dear diary – dandelion drumbeat
Today’s story is from the past. The rainbow blanket that I want to introduce today was made at the start of the year. It was January and there were hardly any countries on lock down yet. It seems so long ago and so much had changed since then. Still, I want to show it off, because it deserves its dedicated space and it’s story of origin.
I could not write about it any earlier for a few reasons. It was a present for my beautiful niece, who was about to be born any time then, so i needed to finish the blanket when i did… As it turned our, it took my niece some time until she was ready to arrive, which happened about a month later. And, i wanted to make sure the blanket is received safely and seen by the recipients before it appeared on my crochet blog (clog?). And there was other general information about my crochet process I have been mulling over prior to that, which finally got a chance to be released in my last month’s blog post HERE…
It might be good to reminisce about the start of the year, when we were all blissfully unaware of the changes 2020 was about to bring, with some nostalgia but also some hope for future.
There was nothing I needed, so for my birthday, i asked for wool. I can always, always, ALWAYS use wool.
Let me elaborate:
There are always projects at any various stages, from pre-contemplation, to near completion, in my spare bedroom and stacked in strategic corners all around my house. I use mostly double knit (DK) wool, and i really like Specialist Craft yarn. So, a double knit specialist craft ball of yarn in ANY colour is always a welcome addition to my ready for deployment stash…
And yarn I got.
I got two balls of this beautiful rainbow coloured colour changing yarn, which happened to be a little thicker than the usual DK that I use… It wasn’t quite suitable for any of the current projects, and I wanted it to show off the colour changes naturally, growing from a small centre outwards. I may have possibly needed a palate cleanser, I may have possibly wanted a simple, no fuss project I could just finish quickly after completing one of my more challenging builds: the daisy chain blanket not that long ago… You pick a why.
I don’t know
What i do know is, this was my crochet thinking at the exact time when I learnt that my niece may be born any time, and so I decided, as a present from both me and my husband, i will use the yarn he bought me to make a blanket for my niece.
Pattern, then…
I was thinking simple Granny Square crochet, using my modified version of the pattern (available HERE). If done tightly, this can create a diamond shape rather than a straight square. AND, I love crochet popcorn stitch, so I decided to include a popcorn row every so often, to give it some texture.
With all the information ready and conditions aligned perfectly, I sat down and started crocheting. It was a joy to make, and a pleasure to think of gifting it once it was finished. There is an association with the my usual set up, Netflix on TV, and a project in hand, but the details of what it was that was keeping my background noise escape me. I wanted to finish this one so much, I stayed up until early morning, and until all my rainbow yarn was all incorporated into those knots. Like a possessed person racing with time, I felt I needed to finish it, once I have started. I cannot remember the last time I felt like that about a piece of crochet. That night (morning) I fell asleep tired but content and proud of the work i had done, in a strange hyper alert state of tiredness.
I added the lacy edging the next day, sewed my label on and washed it using the wool cycle – something that had become part of my making ritual somewhere along the way. Each time i finish a project i wash it with lots of softener involved. There is something extra soothing about adding the smell of fabric softener to a woolly comforter… For me at least.
And so it was finished, and ready to go, for when my niece arrived. She is now nearly two months old, and the blanket suits her. I have been lucky to get it sent and they received in time, before all services have started to suffer with the demand of the current crisis…
So perhaps in reminiscing about what was, we can hold onto that feeling of being able to not worry about serious illnesses and protecting ourselves and everyone who is dear to us. And maybe also, a crochet blanket is the perfect item to offer some protection and comfort when we most need it, and so perhaps, this is the perfect time to be introducing to you in full glory: