Sungold Blanket CAL :: Part 5

It's Week Five of the Sungold Blanket CAL and the first of our February Fridays. I have to confess that it's a pretty good feeling to finally have January in the rea view mirror - it's felt like the longest month, and for anyone like me who is affected by the winter blues, then February is one step closer to the lighter, brighter days of Spring. I do generally make a real effort to not let the blaahs of winter take hold, and actually so far this season hasn't felt too heavy.

I've tried to embrace the cosiness of home on the many days when the weather has been wet and grey, and my blanket-laden sofa has been a source of warmth and comfort. Each evening once I've finished crocheting my Sungold stripes, I drape the blanket over the back of the sofa so that I can admire it first thing the next morning. It's already looking completely at home, keeping company with Aria, Starbright and Yuletide (I'll be packing those two festive blankets away very soon so they can hibernate with the tinsel for a while).

I've really been enjoying the snuggly warmth of the Sungold blanket at the café too, it's such a pleasure to be wrapped in a blanket when it's wild and stormy outside. I think my friends at knit and natter are enjoying seeing my progress on this blanket each week, it really does glow with golden sunshine warmth and constantly reminds me of those sunny, floral days.....

....ahhh, such lovely memories! I can't wait to visit the gardens again this summer and enjoy the delights of this living colour palette all over again. 

I hope you're enjoying these CAL blogs each week, especially those of you who aren't joining in with this blanket making journey? I do try and make my posts full of colour and inspiration so that hopefully there is some visual enjoyment for those of you who don't crochet. I've got some lovely photos to share with you today - there are some blankets which are using the Lacy Shell stitch with stash yarn and unique colourways, and there is also a floral theme to enjoy too. Shall we take a look?

↑↑ Melissa is making herself a shawl using King Cole Cottonsoft yarn which has wonderful stitch definition. You can really see the Lacy Shell pattern in her stripes and I can imagine how amazing the finished shawl will feel when it's draped around your shoulders.

↑↑ Kathleen is making her blanket from left over stash yarn and it's looking so good! There is an eclectic vintage vibe to this blanket which I find very appealing, and it has the all important kitty seal of approval by the looks of it.

↑↑ Another beautiful stash-busting beauty shared on Facebook by Stollie. The bright yellow stripes really bring in the sunshine and give the blanket that Sungold glow.

↑↑ Emma is making a lovely Lacy Shell blanket using her own choice of colours. This is a wonderful palette of pinks, greens and blues and as soon as I saw it I thought ahhhh, this has Spring vibes - Blossom and Bluebells!! 

I've seen a few gorgeous floral Sungold creations popping up on Facebook and I'm excited to share them with you as they are very inspiring.

↑↑  Melanie is making a stunning patchwork of Sungold Squares and I think it looks amazing. She's using a pattern called "Fat Flower Granny Squares" designed by David Abel. Now David is a talented crocheter and is also one of the brilliant admins in the "Hooked on Attic24" Facebook groups. He has kindly shared his pattern for free in the group, so if you'd like to give it a spin, you can find the PDF file via the following link ((FAT FLOWERS PATTERN)). You'll need to join the "Hooked on Attic24" group to have access to the file.

↑↑ Nadine has chosen a floral hexagon pattern for her Sungold blanket and it already looks amazing. This is a lovely design and will make a beautiful blanket - the pattern is by Dutch designer "Atty" and you can find it free on her blog - it's called the "Vintage Flower Hexagon"

↑↑ Emma - WOW!! Emma is growing a whole flower garden!! I literally gasped with delight when I first saw this photo on Facebook, the Sungold colours look absolutely stunning in flower form. Emma has used my Flora Flower pattern, and now one hundred flowers will be turned into granny squares so that they can be joined to make a flower garden.

