Sweet Pea Blanket CAL :: Preparation

I'm working hard at the moment creating the full picture tutorial for the Trellis Stripe pattern (only two more sleeps!!!!!!!!!!!) but I wanted to pop in to chat about a few things ahead of us setting out on the Sweet Pea journey on Friday. I know that so many of you have already received your squishy bags of Sweet Pea yarn and it's been an utter delight to see so much love for these colours all over social media. I am soooooooooooooooo excited for you to begin turning these colours into stripes, and I'm hoping you'll all be in floral heaven during the next few months.

So today's post contains a few things that you might need in preparation for beginning your blanket, just some reminders and recommendations really. I gave a lot of guidance in my Q&A post a few weeks ago, so please do go and read that if you missed it.

Before a new blanket begins, I always recommend making a note of the yarn colours (before you trash the ball bands completely) so that you've got some visual reference to guide you. In this particular colour palette, it can be a bit tricky to differentiate between Pomegranate and Fuchsia Purple, also Cream and Soft Peach, especially if you are working in artificial light in the evenings or early mornings.

It doesn't need to be anything elaborate - you can simply snip little lengths of the yarn, stick them to some paper and scribble the name next to them. On Friday I'll be sharing some of the lovely ways in which people are choosing to remember this colour palette, it's been so lovely to see.

One thing I've noticed about the Sweet Pea CAL so far is that there seems to be a significant number of new crocheters about to set out on their very first blanket journey. This makes me unbelievably happy, oh, I am honestly thrilled!!! One of my true passions in life is to spread the joy of crochet blankets as I believe that they bring so much comfort, fulfillment and happiness. 

I've noticed on social media a good number of questions from beginners about hook size and tension, and how to find out what hook size to use. My advice would be to have a small selection of hooks if you can afford it - Stylecraft Special DK yarn requires a 4mm hook as standard, but it's a great idea to have bigger and smaller hooks too.

When I write my tutorial, I'm going to strongly advise you to make a small tension sample - this doesn't take long and is a great way to familiarise yourself with the pattern as well as giving you something to measure to determine your tension/hook size. If you have used this yarn before then you will probably have a good idea  as to whether you are a loose or tight hooker (!!) - this blanket pattern looks/feels better if the stitches are slightly tighter rather than looser. All will be explained in the tutorial.

You might also like to get some stitch markers, although these aren't essential (you can use paperclips, or small lengths of waste yarn).......

....stitch markers are brilliant for giving you a helping hand when you are making your wiggly-worm starting chain, and crocheting your first row of double crochet. I was able to count my chain in my head without stitch markers (by banishing the Little People from the room) and I always add on 3 or 4 extra chains just-in-case as these can easily be unpicked afterwards. But I do like the security of stitch markers for that first row - I place them every 25 stitches, and it's very reassuring to know that you are making an accurate count which can be easily checked at any time (especially if you are rudely interrupted/distracted whilst counting, kitty, I'm looking at YOU!). That first row does need an accurate count or else the pattern repeat won't work.

Now then.....here we come to probably the most talked about part of the Sweet Pea blanket preparation - the choice of colour order. Ah yes.....if you've been pootling about with me on my Facebook page this week then you will know ALL about this!!

To save any further confusion, here are the facts ::

1. The Sweet Pea blanket contains 15 colours.
2. I will be using the exact same 15 colours to create two different blankets for the CAL.
3. The POSY blanket is created by mixing the 15 colours throughout the blanket (see the left image above).
4. The COLOURWASH blanket is created by ordering the 15 colours from bottom to top (see the right image above).
5. Both blankets will have the same number of stripes and use the same yarn pack/15 colours.
6. You need to choose which one you are in love with!!!

Now I know that many of you have been deliberating over this, and although I don't usually show the whole blanket(s) in advance of a CAL starting, I felt that in this case you might find it useful to see. To confirm this, I conducted a quick 24 hour poll on Facebook a few days ago and a whopping 6,400 people took part. The overwhelming result was in favour of a sneak peek (91%), so I decided the fair thing to do was to create a hidden PDF file to show you. That way, if you wish to keep the surprise and don't want to see the blankets, you can skip on by. And for those who have a crushing need to peek, well here's your chance........

