My first crochet project is officially finished and I am pleased as punch with the results. The Flowers in the Snow afghan is absolutely beautiful, clearly it doesn't take much to make me happy as a clam, but I'm just so mesmerized with how the multicoloured circles are wrapped in a perfect square. Simple, but so charming.
I used almost exclusively leftover bits of yarn for this project, which is extremely satisfying. It's all TFA Yellow Label DK Weight yarn and I used a 3mm hook. I had to pull out full skeins of natural for all the "snow" and the border used up a lot of yarn (between 1/3 and 1/2 skein of each of the colours) requiring me to break into Baby Shane Blanket kit stash.
My finished afghan is 12 x 16 squares. I had no idea how big that was going to be, but as it turns out it's very big! The above photo shows the blanket on a double bed, it almost covers it entirely. It measures approx. 4.5' x 6'. Definitely large enough for Stella and I to snuggle under.
I learnt a lot about crochet with this project. I'm still far from being an expert, but I'm much more comfortable with a hook than a I used to be. I did as the pattern suggested and attached the squares together as I was making them, which I think is a lot faster than sewing them together at the end, however since the squares are only attached at 12 key spots around the motif, it results in a very lacey blanket. I don't mind it since the motif is airy and light, but it's easy to get fingers and toes (and whippet noses) stuck in the large holes between the squares.
I originally set out to make the craziest colour combo's I could think of, and all together I think that this blanket is pretty wild! The white "snow" between the multicoloured flowers helps to ground the craziness of it all. I usually find that when you use this many colours together they have a way of blending and reading as random and pleasant as opposed to jarring and overwhelming. The colours all just fade into one giant scattering of multicoloured sprinkles.
For the border I did what I think is just Granny stripes. I may have crocheted into too many spots along the edge because my border seems to be a bit bigger than the center panel, resulting in a slight ruffling of the edges. The scalloped edging is from the pot holder pattern I used last year when I was taking a break from this blanket and making quick and satisfying pot holders instead.
Though the weather is warming up and it's not exactly wool blanket season anymore, I'm still able to thoroughly enjoy my work as this blanket now lives very comfortably on my blanket ladder along with my other hand made treasures. It makes me smile every time I look at it.