Woodland Blanket CAL :: Part 6

I don't know about you, but I feel as if it's hardly any time at all since I started out on my Woodland Walk. Yet here we are five weeks later, preparing to complete the last set of stripes. Has it felt like a speedy sprint to you? Or are you contentedly meandering gently along the Woodland pathways, taking your time and breathing it all in?

I always find this particular part of any blanket journey has a bitter sweet taste to it as we approach completion. Although a big part of me is thrilled to see how beautiful the finished blanket looks, there is a sadness too as I realise that I simply don't want it to end. This is especially true of a CAL blanket as there is such a lovely feeling of community and friendship interwoven in all of our stitches and stripes, and that makes it harder to come to terms with it being over. 

We've still got a few weeks left though, so no sad eyes just yet!

This week has been devilishly cold here in my patch, with sub zero temperatures and icy snow flurries. I've enjoyed the very winteryness of the weather (it is February after all) and have been content to stay cosied up inside with my ripples. Fireside hooky is one of my most beloved pleasures at this time of year, it is Cosy with a capital C! Add in a hot cup of tea and possibly a little slab of good chocolate, and maybe even a purring kitty and oh-my-goodness, my cup of happiness runneth over.

Oh, and don't forget the woolly hand knit socks, they most definitely do add to the homely, cosy fireside vibe. 

As I've crocheted my colourful ripples this week, I've found myself drifting in and out of the most delightful, sunny little daydreams. This last set of stripes is all about the fresh air, the Autumn sunshine and the breezy treetops. The colours are light and airy and provide a great balance to the more earthy shades that we started out with at the beginning of our Woodland walk.

I took so many walks last Autumn when the weather was sunny and bright, and I tried to fill my mind and soul with the essence of the season and the way it made me feel. The sunlight combined with the rich, beautiful leafy colours was so inspiring, and I hope you've been able to see and feel some of that beauty in your blanket stripes as you've crocheted with the colours of Autumn.

I always say that Summer is my most favourite time of year (and it really is), but the Autumn of 2017 will be forever held in my memory and remembered with gratitude. It couldn't have been more perfect for the uplifting inspiration and joy it gave me.

All. That. CoLoUr!!

I've got some colour-filled images to show you this week, of beautiful blankets that have been shared on Facebook. It makes me so happy to see how much you've been enjoying the Woodland colours, and it's been amazing to see so many beautiful blankets that have been created during the past month.

Sharon turned her Woodland colours into a gorgeous granny stripe blanket, ordering the shades so that they made a "woodland rainbow". 

Anne is choosing to follow my Interlocking Colour ripple idea (my original blanket is here) to create a soothing transition of the woodland colours.

B has turned her Woodland yarn into a Neat Wave blanket which looks stunning - the colours seem to vibrate with energy when they are put together with this pattern.

Judy is making fantastic progress with her Circular Mandala Throw. Her creativity is a joy to witness as she re-designs the pattern to create something unique.

Lou finished her Woodland Harmony colourwash blanket this week and it is absolutely stunning. She is gifting it to somebody very special, and I know there is a lot of love in those stitches.

Samantha is also making a version of the Woodland colourwash, although she is choosing to make solid Granny Squares instead of my more open Harmony Squares. I'm really looking forward to watching this one grow.

Isabel shared this photo of her Random Stripe Woodland blanket and I just adore the way the colours are working. It has a slightly different feel to the colour-story version of this blanket, more jaunty perhaps?!

Sandra showed us this stunning photograph she took of her blanket in progress, inspired by my own leafy carryings on...oh, and she included some moss too,  gosh, I am such a hopelessly devoted moss-lover!

In fact, you need to scroll down a bit now and see what else Sandra has been up to........

......cutesome little Woodland things!!! Awwww!!!!!

Sandra says that as she's making this blanket for her 5 year old grandson, she wanted to include some fun crochet applique on the blanket. She has used my leaf patterns (which you can find here), but has also very cleverly designed her own squirrels.......yes, I know!! Too precious for words!! 

I'd like to say a huge thank you to everyone who has shared photos of their blanket during the past month and made this CAL a truly fabulous visual journey right from the word go. ThAnK YoU so very much. xx

Back to my own journey and Part 6 which will complete the Woodland colour story this week. I don't mind telling you that the transition of the colours came out even better than I had dared to hope, and I absolutely, completely love love love the way it looks and the way it makes me feel. Contented sigh...............SO GOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So this is the finished colour story - all one hundred and five ripply stripes which sing a beautiful Autumn song.

