It's a mere twenty days until the Sweet Pea CAL begins on Friday 4th January, and I'm so thrilled to be taking you on this gorgeous blanket journey. I often find the cold grey months of January and February a struggle and know from experience that having a colourful project to work on at this time of year makes a tremendous difference to my overall sense of well being. The therapeutic qualities of crochet are something I whole heartedly believe in, and if your crochet happens to take the shape of a comforting blanket in gloriously uplifting colours, well that feel-good just can't be beat.
You can read all about the inspiration behind the Sweet Pea blanket in my introduction post from a few weeks ago if you haven't already seen it :
This collection of colours honestly makes me soooooooooooo happy, they deliver a soft wave of summer spirit which instantly lifts my mood and makes me feel all kinds of emotional (in a good way). I know many of you have told me in recent weeks that you feel the same way about sweet peas, and I've loved sharing so many of your stories and memories evoked by the colour and scent of these beautiful flowers.
It goes without saying that I am beyond grateful to those of you who have chosen to join me in making a sweet pea inspired blanket, thank you, thank you, it means such a lot to me knowing that I'll be in good company as I meander along on my own journey at the start of next year.
There is still time to gather in your yarn if you feel like coming along and joining us. Yarn packs sold out incredibly quickly when they were first launched, but more stock was quickly dispatched and there are still some packs available in my shop at Wool Warehouse with worldwide delivery.
As I explained in my Introduction post, I've chosen 15 shades of Stylecraft Special DK to create my Sweet Pea blanket. I'm very happy with the way these colours are so well matched to the real living flowers that were my inspiration, they are just beautiful.
When you get to squish your own sweet pea yarn, you will need to take a little bit of time making a note of the colours so that you don't get into a muddle with the stripes once the CAL starts. Some of the colours look very similar (cream and soft peach, fuchsia purple and pomegranate, lavender and wisteria) and so even if you are very familiar with this yarn, it's always a good idea to have some visual reference. You can make yourself some yarn pegs like mine, or simply stick some short lengths of each yarn colour to a piece of paper and write down the names for reference.
As in previous years, I thought it would be helpful to answer the most frequently asked questions that pop up in the weeks before the CAL starts. Please feel free to ask me anything in the comments below, and I'll do my best to answer.
Do I need to sign up to join in the Sweet Pea CAL?
The simple answer here is NO, there is no need to sign up or commit to anything. I like to keep my CAL's very informal and relaxed so that nobody feels pressured in any way. All you need to do is gather together your yarn and hooks and join me on Friday 4th January when I'll be publishing the full FREE pattern and tutorial and giving you colour instructions for the first set of stripes. After that, I'll publish a new CAL post here on my blog every Friday (usually first thing Friday morning). There will be 7 installments altogether, running across 8 weeks.
Is there somewhere I can ask questions or share pictures once the CAL starts?
You can ask me questions here in the comments on my blog and I will always try and answer them personally via email.
You can also ask questions on my Facebook page and I will do my very best to catch them all (Facebook is quite tricky for me to keep up with at busy times, but I do try hard not to miss anything). Every week I'll invite you to show/post photos of your blankets in progress on my Facebook page and I'll choose some of them to feature on my blog, so do please share!
And lastly, there is a fabulous Facebook group (called "Attic24 Moorland and More") which started with the Moorland CAL in 2017 and is still going strong. This is a very supportive and friendly group where you can ask for pattern help/guidance, share pictures and connect with lovely ladies who are crocheting Attic24 blankets all over the world. Just to mention that this isn't a group set up or moderated by me, although I do pop in most days.
What size blanket will I be able to make from one yarn pack?
One Sweet Pea yarn pack contains 15 x 100g of DK weight yarn. In my experience of blanket making, this is usually enough to make a single bed size blanket measuring 120 cm x 180 cm (approx. 4ft x 6ft).
I'll be giving advice about gauge and tension in my tutorial so that you can decide on the correct hook size to suit the way you crochet. If you follow my advice and make a blanket the same size/tension as mine then you shouldn't run out of yarn!
Will there be enough yarn to make a border, and what sort of border will it be?
