At last, a Summer Throw Completed

At last, at last, a final post about the Summer Throw, that has actually been completed so long ago and is in use on the bed, even as a winter throw, but oh, the shame...because there was still more than a few ffffrafels* to work away...

But luckily I have a wonderful aunt, who came to visit, and she loves helping out with predicaments like these, and she Sat Down and Worked All The Ends Away.

I have shown most of the blanket before, but here's some more :-)

Sometimes it's folded on my trousseau kist, and Chloe Cat** wil curl himself up on the softness.

Most often it lies in a crumpled pile on the bed, after one or both of the boys came through our room

I've long stopped trying to straighten it.

It's just easier leaving it on a friendly, crumpled heap.

...because this lasts only a few second for the purpose of this photo.

...then I fold it back to start folding laundry, and the boys come in, and start jumping/playing...and off we go again :-)

Here's some of the history, since this throw has been coming a loooong time:

First, I did it the proper way and made a mock-up, a trial version, to get the colour patterns right. 

Then, over some months, I hooked furiously, then let it lie, then planned a house, then moved across the country, hooking in between, and at some stage when it was begin enough, started using it, with fffrafels all over the place and no edge.

Here I explained my colour placement.

And now it's done, with unedited photos (I forgot) at various light levels and what not, but at least it's on the bed.

The pattern was the Sorbet & Lace Square in the Ideas Crochet magazine available on Zinio.

The yarn was the lovely 10 ply Colours of Grace Magdalene, sadly discontinued, but soon to be followed with something new...

I think I used a 4.5 hook...but there might have been a 4 and 5 appearing sporadically...

The edge - Edge nr 22 from Around the Corner - Crochet Borders by Edie Eckman

 *fffrafels = those ends.  Or where you joined yarn.  Anything that needs to be worked away. "Frays", in Afrikaans it's "rafels",, but then one becomes a bit bit agitated and adjectives are added...

***Chloe Cat = Chloe is actually a male, but when he arrived at the mine where he worked as a Mouse Catcher, it was thought that he was a she.  Which he wasn't.  When the mine closed, all the cats had to be re-homed, and my resident geologist chose Chloe, whom then flew 1500 km to his new home, and might forever still be address as "she", even thought Chloe O'Reilly is "he".

Playing with my Tiles-WIP

Instead of completing my own Winter Blanket, or my boy's Summer Throw, or any of the 5/6/7 various shawls/cowls/tryouts currently on the hook elsewhere in the house, I have been playing around on Moldiv, mosaic'ing my new Tiles Blanket WIP...oh ja, another new one :-D

There's been quite a few posts by Ons Hekel members the last couple of weeks, of beautiful tile floors, and similar comes by on Instagram almost on a daily basis (oh my soul, Anneke alerted me to THIS: I Have This Thing With Floors)and even on my dusty, sadly neglected Pinterest board there were tiles, mosaics, floors, rags...so I snapped to attention and declared it Time To Crochet A Tile Floor and luckily there's enough stash, I didn't even have to buy more.

I looked at many, many photos - on Ons Hekel, on IG, on my Pinterest, on Pinterest in general, in magazines (it's a dark vortex, I tell ya) and then just printed these two to come up with a basis for colour choices. I didn't even try to come up with exact matches, but I thought something lacy-ish would work. Quickly it was a mad rush through through possible patterns, and goodness knows, there's enough books here and in the end I decided on Jan Eaton's Croydon Square, yeehaaa which is working fine!  (Although the well-known Rustic Lace Square should work beautifully, as well as the Sorbet & Lace Square).

Match this.  Colourwise.  And cross fingers it will work out. 

I started out with 6 or 7 colours in different sequences  and combinations - believe me, I hooked and frogged and hooked and frogged this square so many times, discarding and adding and simplifying until I ended up with four colours.


Here's my yarn (and an unblocked square):

Mist (light blue), Pepper (greenish grey), Ivory (white) and Ruby (red)

All four of these colours have been tried out in all possible positions, but this one looked best:

This be the tile

Blocking acrylic is at best not a real option, but I did block it on a frame and steamed it quite thoroughly, relaxing those strands and getting it more or less flat and square.

And then I wondered "but will it work???", hence the above mosaic, and since it prove to be a hit on Ons Hekel, I took that same mosaic'd photo and mosaic'd it further to see a possible blanket...

Aaaah...gotta love cellphone apps!

Does it look like a tiled floor?

So this will be my blankie, albeit it a bit smaller.  I'll be making a lapghan to donate again to the Maak 'n Verskil group (Make A Difference) who distributes blankets to the elderly, children, disabled or general people in need. 

Edge.  What edging should I use?

But first, at least 29 more squares.