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

I know I still have the border to create, but I couldn't resist prancing about and showing off my blanket to you this week, because I LOVE it so much. 

Those ripples have been a joy to crochet, they really have, and with all my heart I hope you feel the same about your own curvy stripes. If you struggled with the pattern in the beginning, I hope it now brings you happiness and a true sense of achievement.

I look at these stripes and they fill my mind with so many happy memories of time and place.

It's earthy and breezy, leafy and airy.

There is movement and rhythm, there is sunshine and shadow.

It looks and feels exactly right - it tells a story of a gentle stroll in the woods on a bright Autumn afternoon.

Kicking up the leaves, turning my face up to the sun.

Collecting acorns and fallen leaves, spotting lichen covered branches and and swoon-worthy moss.

Meandering pathways, dry stone walls, the sounds of the river and a lightness in my heart and soul.

Happy me, right down to the tips of my toes.

EDGING NOTES

In the final part of the CAL (Part 7, which will be in two weeks time) I'll be showing you how to finish off your blanket and create a neat little edging. You may remember that way back at the start, we used Lime yarn for our foundation chain and first double crochet row? This was done so that it would form part of the edging, so you will definitely need enough Lime yarn to go around the remaining three sides of the blanket.

I ended up with 23g of each colour after I had crocheted 7 stripes.

And I used approximately 15-16g of Lime yarn to complete the first round of the edging. 

If you are still meandering through your blanket, you may choose to miss out one of the Lime stripes so that you are sure you will have enough for the edging. The last Lime stripe came last week in part 5 and is stripe 82, so you can leave that out if you need to. Hopefully you'll have enough and won't need to play limey yarn chicken!

As for the other edging colours, I've chosen my favourite Autumnal shades - Spice, Tomato and Gold, but please feel free to choose your own combination if you wish. These rounds will be less yarn-greedy than the Lime, so you should only need around 10-12g of each of these colours. 

I hope the yarn quantities aren't worrying you. Ditto the length of the blanket - it's perfectly OK for you to stop at any time in this final part 6 of the blanket if you feel you've reached the length you need. I ended my blanket with a Storm Blue stripe, but it does't matter too much which colour you end with. I know some of you have decided you want less blue-sky in your blanket and will deliberately miss out some of these final stripes - that's absolutely fine too. It's important to me that you LOVE your blanket, so follow your heart and don't be afraid to tweak my colour order to make it your own. 

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WOODLAND BLANKET CAL PART 6

So your last stripe from Part 5 should be Duck Egg - that was stripe number 90.

Here is the colour info for Part 6 of the "Woodland Colour Story" : stripes 91-105, working from the bottom upwards.

Remember each stripe is worked in two rows, so 15 stripes = 30 rows of crochet.

*Please note - stripes written in *red text* are additional stripes to be worked only if you have 2 yarn packs and are making a double bed size blanket. If you have one yarn pack, please ignore the red!

91. Pistachio

92. Duck Egg

*Lincoln* (optional for large size)

93. Storm Blue

94. Silver

95. Mustard

96.  Duck Egg

97. Silver

98. Lincoln

99. Storm Blue

100. Duck Egg

101. Pistachio

*Silver* (optional for large size)

102. Lincoln

103. Silver

104. Duck Egg

105. Storm Blue (awww, is it really over?)

 

Kay shared a picture of her Random Stripe Woodland Blanket with us on Facebook this week, and I confess I swooned a little at the sight of all those gorgeous colours rippling along together. I hope very much that that you're loving your blanket if you're following my random stripe order.

I'm listing this weeks Random Stripe colours below......... 

Part 6 of the "Random Colours" Woodland Blanket is illustrated above (follow the pegs from the bottom to the top)

91. Mustard

92. Copper

93. Mocha

94. Storm Blue

95. Duck Egg

96. Lincoln

97. Lime 

98. Spice

99. Silver

100. Pistachio

101. Gold

102. Tomato

103. Grey

104. Meadow

105. Cypress

 ***A NOTE FOR THOSE MAKING DOUBLE/KING BLANKETS.......

I've just realised that I need to give you another block of random colours as an optional add-on if you're working with 2 yarn packs and  wish to make your blanket longer than 6ft / 180 cm. I haven't had time to work that out this week, but as soon as I can I'll add that information here.