Download Sweet Pea Blanket SNEAK PEEK!!!!!

I'd like to say a massive THANK YOU to my lovely Facebook friend Darlene who is the maker of the Sweet Pea Colourwash blanket shown in the sneaky peek photo. She offered to pattern test for me, and I'll be sharing some more of her beautiful photos as we go through the CAL. As I mentioned yesterday, I'm making both versions of the blanket myself but I'm working my own colourwash slightly ahead of real CAL time (I'm currently on part 2) so without Darlene's help I wouldn't be able to show you an awful lot of that just yet! A big shout out to my fab group of testers in the HH group, you know who you are and I am beyond grateful for your support and help.

I've had a few requests from ladies who wish to make a repeating stripe using the colour order of my sample (shown above). You'll most likely be able to work this out for yourself from the photo, but I'll list the colours on Friday for you just so it's clear. 

So I think that's about all for now - I've got my Sweet Pea candle ready and I absolutely cannot wait for Friday. I'm hoping, all being well, to have everything ready for 9am on Friday so that you've got the whole day ahead to make your tension sample (you know it makes sense!) and get started with your rows. 

All the love from the Attic, I can't imagine how dull January would be without you all jaunting along with me. Thank you, thank you.... xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

🌸 SWEET PEA YARN PACK

🌸 SWEET PEA BLANKET INTRODUCTION

🌸 SWEET PEA BLANKET Q&A

 

 

 

 

 

Comments

[Kathryn Joelsen]

Hello:

Is there a printable version of each section of this? I am participating in the CAL but I hate having to look at the laptop screen to follow. Like it better on paper that way I can take it where ever I want to. I love all your beautiful work too!

[Ruth Langford]

Lucy, thank you so much for including my vintage sweet pea stripe cardigan! I'm making slow progress, but aim to have it completed by the last week of the CAL. And then I will make a posy blanket - there's no such thing as "too many blankets", is there? :)

[Meta Karcher]

Thanks a lot for that wonderful patterns, I just finished the first part and can hardly wait till friday. Sorry for my English, I'm a german lady.
Meta

[Carol Chamberlain]

I finished the first 15 rows on the posy stripe last night so am now going to start the colourwash version to fill in the time until the next section is posted.
Love it.
Thanks Lucy

[Ali Allen]

My sister bought me this gorgeous kit for Christmas and even though I'm only halfway through the lovely cottage ripple I just couldn't resist joining in the cal yesterday- I love the community feeling .....and of course Lucy, these Sweet Pea colours are irresistible....by the way it's the Posy style for me! Thank you for brightening the dark days of January. Ali x

[susan]

I have ordered My wool, I visit the site every day, and waiting for the post man In Australia. I have chosen the wool wash. Summer In Australia very hot , but I want to do this for a very special young girl. Thank you Lucy your set up to do this Crochet along is great, so I am confident, that when my wool arrives I will be fine.

[Gail Lapierre]

You had me at the name, Sweet Pea, my nickname for my granddaughter. Is there a way to attach photos? I’d love to show you the doll beds for granddaughter and honorary granddaughter for Christmas. The afghans were made with leftover yarns from your kits, using your patterns. I’m hoping to have enough left over to make a matching doll bed afghan.

[Nicole Wombolt]

Thank you Lucy for being you. So loving and kind to your crochet friends of all levels of ability. This blanket is beautiful and i am so excited to be making it. Thank you!