If you are using the Sweet Pea yarn pack and following my colour order, the design will allow for enough yarn to make a border. At this time I'm sorry that I can't give you the exact colours I'll be using for the border, but I'll try and give you this info in good time so that you can check your yarn quantities.
What if I want to make the blanket larger, to fit a double bed?
If you wish to make a double bed size blanket, you will need to buy two yarn packs.
When I publish the pattern, I'll give guidance about the starting chain and pattern repeat so that you can work out exactly how wide you wish to make your own blanket. I'll give exact numbers for you to work either a 6ft or 7ft wide blanket, but once you know the pattern repeat you can work out your own starting chain if you wish. I'll also give numbers and guidance for those wishing to make smaller baby blankets or lap blankets. There will be an extra set of stripes given at the end of the blanket if you wish to add extra length.
What hook size do I need?
This is a tricky one to answer up front as the hook size you use will very much depend on your own personal hooky tension.
The standard hook size for Stylecraft Special DK yarn is 4 mm. However, you can use bigger or smaller hooks depending on your own personal tension. For example, I'm a tight crocheter so I'm making my Sweet Pea Blanket using a 4.5 mm hook. If you crochet quite loosely, then you will probably find that dropping to a 3.5 mm or even a 3 mm hook will give you the correct gauge. This pattern works better if your stitches aren't too loose and baggy - a slightly tighter tension/smaller hook works best.
I often get asked about the crochet hooks I use - the ones pictured above are Clover Amour and I absolutely adore them. The metal hooking end is made from super smooth aluminium and the handles are soft and easy on the hands. They are quite expensive (beware cheap imitations which are not the same), but I think a worthwhile investment if you are working for many hours on a blanket project. You can buy them individually, or if you're feeling like your halo is shining, then you could always treat yourself to a whole set. (Clover Amour on Amazon UK)
I prefer coastal/pastel/bright colours, do I have to use the Sweet Pea yarn pack for this blanket?
The main aim of a Crochet-A-Long is for us all to join in and make a blanket together, and it doesn't matter what colours you choose so long as they make you very happy. Of course I'd be thrilled if you decide to join me on my sweet pea journey, but if you'd rather use one of my other blanket colourways or create your own unique palette, then that's absolutely fine too.
You mentioned that you would be sharing two different colour orders for the CAL, can you show us what you mean?
Last year when I designed the Woodland blanket, I decided to give two colour options for making the blanket - one was my trademark "colour story" and the other was a simple random stripe. With the Sweet Pea blanket, I always intended for the stripes to be random (well, what I call "planned random" as there is an element of considered design involved). I want the blanket to give the visual impression of a hand picked posy of sweet peas where all the pastel and bright shades come together in a happy, random medley of gorgeousness! You can see in the photo above the effect that I'm after - it's joyful and vibrant, and has a really happy energy about it.
The more familiar I became with the colours, the more I began to think about the idea of creating an alternative blanket, where the stripes are arranged to create a very harmonious colourwash effect. I know many people find a colourwash placement very easy on the eye as there is s a natural order (based on the colour wheel spectrum) which our brains perceive as calming and relaxing.
So each week when I give out colours for the CAL, I'll be giving you two versions :: Posy and Colourwash. The above computer graphic gives you an idea of how they are going to look.......
....and you can see my two crochet colour samplers up above which show both the Posy and the Colourwash designs.
I wanted to give you a heads up about this so that you can ponder on it during the next few weeks and decide which one you'd like to make. Posy or Colourwash???? I wonder which will be the most popular?!
One thing to consider - you won't easily be able to alter the number of stripes in the Colourwash version, so this will be a blanket measuring 6ft long. If you want to make a longer (or shorter) blanket, you'd be better to go with the Posy version where you can easily adjust the number of stripes.
I hope this isn't going to throw you into a fit of indecision - this isn't my intention at all, and I promise you that both blankets are equally lovely. Let me know your thoughts in the comments, I'd love to know what you make of this idea?!!
Is the Sweet Pea blanket a suitable project for beginners?
