What does your yarn tell you? Do you talk to it? Does it tell you what it would like to be when it grows up?
I purchased some Premier Just Yarn Ombre' last summer with the intent of making a blanket to donate. I thought since it was ombre' yarn I would make a rectangle blanket, the stripes usually work out better that way.
Here are a couple of blankets I've made with ombre' yarn, one a rectangle and one a square created from the inside out.
What do you think? Square or Rectangle?
Don't get me wrong, I really like the way the square blanket turned out as well. But I have always felt that self striping yarn needs to be in rows not rounds.
Well...... I purchase this color....
It's a nice color I think. The plan is to donate it for a female Veteran this next Christmas. I try to crochet at least 5 blankets a year, send them to my friend who then gives them to Veterans for Christmas. She gets a list each year for requests. There are at least 2 female Veterans this year which works out well. I also have some solid purple yarn that needs to be a blanket.
On Sunday I rescued the yarn from the tote under the bed thinking I knew exactly what I would do with it. I had it all planned out, what stitches I would use, the pattern, how large. Then I started on a sample piece just to make sure it would be straight on the sides since some of the stitches would pull a bit. It did not take me long to realize that this yarn is not made for a rectangle blanket. It's a bit on the thin side, and not very soft. (should soften after washing). The pattern I intended to do called for a few rows of dc (double crochet) back to back. It looked terrible! Oh my gosh. There was so much "space" between the stitches, the rows were all "loosey goosey". No structure on just that small piece I had finished. Nope..... just not going to work. Even throwing in some sc (single crochet) rows did not make it look any better. Pretty sure this yarn does not want to be a rectangle blanket.
But I really want to do a rectangle blanket!!! So much easier to write out the pattern when you have repeat rows lol. With a square blanket I would have to write out every round because every round is a different stitch count.
Oh well, sometimes you just have to listen to the yarn, and this yarn wants to be a square blanket.... what can I do?
Thankfully I purchased some granny square books in fall and brought them along for the winter. At some point I will do a review of the books.
I found a square that will work as a start to the blanket. Wonder if my plans will work this time? Had to rethink all the stitches and stitch patterns I was going to use, they just won't work for a square. Sorry about the photo, it's a cloudy cold day and the lighting in the camper isn't that great.
What do you think? It's a good start. Thankfully I made a sample piece of my original plans so I didn't have to unravel to many rows before starting again. In the past I would fsc (foundation single crochet) 200 stitches, crochet a bunch of rows only to find out it's not going to work out. It's a lot of wasted time and frogging. I'm learning to spend the extra time to do a smaller sample piece first, just to make sure what is in my head will work with the yarn I'm using.
So now I know what the yarn was telling me, and what I need to create with it. Hopefully I have enough yarn along (4 skeins) and don't have to buy more to make a nice size blanket. Hoping for at least 54" across, more would be better. The way it's been going with this yarn so far.... it will probably end up being a baby blanket LOL
Wish me luck!
Oh! One last thing. Will I buy this yarn again? No. It's thin and rough. Colors might be nice, but the yarn isn't my favorite. If I want ombre' yarn I will buy the Caron yarn.
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