St. Petersburg Blanket - Finito

The St. Petersburg blanket was started last May when we were on our Baltic cruise, which included a two day visit to St. Petersburg. There have been many breaks from crocheting this blanket but I've always loved to get back to it and do a bit more. Now, finally, it is finished. Ready to put on our king sized bed just in time for the cooler weather.

The first mention of my cotton blanket was in my very first post. The yarn I chose was Sirdar Cotton DK and used two balls of each of the colours Vanilla, Seersucker, Light Taupe, Toasted, Sundance, Honeysuckle, Tranquil, Bluebird, Sailor Blue, French Navy, Darling Bud, Hot Pink, Black Violet, Larkin and Cottonfield. The plan was to make 144 different 6" squares from the 200 Crochet Blocks for Blankets, Throws and Afghans book by Jan Eaton. I worked it all out in advance and drew up a chart with the number of each block and where it was to be placed. However, once I started crocheting, I quickly realised that I didn't like the mix of blocks worked round and round with blocks worked back and forth. So I changed to make all the blocks of the round and round type. Now there were also some of the blocks in the book that I just didn't like the look of so, in the end, I had to repeat some of the blocks but using different colours. I suppose it's a sort of sampler blanket.

Another thing that I changed in my plan was that I made the blanket with eleven rows of twelve squares rather than twelve by twelve.

The square below is called St. Petersburg. Well, I had to include it, didn't I? In fact, I crocheted it while we were docked in St. Petersburg! You can just spot a little bit of the border below the St. Petersburg square. I did eight rows of griddle stitch in different colours. Look at this post for an explanation of how to work griddle stitch.

Not all the colours were what I would call 'my colour' but, by using with other colours that I do like, each square really pleased me when it was finished.

The squares were all joined as-you-go which meant that, once the blanket got to about a third of it's final size, it was very heavy and hard to work with. By the time I was working on the last row I could hardly manage the joining! I'm not likely to do this again, but if I did, I would leave the joining to the end and crochet the squares together.

Please let me know what you think of my blanket; I hope you like it!

Here's a picture of our pet dog called Nonem. I tried to find one for my last post but couldn't. Then today, when I was looking for something else, I found this picture.

She looks like butter wouldn't melt in her mouth but she's crazy.

Thanks, as always, for your lovely comments.
(For new readers, if you want to see why I say finito, have a look at this post).

My Crocheted Top

I decided to crochet myself a summery top. The pattern was actually free because I bought some (a lot of) yarn to make a blanket. I couldn't wait to get started. Look, I even used the correct yarn called for by the pattern!

Do you like the tiny bunch of tiny wild flowers in the tiny pink vase?

Before we go any further, let me assure you that at no time did I intend to wear this top as it is worn by the model.

The pattern worked up so quickly. The back was done in no time.

And here it is, finished and being modelled by me. Sorry, the pattern model was unavailable.

I just knew that yarn would be a perfect match for this scarf.

Some of these foxgloves are actually taller than me. I had to crop the picture because I didn't dare let you see any more of me!

As usual, I had to make the top longer than what was specified in the pattern. Especially the sleeves. My arms are of simian proportions.

Here's a better picture of the wee wild flowers.

This was the first of the sweet pea to be cut.

I've been able to cut lots more since then. The sweet pea was late starting to flower but going well now.

This is just a bunch of flowers cut from the garden. They are sitting out in the garage hence the random items in the background like a toolbox!

All the best everyone.