Yes, yes, YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This really is the perfect blanket for newbie hookers to have a go with, and I've designed the pattern especially with beginners in mind. So long as you can maintain a fairly even tension and work double crochet and treble crochet (UK terms), you will be able to do this. The Trellis Stripe pattern is deceptively simple but produces a beautiful soft finish, and the crochet itself, oh.....................it is DIVINE!!!! It's rhythmic and soothing, an easy repetitive pattern with next to no counting so you can look forward to hours and hours of relaxing hooky satisfaction.
As usual, I'll be making one of my full tutorials with loads of photos to help you every step of the way.
One thing to mention - the Trellis Stripe is highly addictive, and super speedy too. I'm just giving you a little warning, it's particularly hard to step away from this one!!
I'd really like to practice the Trellis Stripe pattern before the CAL starts, what can you recommend?
The hardest thing about crocheting a striped blanket (especially for beginners) is working that first dc row into the foundation chain. For this blanket I'm working the first row of UK double crochet into the single/top loop of the chain (shown above), so this is something that you can practice in advance. Try experimenting with going up a whole mm in hook size to make your chain, then dropping back to a smaller hook to work your first row of stitches and see if this makes it easier for you.
The other thing you might like to try is creating a foundation-less double crochet row (PLEASE NOTE that's UK double crochet = US single crochet). I know many people who've worked my striped blankets have found this approach helpful, although I've tried it and hated it! It's a very personal thing. Remember that if you are searching for information on this technique, please please make sure you know if you are following a UK or a US tutorial (especially if you are on YouTube as it's not always made clear).
Will the Sweet Pea CAL information stay on your blog if I want to go at my own pace or make the blanket later in the year?
Something I'm very passionate about is sharing, inspiring and spreading my love of crochet, and the patterns that I publish on my blog are always free and available for you to access whenever you want. I have no plans to change this, so you can always find my patterns and tutorials whenever you need them. With my CAL blankets, I am well aware that not everybody has the luxury of time and that the 15 stripes a week might be difficult for some of you - please don't worry! Remember this is all about relaxed enjoyment and even if it takes you a year or more to make this blanket, you will certainly not be alone. You can stop and start, dip in and out as and when it fits, and the pattern and colour info will stay on my blog for you. Having said that, I love the idea of us all hunkering own together at the start of a new year to hook up these colourful stripes together - the CAL will run for 8 weeks in total throughout January and February, with 15 stripes given each week. I'll give you a detailed schedule when the CAL begins.
I am so excited for the CAL, the whole idea of our wonderful community coming together all over the world to make blankets for pleasure thrills me on so many levels. It's fun and joyful, but also therapeutic and mindful too. I hope you'll enjoy belonging to the Sweet Pea gang....I'll need to think of a collective name as I can't really call us the Sweet Pea-ers??!!!!
Before I go, I've two things to mention. Number one is the British Craft awards >>
https://www.britishcraftawards.com/
I'm delighted to be nominated for Crochet Blog of the Year, and there is also a Crochet Designer category
where you can add in Attic24 if you've enjoyed using my designs and want to vote for me there too, I'd be so grateful! Voting is open WORLDWIDE, although only UK residents are eligible for the prize draw. The crochet section is blessedly short (only 5 categories, yay!) so it's a quick process to add your vote.
Voting closes at 11.59pm on Sunday 16th December 2018.
https://www.britishcraftawards.com/
Number two, I came across the most amazing flower company last week, and their photography is just beyond stunning. So if you fancy a visual floral feast, do go and visit the Floret Flowers, they are also on Instagram. Be prepared to swoon!!!
