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Gooooood Mooooorning my lovelies, Happy New Year, and happy CAL day!!!!! It seems like an age since I first started chatting to you about my inspiration and ideas for this years blanket, and I’m so happy that we’re starting the year with some pretty colours and gentle creativity, just what the soul needs in January. Just in case you missed my introductory blog post, you can find it by clicking the following link >>
🌸 SPRINGFROST BLANKET INTRODUCTION
My hope is that you’ll enjoy these weekly instalments even if you’re not a crocheter and not into making blankets (hmm….are there really any non-blanketeers visiting the Attic?!). I will be sharing lots of gentle colours and seasonal inspiration as we plod our way slowly through January and February and I hope it’ll make your heart happy.
This colour palette is very different to my usual jaunty brights and I am absolutely loving the delicate, soft, gentle feel of it. It’s like turning your face into the low winter sun and feeling a welcome warmth even when the air is still freezing. Its refreshing and soothing, and very uplifting too – a weeny glimmer of Spring in the depths of our cold winter season.
As is usual for my blankets, I’ve chose fifteen shades of Stylecraft Special DK for my Springfrost blanket
Top row :
♥ Lincoln ♥ Duck Egg ♥ White ♥ A Hint of Silver ♥ Mushroom ♥
Middle row :
♥ Pistachio ♥ Spearmint ♥ Blue Marl* ♥ Parma Violet ♥ Powder Pink ♥
Bottom row :
♥ Meadow ♥ Cloud Blue ♥ Baby Blue* ♥ Wisteria ♥ Pale Rose ♥
You can find the Springfrost yarn pack in my shop at Wool Warehouse, click on the following link…
A little reminder for you to make a note of the colours so that you don’t have any mix-ups, the colour names are written on the ball bands. In the Springfrost colour palette, some of the paler shades can look very similar especially in artificial light (eg Parma Violet and Mushroom can be easy to mix up).
I really love using these wooden shade cards to keep a note of the colours, they are very photogenic too! My lovely friend Veronica makes and sells them via her Etsy shop, you can find them ((HERE)). She has cards for many of my other yarn packs too, so you could collect them if you wish.
I use my trusty wooden yarn pegs to keep a check on my colours, I keep them in a little drawstring bag with my yarn balls so that I’ve always got them to refer to if I need them.
For those of you who have made CAL blankets with me before then you will be familiar with the schedule. If this is your first time, here is a quick rundown of the weeks….
Today you have access to the pattern which remains free and accessible here on my blog for ever so that you can use it whenever you like. Each week I’ll be giving you a list of stripes so that you can work on a portion of the blanket, and we aim to make 15-18 stripes a week. Don’t worry if this isn’t do-able for you, you can absolutely work at your own pace and take a decade to do it if you need to!
🌸 PART 1 : stripes 1-15 – that’s what we’re going to look at today
🌸 PART 2 : stripes 16 – 33 (13th Jan)
🌸 PART 3 : stripes 34 – 51 (20th Jan)
🌸 PART 4 : stripes 52 – 69 (27th Jan)
🌸 PART 5 : stripes 70 – 87 (3rd Feb)
🌸 PART 6 : stripes 88 – 105 (10th Feb)
🌸 PART 7 : catch up (darn in those ends!) (17th Feb)
🌸 PART 8 : the border (24th Feb)
As always, I’ve created my usual photo-heavy tutorial to help you crochet your tension sample and learn how to create the Springfrost stripe. You can find it by clicking on the following link >>
I’ve also made a simple written pattern that you can download/print if you don’t need the step by step help and prefer to have a traditional printed pattern to pop in your bag. You can find it by clicking on the following link >>
I know that some of you may find the thought of crocheting and counting a looooooong wiggly chain and then crocheting that first row a bit daunting. Here are a few tips to help you get off to an easy start…
- use a bigger hook size to make your chain, then switch down again to work your first row. You can go up two half-sizes to open up the chains a little (eg if you’re going to use a 4mm hook for the blanket, make the chain using a 5mm).
- take your time, and plan to make this first row when you can sit quietly and be completely undisturbed as you count and concentrate on the pattern.
- make sure you have good light to start your blanket.
- use stitch markers. You will need to have an accurate chain count for this to work, there is no room for errors. Make your chains slowly, evenly, and place stitch markers at regular intervals, say every 25 chains. This way, if your mind suddenly goes blank (it happens), or the cat distracts you and you lose count (also a distinct possibility in my house), you only have to go back as far as your last stitch marker.
Once your first few rows are out the way, I’m confident that you’ll be sailing along these pretty rows and enjoying every minute of it. The pattern is easy to learn with very little counting, and once the initial pattern is set then every stripe is the same. All you need to do is change colours every alternate row and enjoy the hooky rhythm.
By the way, I’d be interested to hear what you make of the white in this blanket?! It’s the first time I’ve ever included it in one of my blankets and I’m still getting used to it, but it does bring a beautifully cool, frosty winter’s touch to the whole colour palette.
One thing I LOVE about the Springfrost stitch pattern is the beautiful texture it creates, it really is one of the most squishy and cosy blankets I’ve ever made.
The spike stitches do a great job of blending and harmonising the stripes, and the delicate shades I’ve put together have a very calm and soothing effect. But also — just LOOK at how beautifully bobbly and lush the texture is!! Love love love it.
In part 1 of the CAL we are using all the colours and crocheting up the first fifteen stripes.
Here is the colour info for Part 1 of the Springfrost Blanket. Click on the following link for the printable worksheet…
1. Cloud Blue (Foundation chain & rows 1 & 2)
2. Parma Violet (rows 3 & 4)
3. Blue Marl (rows 5 & 6)
4. Spearmint (rows 7 & 8)
5. Wisteria (rows 9 & 10)
6. Mushroom (rows 11 & 12)
7. Duck Egg (rows 13 & 14)
8. White (rows 15 & 16)
9. Lincoln (rows 17 & 18)
10. Pale Rose (rows 19 & 20)
11. Powder Pink (rows 21 & 22)
12. Pistachio (rows 23 & 24)
13. A Hint of Silver (rows 25 & 26)
14. Baby Blue (rows 27 & 28)
15. Meadow (rows 29 & 30)
NOTE : If you are making a larger double/king blanket with two yarn packs, you will need to crochet some extra length. There will be an extra set of stripes given in part 6 for you to add on if you wish.
This year, after much deliberation and an awful lot of frustrated sampling, I decided not to create a Colourwash version for the Springfrost colour palette. The reason being, I just couldn’t find a way to make it work harmoniously. With white added into the mix it’s a tricky palette to balance and nothing I worked on felt right. I hope you trust me in this – I just didn’t feel comfortable giving you something that I wasn’t 110% delighted with.
I know there were those of you hoping for a colourwash blanket and I hate to disappoint you – I’m so sorry it didn’t work out. If you really like the idea of a colourwash sweep, then one option is to create a repeating pattern with the Springfrost colours, as in my sample above. If this appeals, then you should work the colours in the following order (from top to bottom in the above image)
Wisteria : Parma Violet : A Hint of Silver : Mushroom : Pale Rose : Powder Pink : White : Blue Marl : Baby Blue : Cloud Blue : Duck Egg : Spearmint : Lincoln : Pistachio : Meadow
Once you’ve crocheted up all fifteen colours, simply repeat them in the same order so that you end up with wide, repeating bands of stripes, does this make sense?
I really hope you enjoy starting out on this journey with me, I honestly can’t think of a better way to begin a new year.
Please do share your photos on social media as I’d love to see how you get on – you can share on my Facebook page, or use the hashtag #springfrostcal on Instagram so I can find you.
Wishing you a week full of happy moments with hook and yarn!
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♥ SPRINGFROST BLANKET INTRODUCTION
