damp when you've finished, so you need to leave it resting for a full day if possible to allow the crochet to dry completely. It's so tempting to just whip that baby up off the floor and snuggle it to bits as soon as you've switched the iron off, but honestly, the wait is really worth it.

The results of blocking not only improve the look and shape of the blanket, but the actual drape/feel of the crochet is altered as well. It's like all the twisted tension held  in the stitches completely disappears and the whole of the blanket relaxes and breathes out. It feels pretty wonderful!

So....you've already seen the one hundred squares in all their joined-up blankety-ness....

....and you've already seen my 10 cm deep border.

But I'm thinking that now might be the time....

....to show you....

....how the squares and the border....

....look when they come....

....together.

The combined effect of one hundred Harmony Squares contained within a Skinny Block Stitch border.

Shall we take a look?

Are you ready to see?

Okeee-dokeeeee...

....here we go.........................................................................

Ta-dah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 Oh, my heart skips a beat when I look at this image, I just love the colourwash effect so so so much!

As I've been crocheting this blanket here at home this summer, I've really enjoyed sharing snippets of the journey with the Little People. They've been curious about it and have asked lots of questions about my process of choosing the colours, which has happened mostly on the living room floor or out in the back yard. My crochet is really very much a part of family life here at number 24 as I sit at the dining table, on the sofa, or out in the yard to crochet, and I use the living room floor to photograph on. By default, the Little People (and the kitty) become involved in the whole creative process, which is something that isn't always easy but does make me feel happy. 

And of course, by the time the blanket is declared finished it's already been assimilated into family life as if it was always here. It joins with all the other blankets and our worn out furniture and messy home life, and so the blanket story goes on. Memories of time and place caught up in those colourful stitches.

I love my Summer Harmony blanket so much, and the making of it has been hugely therapeutic for me as I've come to terms with life's ups and downs in recent months. It really has been the most joyful project from start to finish, and I am so grateful for the creative joy and colour therapy it has given me when I most needed it.

Thank you ever so much for joining me on this journey, I hope you've enjoyed watching the story unfold.

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ps I created a special page for this blanket in my list of tutorials over in my left hand sidebar, so that all pattern details and colour information can be easily found in one place. It'll remain here on my blog for you to access at any time, for free.

{SUMMER HARMONY INFO PAGE}

 x

 

 

Comments

[Susan Smith]

Thank you for taking us on the journey with this blanket, through your family's ups & downs, summer in UK, colour picking & general day to day life. It looks gorgeous!!! Your post has coincided with the date we left for our holiday in UK last year, when I got to Yarndale, but missed meeting you. I did see some of your blankets, so just know how lovely this one would be. Have a good weekend & take care.

[Lynn Bailey]

This is soo beautiful! You have so inspired my crochet journey and I am currently on my 11th blanket!!! This one will be the 12th! Lots of love from Rickmansworth x

[Ann]

Absolutely gorgeous Lucy. Cannot wait to start my blanket. Thank you again for your wonderful design.

[Astrid]

The blanket is wonderful. .

But I still have to finish another "double"blanket.
Wenn the grandchildren stay here , the blankets , I made , are used for building a house , warming them after playing with water in the backyard.
Watching a movie under them.
That gives me a very satisfied feeling , because they really become alive.

[L'Empreinte de l'Ange]

just wonderfull !!I looooove this blanket and the colours. Thankyou soooo much. Virginie from l'Empreinte de l'Ange

[Jenny]

What a wonderful happy piece of snugly art! Thank you Lucy for so generously sharing your hooky process with so much detail. Your generosity and attention to detail is fabulous and you are truly an inspiration. Your blanket is stunning!!! 💜X

[Susana López]

Tus trabajos son preciosos.... Me encanta tu forma de combinar colores.....
Trataré de hacer esta manta... Si lo hago te la mostraré...
Abrazo desde Montevideo, Uruguay

[Charlotte.]

It is absolutely beautiful!!! Well done Lucy. I am very eager to finish mine but am just on row 4. Soon it will be to the joining stage. Love the original color pack.

[Corinne Inglis]

Lucy, you are very, very generous with your time and with your efforts to make things easier for the rest of us. THANK YOU. Please write a book (some books).

[Barbada]

Hi Lucy, I've been waiting for past few days for this post,have been dying to see how it would all turn out. Oh it's really gorgeous, love it, so colourful and cheery, well done. Barbara

[Lynda]

Lucy, it's gorgeous. I'm sitting here - very early morning, very cold late winter day (Melbourne, Australia), and the warmth is just soaking in. Thank you for sharing such an amazing story in tangible form. Woolly goodness indeed!

Lynda