Maybelle Blanket

I thought that maybe you might like some info on the Maybelle blanket. I made this for my sister as a thank you for letting us stay in her holiday home in Benllech, Anglesey. I was brought up on the lovely island of Anglesey, married there, children were christened there and parents are buried there. I now live in Hertfordshire so it's great going back!
The Maybelle crochet flower pattern came from http://myrosevalley.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/the-maybelle-crochet-flower.html and is an easy pattern to follow. It also makes up really quickly.

I chose these colours to match my sister's lounge and was lucky enough to have the yarn already so off I went.

Then I found I did not have enough of the dark grey...I was making 8 flowers in each colour but only got 6 out of the dark grey and didn't have time to order more...oh well!

The best bit is turning the circle to a square ready to join. I love the join as you go method...very addictive and satisfying. I decided to make my own pattern up to turn the circle into a square and was very pleased with the outcome.
Basically I started in the middle of a petal and made 3 htr, then 3ch, 3 dtr 2ch 3dtr to make the corner and continue around. Don't worry if it curls as this straightens out on next round. You can always do 4 chain if it bothers you! 
For the join as you go round I just did a tr into each htr, 3 tr in each 3 ch space, 3 tr 2ch 3tr in corner.
Attic 24 has a great tutorial http://attic24.typepad.com/weblog/joining-asyougo-sqaures.html as do Youtube.

30 squares all joined and time for some border decisions! Tried out several different ideas and frogged each one...they just didn't seem to fit what I wanted for the blanket...so kept it simple!

I never used to block my projects unless they really looked like they needed it but am now converted to it! Large projects like blankets I put through a rinse cycle on the washing machine and a short spin. I block onto a large piece of quilting fabric I had which works brilliantly! This is all laid out on my dining room table which is so old and battered it hasn't suffered at all! Blocking individual squares I spray with a water spray and pin out on a tea towel I have which is a check design which works as a grid! Brilliant!

And there it is all finished!

xxx Eirawen

Just finished another in very different colours... Love it!

For this one I used a 4mm hook and made 35 squares in Stylecraft magenta, violet, clematis, wisteria, silver and grey. the border was 5 rows of chain and dc and edged with a v stitch.