There is of course a free pattern and tutorial for the Flora Granny Square which you can find in my left hand sidebar in that loooooong list - here is the direct link..... ((FLORA GRANNY SQUARE PATTERN))

↑↑ And finally Lucy.....you need to tidy your yarn bag, woman! What a happy, messy bundle of colours - I've managed to centre pull these balls for the first time ever (I don't usually try as have had too many knotty bad experiences in the past), so they are now at the point where they are beginning to collapse inwards and need caking. A lovely little therapeutic job for the weekend, me thinks.

Now then, shall we take a look at some floral inspiration? I've been walking you through the Sungold colour palette during the past few weeks, and today we are stepping into the Purple Zone....

....isn't it beautiful??? It was easy-peasy to choose my purples as there are some gorgeous ones in the Stylecraft Special range. I picked out Lavender, Proper Purple and Plum, and they match their flowers perfectly.....

....Lavender was chosen for the Michaelmas daisies that grow in abundance at Harlow Carr in late summer. There are lots of varieties of these daisies all in differing shades of mauve and purple, but it was these paler ones that really caught my eye. We used to have a huge clump growing in my childhood garden where I grew up in London, so I have a real nostalgic soft spot for them.

Harlow Carr has a large collection of Salvia flowers - this is a huge family of plants which has a lot of variation in size and colour, but it's always these deep, rich purple ones that stand out for me. They are stunning in the large borders (see here for more visual inspiration), and I knew that a Proper Purple shade would be a definite in my Sungold colour palette.

And finally Plum - this is such a pretty colour in it's own right, and happens to match with several flowers in the late summer border. The photo above shows the delicate little flowers heads of a perennial verbena, but there are many other purple flowers in the garden.

Next week I'll share some pinks with you, and that will complete our colour-coded summer garden walk. I hope you've enjoyed me sharing more of my Sungold inspiration with you.

Week five of the blanket will give you eighteen more stripes to add, and you'll start to get a feel of your blanket nearing completion.

You'll be striping up into the top quarter, and everything should be looking and feeling deliciously blankety by this point. You can fold and drape your Sungold blanket now, and it has a pleasing weight to it when it's in your yarn bag or draped over your lap as you work.

I hope that by the end of week 5 when you complete stripe 87, that you will be utterly and irrevocably in LOVE with your Sungold, because it really is a thing of delicious beauty and joy.

Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooo, isn't it looking fine????!!!!!!

Just look at all those delicious, pretty, curvy, neat waves of colour, don't they make your heart sing?!

I hope you're still enjoying the stripes and the pattern and the colours and everything about this therapeutic blanket-making journey. I know I am, and I know I really don't want it to end.

 So this is Part 5 of the Sungold CAL and there are 18 stripes, beginning with Cyprus and ending in Magenta.

Shown above is the colour info for Part 5 of the Sungold MIXED STRIPE Blanket. Remember each stripe is made up of two rows of crochet. Click on the following link for the printable worksheet...

♥ PART 5 MIXED STRIPE WORKSHEET 

I shared Rachael's Sungold Colourwash blanket with you last week, and this week she posted her update as she finished up with week 4 ↑↑   isn't it gorgeous? You remember last week was all about the greenery which added in a calm, grounding feel to the stripes.

↑↑ I also came across this wonderful photo on Instagram this week shared by Louise, and it shows off the colourwash really well, especially the cool greens sitting gently at the top there.

Part 5 of the Sungold Colourwash is a purple haze, just like the flowers I showed you earlier.. Soft green Lincoln merges with Lavender, then it's full on through Proper Purple with a pop of Plum at the end.

Shown above is the colour info for Part 5 of the Sungold COLOURWASH Blanket. Remember each stripe is made up of two rows of crochet, so when you work the triple bands of colour, this will be six rows of crochet.

Click on the following link for the printable worksheet...

♥ PART 5 COLOURWASH WORKSHEET 

↑↑ Now then, just feast your eyes on this box of perfection!!!! Jen shared this photo on Facebook and I just fell in love with the utter neatness of all those wonderful squares of colour. There are so many of you enjoying the Sungold Harmony squares at the moment and it's lovely for me to see your progress, so thank you as always for sharing on the socials.

