Finally….my Starburst Flower Crochet Blanket!!

Completing this blanket has taken longer than an elephant’s gestational period!!! If I remember correctly, I started purchasing all the yarn in late 2011, was still crocheting the squares in July last year, started sewing strips of 15 squares in July as well and then it sat for about nine months before I started sewing the strips together. It’s certainly not difficult but just boring, boring, boring!!! And it’s hard to transport so it’s not as if I could slip it into my bag and nick down to the cafe for a quick coffee.

Here’s a photo of some of the strips…

All crocheted in autumn colours only….

Eight strips sewn together…five to go..

You can find this pattern in a book called The Gentle Art of Knitting by Jane Brocket. The name of the pattern is Starburst Flower Crochet Blanket.

I actually crocheted an acylic blanket in this pattern in late 2011 as I was so keen to see what it looked like and I couldn’t wait until all my wool arrived. The wool I used for this blanket is Cascade 220 worsted weight. This is a beautiful wool to use and there are sooo many colours to pick from. Here’s a link to the Cascade website which will give you some idea. I only wanted my blanket to have autumn colours so I selected the following:

2409 Palm

8010 Natural

9465B Burnt Orange

7827 Goldenrod

8903 Primaverra

9557 Dark Chocolate

9499 Sand

8267 Forest Green

9490 Heathers Irish Green

9429 Mossy Rock

9430 Highland Green

2414 Ginger

9542 Blaze

2425 Provence

7826 California Poppy

1208 Tan

Now that I have bored you to death and you’re nearly asleep from scrolling through all those colours……….are you ready to see the final blanket?

Here it is…

Look at that sea of gorgeous autumn colours…

No two squares are the same either. I kept a record of all the colour combinations I’d crocheted so they wouldn’t be repeated. It is a sheer fluke that the blanket sits nicely on top of my bed and reaches around the edges. There are 195 squares in total (15 x 13).

I had always intended to crochet a border around the blanket but I got a bit carried away and completed two rows of double crochet without realising how much of my yarn it was using. It’s a long way around that blanket I must say! You guessed it; I ran out of the cream yarn. But fear not, my stash of Ashford Tekapo 8ply came to the rescue. It’s actually an 8/10 ply thickness so was perfect for the final scalloped border plus I found an ideal match colourwise: this burnt orange colour. What do you think? It actually took about 120 grams for the border alone.

Not bad hey? I’m actually quite chuffed with the whole blanket. It has taken so long to complete but I can finally use it now, especially as the nights are getting cooler in Brisbane as we head into winter.

One last picture so I can just keep showing off 🙂

It’s been nearly a year since I completely renovated my bedroom and changed the colour scheme to lovely mocha-ish shades with orange/tangerine as the accent colour. I have been waiting to find the right picture to place on the wall above my bed and it has taken me up until now when I found this lovely print of Van Gogh’s Sunflowers in my local Crazy Clark’s shop. It only cost me $15 which was an added bonus. I now have to wait for my son to place it on the wall for me. Here’s a look at the picture. I do believe it will match my decor beautifully.

And on that note I bid farewell until next time….

Melanie