Granny Stripe Blanket

Good morning! I'm here to tell you about an exciting new project I'm about to get underway. It's a project that will undoubtedly take a very looooong time to complete, but I'm very excited about its beginnings. 
I love crochet. I am definitely not an expert, considering I've only recently mastered the Granny Square, but I do love it. I've kind of stopped and started crochet over the years, but this time it seems to have finally all clicked, and I'm actually understanding the different stitches and what they look like and how things all fit together. It's so relaxing and just lovely to sit down with a hook and a ball of yarn and watch it come together. 

I come from a family of knitters/crocheters/crafty women and while I have always been reasonably crafty, I've never really taken the time to learn a craft fully and make wonderful things with it. I'm hoping now this will change. 
I've always wanted to make my children a blanket each. Whether it's for their beds, or just to snuggle with to watch some tv, or to keep as a keepsake from me. I originally wanted to make heaps of granny squares and then join them together to form a blanket, but I'm now realising that while it's feasible to make one like that, it will be quite tedious to do one for everyone that way. It would mean starting that fiddly granny square from scratch lots of times, lots of ends to tuck in, lots of squares to block and then join.....I can't see myself ever finishing them. 

But I was determined to make them. And so, it struck me. If I'm now understanding the stitches required to make a granny square easily, why can't I try the one with stripes I've seen over at Attic24? I'm a long time follower of Lucy's beautiful crochet filled blog. But be warned, if you decide to take a peek, you can expect to be lost for ages in pages and pages of what she charmingly calls 'hooky goodness'. Love it. 
But she has created this blanket called the Granny Stripe Blanket, which, instead of going around and around like you would a granny square, you go up and down in stripes instead. No joining, no messing about, just row after row of cute little treble clusters. You can find the pattern for it here. 

So I'm giving it a go! I'm making a rainbow stripe one first for my 4yo daughter and will go from there. I'll blog my progress as I go along (as well as my regular blog posts) and it will be so exciting to see how it all unfolds. I begin tonight! 
I did go and buy some yarn yesterday to get started, would you like to see?

It's just to begin with, of course. I have some more balls coming in the post and then I'll see how much more I need to finish it off. But I think it should turn out beautifully. I keep peeking in the bag because it's just so pretty. But wish me luck because I need to crochet a looooooong chain (without losing count of my stitches - eeek!) and apparently that and the row of double crochet to follow is the most challenging part. But after that it should be easy. I am so looking forward to it. I think I will have an early night and snuggle up in bed with a cup of tea and my crochet. Bliss.


See you later,


Nadia
xxx