Aside from an occasional crochet binding I’ve never managed to get to grips with the art of the hook… until now!
Several years ago, I think while pregnant with # 2, I had plans to create a beautiful ripple blanket so I purchased Jan Eaton’s excellent ’200 Ripple Stitch Patterns’ book, armed myself with a hook and some spare yarn and set sail… well, limped out of the harbour, half mast and promptly sank without a trace actually!
I decided that crochet was the devil’s work, a dark art indeed! I’m a reasonably intelligent person, my very first knit project was a pair of socks and I’m able to follow a complex fair isle chart. But a crochet pattern? A single hook, with just one stitch on it at any point? Forget it… I was hopeless. I couldn’t ‘read’ my work and every time I put it down I lost my place and became hopelessly confused. My ripples were decidedly choppy, no gentle waves of colour here…
Life was busy, Meadow Yarn was in the making, babes were small (and increasing in number!) so I simply decided that crochet wasn’t for me and moved on.
Until this summer!
The safe arrival of a very very precious new niece, who is special in so many ways and we are so lucky to have, prompted me to face my crochet demons head-on and a summer of crochet ensued!
Inspired by Lucy from Attic 24 (one of my top blog reads!) and Rosa P, both of whom have created beautiful examples, I set my heart on making a hexagon blanket for baby Meg…
I grabbed some scraps and a hook and set sail once more…
My first test! A little wonky, not perfect by any means but definitely my most successful crochet to date…
So I chose colours:
(later adding a pale pink and a putty grey to make a total of 7 shades). It’s Debbie Bliss Cotton DK with a rogue Rowan Wool Cotton to get the perfect cherry red…
My bag of hexagons grew and as I followed Lucy’s advice to join them as I went, so too did the blanket. Let me tell you, crochet is indeed very satisfying in its speed and ease of transportation!
It went everywhere with me. Until finally there were just a *lot* of ends to weave in…
Next time I will work out how to catch the ends in as I go… but it felt like I needed at least one extra hand to accomplish it when I set out on this venture!
So, just 2 months after Meg arrived we had our ‘ta-da’ moment!
Big enough for a wee one to lay on, cosy as a pram blanket and snuggly in the cot…
My sister says it’s her most prized possession (possibly discounting her two beautiful children I guess!) which makes me smile. She’s had a hard year and having her and Meg around – both happy and healthy - to receive this very small token of our love for them all is something we’re very grateful for…