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I received my Sweet Pea yarn pack in Australia very quickly, thank you!. The colours are gorgeous! Like "Anne Dearle" above, I like your initial layout of colours graduating from greens up to the purples. (The initial photo with the sweet peas on top). To me, this is the most life-like, and very calming to look at. I would like to try that version, (even though the other designs are pretty, too). Our Summer here is very changeable, with lots of stretches of cool, rainy weather, so I'm looking forward to starting my Sweet Pea on 4 January. Lisa from Melbourne, 21Dec18
Posted by: Lisa Smallridge | December 22, 2018 at 12:52 AM
This will be a wedding gift for very dear friends of us, who are getting married in April. Just a quick question: I am thinking of doing the colour wash version, but with the cosy stripes from one of your previous blankets. Would that still work with the border pattern? Thank you so much for all the work, that you put into this. Have a lovely Christmas and see you in the new year, ready for some hooky action :)
Posted by: Marlen | December 22, 2018 at 12:37 AM
I just ordered my kit. Looking forward to doing this. It will be my first CAL. The yarn is stunning. I am attracted to these colors. Looks like a lot of fun.
Also, I have tried to subscribe to your blog but it won't accept the information. Something is broken?
Posted by: Donna | December 21, 2018 at 11:51 PM
Call them Sweeties ? Perhaps. I've made two moorlands and just finished the coastal ripple and love it. Thanks for the crochet colour! Enjoy your opportunity to nest, we hardly ever have dreadful weather here and I miss the opportunity to say 'No, the weather is too dreadful, I'll stay inside and crochet! ' Happy Christmas!
Posted by: Karyn | December 20, 2018 at 02:20 AM
My 12 year old says we should be the Pea podders :-)
Can't wait to start. This one will be a gift for daughter, she has fallen in love with the colourwash scheme.
Posted by: Julie | December 19, 2018 at 01:58 PM
The last few weeks my internet security gives me a warning about your website. Could there be anything that needs checking? Do others get warnings?
Lovely sweet pea colours!
Posted by: henriet | December 18, 2018 at 07:13 PM
DD & I both love the new rug & will think about ordering in the New Year & start a bit later than others, as it is summer here in Oz. I'm actually using up the scraps from 2 of your other packs I've bought over the years & am making a giant granny square, which I'll possibly donate in winter to a charity. Thanks for hosting the CALs, your wonderful blog & providing us with beautiful soothing rhythmic patterns. Take care & a very Merry Christmas to you & your family.
Posted by: Susan Smith | December 18, 2018 at 08:15 AM
Definitely the Posy version for me. And, having seen your samplers, I'm thinking I will need to buy another pack and do a double crochet version as well. Although someone above mentioned a scarf as well and now I *really* want a sweet pea scarf!
The yarn pack is my Christmas present so I can't wait to get me hands on it in a week or so.
Posted by: katherine truelove hawkins | December 18, 2018 at 12:21 AM
Lucy, I am so looking forward to starting this cal, but nervous too as I am a beginner. My Daughter has bought me the yarn pack for Christmas. Thank you for encouraging me to try this.
Regards, Pat.
Posted by: Patricia Brambley | December 17, 2018 at 02:24 PM
Hi Lucy. I like the paler colours when they're interspersed with the more vibrant ones, but they're not my favourite on their own, so I think I'll do the posy version so I don't have a big chunk of pale together. Can't wait to get started and try to cheer up these cold, dreary December days. Thank you for answering all those questions xx.
Posted by: Green Girl Gardener | December 17, 2018 at 01:41 PM
Loving the colours, I will be doing the colour wash blanket, I’m working on a double bed size cosy stripe blanket at the minute but I will be putting that to one side come January 4th xx
Posted by: Linda Carlin | December 17, 2018 at 12:01 PM
Dear Lucy, this is a gorgeous pattern and I feel that you have captured the essence of a sweet pea posy beautifully. This is my first CAL, I have my yarn and I can’t wait to get started! I keep looking at the yarn and thinking how completely fabulous the colours are. Definitely the “posy” colourway for me, though the “colourwash” version is also very lovely. Like so many of us I too struggle through the grey days of January and February longing for the first signs of spring, and the idea of being part of a lovely group crocheting our bright, flower inspired blankets together during the long winter days makes me feel so very happy. I’m a long time follower of your blog Lucy. You write and photograph as beautifully as you design and crochet - thank you so much. Wishing you and yours a happy and peaceful Christmas xxx
Posted by: Emma | December 17, 2018 at 02:07 AM
Received my yarn - it really is like a bouquet of sweet peas! I love the colors and have decided to make the colorwash version for its softness. Now to finish tucking in the yarn ends from last years woodland beauty. I've made a promise to myself to have that done before I begin a new blanket. I should have listened to you and won't make that mistake again - tuck in as you go!