If you're following Kaz and making a  Sungold Harmony blanket, there are weekly downloads for the colour info and you can access these for free on Kaz's Insomnia Crochet webshop.

And of course the  "Hooked on Attic24" Facebook group is full of Sungold inspiration and the PDF charts for the square Sungold blanket shown above are posted there each week too.

Thank you as always for visiting me here on my blog, and for joining me as we blanket along together, I do so appreciate your company. Wishing you a joy-filled week of colour and creativity!

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Links for you all in one place......

♥ SUNGOLD YARN PACKS 

♥ LACY SHELL TUTORIAL

♥ SUNGOLD BLANKET PDF PATTERN

♥ SUNGOLD BLANKET INTRODUCTION

♥ CAL PART 1 (stripes 1-15)

♥ CAL PART 2 (stripes 16-33)

♥ CAL PART 3 (stripes 34 - 51)

♥ CAL PART 4 (stripes 52 - 69)

♥ PART 5 MIXED STRIPE WORK SHEET

♥ PART 5 COLOURWASH WORK SHEET

 

 

 

Comments

[Katie Sturgeon]

Hi

Was just wondering, each part comes out on Fridays. Why does part 8 come out on Sunday? The 25th February is a Sunday.

[Dawn]

Brilliant colourwork Lucy - so uplifting.
As to the pesky half balls of wool - I have tamed them in the past by reinstating the ball band and adding an elastic band, which can be tightened as the ball gets thinner. You should then be able to continue pulling the yarn from the middle.
Hope this helps,
Dawn

[Sheila Loxham]

Dear Lucy,
I have followed your blog for over a decade and I think that I have once before posted a comment to you.
I live in France and have encouraged many friends to follow you.
I finally finished your Coast blanket and took some 'arty' pictures of it as you would. My friends have encouraged me to send you a photo which I'd love to do only I am not sure how I could send it.
Also, I am visiting Skipton next week and will be making a pilgrimage to Coopers (sadly not on Friday morning when I would be sure to see you!).

[Rachel Turnbow]

I love your posts, no matter the project, season, pallet or topic. Inspiration by scroll. Thank you.

[Charlotte]

Wow! I really love all the flowery versions...but...might Blossom and Bluebells be the name of your next blanket?? Cx

[Frieda]

Ach, so! Meine Fortschritte habe ich hier festgehalten:
https://villawunderbunt.blogspot.com/search/label/G.häkeltes

[Kathleen]

Thanks for showing my photo from last week! Perry and David Peter are beside themselves with excitement!

[Simon]

I really look forward to the Friday CAL posts! They are always so full of colour and incredibly inspiring photos! The variation of patterns using the your colours is always really surprising and exciting, and the way that different colour choices create different moods within the same pattern is quite inspiring and educational! I'm loving the Vintage Flower Hexagons! Roll on next week!!💐

[Sarah Star]

This CAL is really helping me to beat the winter blues! I decided this blanket would be specially for use in my campervan, for those chilly evenings or just snuggling up in bed with a morning cuppa. I've been doing my colourwash stripes through these dark evenings, dreaming of summertime camping adventures! xx

[ChrisG]

Wow such a feast of gloriously uplifting colour 🏳️‍🌈 I’ve resisted so far because I need to finish some WiPs but the sunshine positivity will definitely start in my house soon! So many lovely versions and starting late gives the advantage of considering all the different possibilities ☺️ thank you!

[Karen Conrad]

I love seeing all the different variations…such beautiful work! Since I’m doing the lap blanket, I started a retro daisy blanket from link you shared. Now I’d like to give one of the other flower patterns a try that you’ve shown today. What does one do with so many blankets? 🙄🧶❤️

[Andria]

Gorgeous! I’m not doing this CAL, but I love reading about it, and seeing all the beautiful blankets in all their variety. 😍