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Next week we'll be taking a short break. I call this the "catch up" week and it's designed for you to either work a few more of your stripes if you need to, or darn in your ends if you've got a whole load of dangly bits to deal with. You will need all your ends tucked away before you can work your edging. If you're all up to date by next week, please make sure you enjoy your blanket to the max - snuggle yourself up in it and wait patiently for the edging tutorial!

Part 7 is all about The Edge, and I'll be giving you the pattern for this on Friday 23rd February. In the meantime, here are the links you might need this week.... 

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WOODLAND BLANKET YARN PACK 

WOODLAND RIPPLE PATTERN

WOODLAND BLANKET CAL : introduction

WOODLAND BLANKET CAL : Q&A

WOODLAND BLANKET CAL :: PART 1

WOODLAND BLANKET CAL :: PART 2

WOODLAND BLANKET CAL :: PART 3

WOODLAND BLANKET CAL :: PART 4

WOODLAND BLANKET CAL :: PART 5

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Have a fantastic time immersing yourself in all that glorious, ripplesome colour!

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Comments

[Jen DeFant]

Anne Dyer, I hope you see this. I'd love to see your blanket finished and the order of your stripes. It's lovely.

[Leslie]

Looking for the extra Part 6 rows for the larger blankets!
I'm about to embark on Part 6 and need the extra rows promised for the larger blanket. I suppose I could just make them up, and then, my blanket would be special. But are you going to post them?

[Frances Dent]

Hi Lucy,
I still cannot find the extra rows for the double/king size Random woodland blanket.I'm wondering if I am looking in the wrong place!!? Please could you write them here???? Thank you in anticipation!

[Frances Dent]

Please, please, please can we have the last sequence of colours for the Random woodland blanket?. I can't move on until it's given!

[Jane M.]

Long time stalker, first time poster ;)

I'm getting ready to start my blanket (just a few weeks behind...) but was going to do the Cozy Stripe pattern with the Woodland color palette in a double/king.

Two questions: you mentioned somewhere you would be posting the final round of random colors for those who were making bigger blankets. I've dug around and couldn't find it. Is it out there somewhere, and I've missed it?

And would you recommend using this slipstream edging for the Cozy Stripe pattern as well? I really like the slipstream.

Thanks - and I love ALL the things you make - and come back again and again to use your patterns (which you do SOOOOOO much better than most)!

[Linne]

More blankets to love! I'm still yearning over the colourwash Harmony one. My order of Stylecraft from Wool Warehouse finally arrived (there was a computer glitch and I was being patient); I did tell them several times that I placed that order because of you, although it wasn't one of your yarn packs. So I hope they passed that on to you . . . It's amazingly soft and lovely colours (and I bought the colour card, too, so I can really tell about the colours). I'm planning to buy a Guppy Friend washing bag so I can launder it safely and keep the wee plastic fibres out of the oceans. I'll buy that while I'm in the UK this summer and save on the shipping. By the way, I have my ticket for the Yarndale weekend and I certainly hope to see you there, even though I know it must be brief. And if I'm super-lucky, I shall stop by Cooper's for a treat and bring my handwork. Lucy, I love your designs, small and large, and I have been telling friends about them as well as using the Cosy Stripe and Hydrangea to help my friend from Tacoma get back into crocheting. She loves your work, too. I'm from B.C., but stayed with her last winter and may be doing that again next winter. Anyway, thanks so much for all your work and for the tutorials; among the best I've come across!!

[Kimberly Griffin]

Hello Lucy! Just wanted to share a funny story...

I have been following your Woodland CAL but so far I’m only in “week 3”. Work has been busy and I can’t crochet as much or as long as I want. Anyway, I’m finishing the last stripe with Cypress and realize I’m not going to have enough, but continued to “play chicken”... I lost...four inches before the end of the row!!! Ugh!! Now what?! Well, I decided to go to Wool Warehouse to order another Cypress skein, but then I thought,”Obviously, my stitches are looser than Lucy’s and I’ll probably run out of other colors, so I guess I’ll just order another kit”. So a few key strokes later and I’m happily satisfied that I’ll be able to complete the Woodland blanket without any more “snags”!

