Bonus blanket #1

image from Clipart Library

Quite apart from the excitement of the porch last year, other stuff was also going on and I have a confession to make: I ordered way too much yarn when I made Olive's blanket last year.  I don't quite know what I was thinking, other than I decided that as I was making the blanket half as wide again as the pattern, I would need twice the amount of yarn called for in said pattern.  Nope, now that I've had a proper think about it, it doesn't make sense to me either 😳

Ignore the 2024 watermarks, by the way, I did actually finish this blanket last year LOL

So I had all that zingy leftover yarn and I had fallen in love with a gorgeous pattern by Marion of Wool Thread Paint: The Blair Atholl Blanket.  This was made using the interlocking block stitch, which I hadn't come across before.  Marion's blanket is full of lovely soft colours and mine looks very different.  Nevertheless, I am very pleased with how it turned out.

With all the colour changes there are a humungous amount of ends which normally would have to be sewn in.

So...many...ends 😖

But fear not, my lovelies, Marion has thought of the perfect solution in the form of an envelope border; all you have to do is snip those ends to a reasonable length and those pesky little buggers can simply be tucked away!  

I felt that the border needed a little something extra, so finished if off with Lucy's (Attic 24) Bobble-shell Edging, one of my go-to favourites.

Now, full disclosure here in that I did struggle somewhat with making the envelope border.  I got there in the end, but the other day I came across what seems to perhaps be a simpler way of working it by a lady called Rosina Plane: https://www.rosinacrochets.uk/.

I really like the envelope border so will try out Rosina's method next time.

Despite my difficulties with the border, I am very pleased with the end result.  The blanket has now been safely tucked away as it is destined to be a gift in due course ~ I hope they like it 😊