The crocheted squares blanket is done! Not bad, considering I started on 20 May and finished last night (15 June). Here's the photographic proof, and some statistics to go with it:
Assembly:
I worked the blocks in vertical strips, starting with the centre one. I added two blocks extra in length to the original blanket size, but kept the same number of blocks in width. Originally I'd wanted to make it two blocks wider as well, but I would have run out of yarn. Instead, I opted for a wider-than-pattern border that added about another block's worth of width and length.
Finishing:
The edging mostly alternated between single crochet and double crochet rounds, until I got near the end and started running out of yarn. The last two rounds were one round of double crochet, then one round of single crochet. I'd saved a 100g ball of yarn especially to do this with, and it took almost all of the ball to finish the rounds.
Overall, I'm pleased with how it turned out, especially in terms of its size and dimensions. It makes a great blanket for the sofa. I'm still not sure it's not ugly, but I am sure it could have been uglier.
- About 1,660g of yarn went towards the blanket, 400g of which I bought especially for the project (because I needed the colours to balance out the scheme).
- The final blanket weighs 1,452g
- I still have 182g of leftover yarn. That sounds like a lot, but it's all in small balls of stuff that's good for embroidery or waste yarn, and not much else. I was surprised it weighed that much.
Assembly:
I worked the blocks in vertical strips, starting with the centre one. I added two blocks extra in length to the original blanket size, but kept the same number of blocks in width. Originally I'd wanted to make it two blocks wider as well, but I would have run out of yarn. Instead, I opted for a wider-than-pattern border that added about another block's worth of width and length.
Finishing:
- Each block had its ends darned in before it was added to its respective strip.
- Blocks were always added as they were made.
- Blocks were slip stitched together using black yarn (a small nod to the Kaffe Fassett/Liza Prior Lucy quilt this blanket's pattern resembles, which was backed with thin black fabric and no batting)
- For the small blocks, I slip stitched them horizontally first, just attaching them to the previous blocks in the strip. Once a run of small blocks was attached, I did a single vertical seam to connect them all.
- Ends from seams were darned in once the seam was joined to another seam. The last ends at the outer edge of the blanket were done once the first round of the edging was done. So there was no angst-ridden "I have all these ends to finish!" moment.
Overall, I'm pleased with how it turned out, especially in terms of its size and dimensions. It makes a great blanket for the sofa. I'm still not sure it's not ugly, but I am sure it could have been uglier.