But wait, I still want to crochet since I have the time!! What to do, what to do?! Then I remembered I also have the Moorland kit!! Yippee! I’ll just start on that one until the other yarn gets here! So I skip over to my cabinet and pull out the beautiful organza bag. My fingers were tingling as I untied the ribbon.... and what did I find, on top, in all it’s glory?! A skein of CYPRESS! Wow! I can’t believe I didn’t check here before I placed my order. I only needed maybe about one foot of yarn to complete my row! Sometimes I have the craziest luck

So what am I planning to do with the kit I ordered and all that extra yarn? I think I’ll just make a pillow cover to match!!

Hope you enjoyed a little giggle over my story, as I am very much enjoying your Woodland blanket!

Happy hooking, my friend,
Kimberly, Georgia, USA

[Linda]

Making this woodland blanket has helped me get through a tough time - has been therapeutic to nestle down with my blanket - though I've think I've actually made it twice! Am on painkillers which leave me dozy so have had to make lots of corrections - but I've made it and now feel quite bereft :[
Looking forward to this Friday's CAL but will be sad to completely finish my blanket.

[Kathryn Ashe]

Hope you are feeling better. So sorry for you😟. In spite of your illness, you have put in so much time for us. You are an amazing person😃.

[Angela Corney]

Hi Lucy, after a tricky start in the first week - I persisted and managed to master the pattern in week 2. I have been totally addicted and mesmerised by the beautiful colours. Set myself the challenge to catch up and enjoyed ever minute of it. I gave myself a target of completing 3 colour changes each day and it worked! Am using this week to snuggle under those gorgeous colours and darn in all those pesky ends as left them until now - but that's ok. Can't wait to finish it off with the edging and then start the next one for daughter number two and her camper van! Thankyou it's been such a joy! Angela in Shoreham

[Lynne Hannmann]

Hope you are okay. Can you tell me when the extra rows for the random color sequence will be posted? Thank you, Lynne

[Aimee Dewar]

Thanks so much for so much beauty! Any progress on the extra random rows?

[Polly Macleod]

What a beautiful, pretty, colourful post. You are all very clever, your work is gorgeous. Your room looks so cosy.

[Charlotte.]

It is beautiful but I have developed a sensitivity to acrylic yarn. Feeling very bummed about this. It seems to be the white especially so have yet to try Stylecraft colors. Blanket is about a third of the way along.

[Maureen]

Thank you Lucy for another lovely CAL, so helps me get through those Winter Blues, l hear there is a rumour of possibility a Sweet Pea blanket, l do hope so as l love your choice of colours, Enjoy Half Term.

[Camping Blanket]

Thanks for coming in to inspect my facility! You helped determine which blanket was right for me!

[Gez]

Fabulous blankets all round. What a wonderful journey it's been perfect for injecting beautiful colours in to two uncolourful months of the year here on the Pennines!! Happy half term Lucy xxx

[Anne dyer]

Thank you for showing my blanket. I’m loving these colours so much. Can’t wait for the edging.

[Dawn]

Oh My! We need Sandra to guest on your blog and show us how to make those squirrels!!!!

[sandra dorey]

Love seeing all the wonderful blankets being created.
Thank you for the mention Lucy. These little squirrels are giving me the run around - getting the pattern right is ......well ..... hmm ... difficult! It turns out pattern writing is no picnic, but I'll keep at it!

[Teresa Kasner]

I love each and every one of the blankets using your selected Woodland yarn colors! I'm working along on mine and am looking forward to seeing the ta-dah photos.. it's going to take me awhile! LOL! Love yours! ((hugs)), Teresa :-)

[Kathryn Grimshaw]

Fabulous blankets! Every single one is an absolute masterpiece!
Well done Lucy for providing inspiration to us all!

[Angela-Southern USA]

I love them all! There is nothing like the woolly community! I look forward to seeing what you come up with for the border. I've just started a ripple in the round blanket for a gift, not so much free rein with the color choices...but I enjoy getting lost in the stitches and colors all the same, and to have the warmth of the blanket as it grows. Have a fab weekend Lucy!xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

[Kim]

I am caught up this week so can dive in to do the last rows. I have so enjoyed making this blanket, my first adult sized blanket and all for me! Thank you for this CAL and your inspiring words. I made a slight error in the first section, using silver instead of grey, but have enough to finish the blanket with silver, I think. No one will ever know, don’t tell, shhhh. I love my blanket!

[sue silva]

Beautiful colours and patterns!