Posted by: Mary W | December 17, 2018 at 01:19 AM
Hi Lucy, thank you for your blog, I agree 100% with you about sweet peas, they are one of my favourite flowers, I am originally from Scotland now living in Australia, so we have just about finished our sweet pea season, I was lucky to be given some flowers and seeds by a friend last week, just at the time when my pack arrived, so I will be ready to plant them after our winter.Thank you so much for all the time and effort you put in just to make us all happy little crocheters !
Posted by: Sylvia Busuttil | December 17, 2018 at 12:41 AM
Really beautiful Lucy, this is definitely going to be one of my favourites. I love the narrow stripes and the texture, and the colours are gorgeous, absolutely perfect for sweet peas, you've nailed it exactly. CJ xx
Posted by: CJ | December 16, 2018 at 05:07 PM
Beautiful! I am so excited to start this CAL with you. It will be my first time. 😁
I absolutely love the Posy colour combination. It is so fun and playful. Thank you. Xo
Posted by: HEATHER | December 16, 2018 at 02:54 PM
These are the perfect colors to stare at during those dreary January and February months! I personally like the group name Sweet Peaers! Makes me laugh!!
Posted by: Elise | December 16, 2018 at 01:56 PM
I would like to make a scarf with this yarn pack that resembles your Colour wash sample. What stitch did you use?
Posted by: Anna Kay | December 16, 2018 at 01:16 PM
I can't wait to get started on my first ever CAL. I have asked Father Christmas for 2 of the wool packs and think I saw the local postie deliver a large squishy parcel last week. Fingers crossed, toes, eyes and anything else I can think of.
Posted by: Jane Halvey | December 16, 2018 at 12:58 PM
Oooh so exciting! Well, I am in a flurry if indecision about which version to make, but what a lovely flurry to be in. I might have to do both like Brenda.
I think there might be several groups forming around the world to crochet together.
Any of the Sweet Pea Bunch are welcome to join us in Bridport, Dorset on Sunday 3rd Feb for coffee and crochet at the Sweet Pea Gathering https://www.facebook.com/events/371153333631844/
Posted by: sandra dorey | December 16, 2018 at 12:19 PM
I spy a new blanket in my future for our new house - love love love the colour wash and can see it fitting in perfectly in our new bedroom, as well as giving me something to do when we have no central heating! Thank you for all the hard work you do xx
Posted by: Ruth | December 16, 2018 at 11:38 AM
I do like the comment posted by Ruth two call us the Sweet Pea Bunch. It is simple, easy and obvious to remember and ties in with lovely bunches of Sweet Peas.
Posted by: Christine Phillips | December 16, 2018 at 09:31 AM
Hi, Lucy! I LOVE sweet peas and you have chosen the perfect colours for a Sweet Pea Blanket. My Mum grew them and I grow them whenever I have a place to do so. I especially like that they bloom more the more you pick them . . . I will definitely be doing this blanket, but not quite yet. I have some loose ends to tie up first (literally and figuratively lol). I'm looking forward to learning the new stitch, too. It's hard to say which of your blankets I like best (I love them all), but this one is likely to become my all-time favourite. Thanks again for all the lovely patterns and I do have to say that I've been doing handwork for over 60 years and yours are the best-written patterns I've ever used. Your photos always make everything so clear.
The only thing missing about this blanket . . . it won't have the amazing scents of the flowers. I suppose I will just have to buy some once I am doing the blanket (or grow some, if I'm fortunate).
Stay warm, Lucy. I hope you are enjoying the days leading up to Christmas. Warm hugs to you. ~ Linne
Posted by: Linne | December 16, 2018 at 09:15 AM
What a nice coloured design in this gray season.
Beautiful!
Posted by: Anna | December 16, 2018 at 09:08 AM
Love it, and I will be doing the colour wash version.
Posted by: Fiona M | December 16, 2018 at 08:29 AM