[Helen Lightly]

These colours are just so beautiful and so very me 💕 I haven’t finished the woodland CAL yet so I wasn’t going to do this one just yet but the colours are so irresistible that I think I might have to indulge! When I looked on Wool Warehouse a couple days ago there were 150 packs available...today they are sold out again! That’s incredible, there’s going to be lots of happy blanket snuggles! I’m on notifications for when they’re back in stock so I can’t wait to join in 😊 thank you Lucy for another fabulous pattern, you are such an inspiration 💕

[Marianne]

Ready to go here in Perth WA. Thank you Lucy

[Natalie]

So excited to be starting this lovely project even though its boiling hot here in Australia 40 degrees

[Chronicstitcher]

This is really pretty! And I give you a "head-nod" on crocheting a few extra just-in-case chains. I have done that for a long time and generally chain on for the number of repeats. J at J's Knit and Purl Jam on YouTube chains this way, and I got it from her long time ago. When I make an afghan, I just chain till it looks long enough, add 10 or 20 chains just in case, then work repeats until its as long as I want it. Pull out the left over chains at the end. This doesn't always work with every pattern. But I find that most patterns can be tweaked to work this way. Makes crochet life easier.

[sandra dorey]

I would love to help Miss Daisy get a Sweet Pea pack of yarn - we can do it - but how can we get in touch with her?
If fifteen of us donated a ball of yarn each we could get it sent via Wool Warehouse.

[charlotte m.]

I had originally thought to make the Posy, but seeing the colourwash has made me stop to think about it. What to do? Gotta go check on my hooks to see what sizes I have. Getting very excited for this new beginning. Happy New Year Lucy.

[Becki]

Wow! They are both gorgeous Lucy, thank you for all your hard work putting this together you are a superstar 🤩 really looking forward to the CAL. Happy New Year love and hugs Becki xx

[Renata Prochazkova]

That's amazing!They are both beautiful,I will be doing the posy.I can't wait.

[Roslyn]

I received my yarn pack yesterday! It's so pretty! I ordered on the 19 of Dec, thinking it could take a while to get to me - the site still warned that regular mail to Canada could be delayed due to the postal issues we had in December...but the odds were in my favour and it came in just under 2 weeks! Looking forward to using these lovely cheery colours as we get though winter!

[Rowena]

Love the colour wash - more subtle and sophisticated! I am going to remove the purples as they don't fit with my colour scheme and I will need to consider carefully what I replace them with. Actually choosing colours is fun! Thanks and looking forward to starting xxx

[Autumn]

I can't wait to see everyone's progress! The colors used for this blanket are most of my very favorites!

[Carol Ann Cutajar]

Im so excited to be doing my first CAL with the Sweetpea CAL. My lovely squishy bag of yarn was a surprise Christmas present that came all the way from Barnsley with family here for their first Australian (warm) Christmas. The weather here tomorrow (Melbourne) is a very hot 42 deg, I shall have the airconditioning on so I don't miss out. Thank Lucy. I'm looking forward to seeing everyone's posts of their progress. Happy New Year and happy crocheting everyone xxx 😍❤

[Miss Daisy]

The sneak peak small photo doesn't do the colorwash justice - it hanging on the line in all its glory is STUNNING . I did not like it at all until I saw it there and it is GORGEOUS ! ,but I would still do the posy.ABSOLUTELY love the way you choose colors and thanks for sharing. Being on a fixed income I can only dream of doing one - which I hate. Would love to get my hands and hook into all that yarny goodness.

[Christine]

It is amazing how the order of the colour can change the final result. I didn't like the first version so I bought the hydrangeas pack. But when I see the colourwash version, I'm in love with it. Maybe layer I will make this version. Christine

[Janet Heib]

Oh my goodness Lucy I don’t know which one to do they are all lovely, I also like the repeat, but will probably do the posy colourway, I will be a little late starting as my Daughter is getting married on Saturday the 5th of January.

Thank you for all your hard work, lovely patterns, fabulous tutorials, and amazing colourways.
Sending lots of love xx

[jacqui]

omg I was so convinced I wanted to do posy now I am oooooh that colourwash looks so different from usual stuff I do oooooh I dont know all of a sudden he he he (searching for stitchmarkers I know I have them here somewhere.
Thankyou so much for this cal so excited and feel it all mounting lovely to be a part of 'your crowd' he he

[Lesley James]

Thank you for the sneaky peek.I think I will do the the posy stripe first but as I have 2 Grandaughters who share a bedroom I will do the colour wash one too! They will look lovely together but there will be no arguments about ownership!