Bouquet for Bethany Blanket

Sometimes a pattern design comes out better than you could have ever imagined. this is one of those times!

Bouquet for Bethany Blanket uses the same concept as my Flight of the Dragonflies Blanket, but has the gorgeous stemmed flowers as a feature. It is worked in the round with the pattern being in written form, with added graphs and photographs.

Bouquet for Bethany in Scheepjes Whirl, Cotton Candy and Whirlette in Grapefruit

The pattern can be found on Ravelry (click here), Etsy (click here) and Lovecrafts.

Please give it some love and favourite or write a comment.The blanket is available in two different version (purchase which suits your needs). This version was made from Scheepjes Whirl and Whirlette as I showcase it with a slow colour change yarn. It can look just as fabulous using yarns such as Hobbii Twister or Lola, anything with that lovely graded colour change.

Bouquet for Bethany in Scheepjes Whirl, Cotton Candy and Whirlette in Grapefruit

My hard working pattern testers did a incredible job as usual. They have spent the last 5 weeks pouring over the pattern and finding what I like to call my Boo, Boo's! They produced some incredible blankets, all with their own originality due to colour and yarn choice. Some of their work is featured below:

Test Blanket by Carrie Skach. Made using Scheepjes Whirl in Watermelon Hellraiser and Scheepjes Whirlette in Licorice.

simone-bethany-col-1.jpg

Test Blanket by Simone Howes. Made from Scheepjes Whirl in Licorice Yum Yum and Scheepjes Whirlette in Ice.

Test Blanket by Michelle Rose. Made from Nako Angora Luks Color 81909

Materials:

3.5mm hook

Colour 1-1x Scheepjes Whirl in Cotton Candy 1000m/1093yd

Colour 2-3x Scheepjes Whirlette in Grapefruit. 455m/497yd per ball.  Approx 1110m/1213yd of Whirlette used

Also available is Vintage Bouquet for Bethany. This is made from quality Bendigo Woollen Mill Cotton and has an embroidery feature in the border. Follow this link (click here) to read about the Vintage Version.

Now to the boring stuff! You are welcome to sell items made from this pattern, but please credit me as the designer and add a link to purchase my pattern in your sale.

Many hours of work has gone into the designing and producing of this pattern.

You are purchasing/downloading this pattern for personal use only. Please note my patterns and my images are copyright protected, please do not use my images to sell your items. No pattern or photograph may be reproduced or distributed — mechanically, electronically, or by any other means, including photocopying, without written permission of Auburncraft Design. Please do not copy, rewrite, or redistribute this pattern as your own or otherwise. Just because you can copy does not mean you should. Please do not resell my patterns.

What is an Afghan?

I was asked the other day, what is an Afghan?

Now, this question was asked in a facebook group dedicated to crochet, and I know what popped straight into my head, me being a self confessed Hooker.  But the word covers so much more and it very much depends upon who you ask, as to the answer you will get......

Afghan Dog!

If you ask a dog lover you will be told that an Afghan is a very tall, hairy dog with a pointed nose.  Yep, that is true!

A

AFGHANISTAN!

If you ask a person who paid attention at school, or maybe lives there,  they will tell you:  An Afghan is a person native to Afghanistan.   Again right!

If you bother to look the word up in the online Dictionary it states:

: a native or inhabitant of Afghanistan

A blanket or shawl of colored yarn knitted or crocheted in strips or squares. 

A  Turkoman carpet of large size and long pile woven in geometric designs.

Afghan Hound: A tall hunting dog of a breed with long silky hair.

Afghan Blanket!

A Crochet Afghan

But getting back to what us Hookers know as the only RELEVANT meaning of the word, that being crochet blankets: Afghans come in a huge array of styles, shapes etc.

This gives me a very amusing visual of a person of Afghanistan origin, sitting on an Afghan carpet, with their Afghan dog, crocheting an Afghan. Who knows they could even be in Afghanistan doing this.

If you are going to be really fussy about what a Crochet Afghan is, then it specifically refers to a blanket made from Tunisian Crochet. Of course those who are not proficient in Tunisian Crochet will claim the word Afghan as being relevant for any crochet blanket. Right or wrong is anyones guess!!

It may well be that we all just prefer the word 'Afghan'. If someone claims 'Oh, what a beautiful blanket you are making', we can respond, 'Oh no, It is actually an Afghan!'. Certainly sounds just a little more special.

Afghans can be made in one solid piece (which is usually the case in Tunisian Crochet), motifs joined together, crochet squares and strips. How versatile is that! And the word 'Afghan' does sound so much more interesting than just a boring old blanket.

Must get back to making my latest Afghan Crochet!!! I need it to take on my trip to Afghanistan! May take my dog who would like to be an Afghan hound but isn't (Cocker Spaniel).

My prize winning AFGHAN BLANKET

Diamonds Everywhere!

My Diamonds crochet blanket pattern is available in Butterfly Diamonds, Dragonfly Diamonds and Flower Diamonds.

Simple stitches are used making this a beginner friendly pattern. This works up quickly.

Dk yarn is used, although a larger blanket could be achieved with the use of an Aran weight yarn. I used Sirdar Snuggly (available here) which is a lovely soft nylon-acrylic yarn, very suitable for babies.

3.5mm hook 
4mm hook for borders and surface slip stitch 

Flower Diamonds, Butterfly Diamonds and Dragonfly Diamonds crochet patterns are available on Love Crochet (click on blanket names for link).

Flower Diamonds

Butterfly Diamonds

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Crochet! Go big, or go home!

Sounds great in theory! And I always have grand ideas that seem to take forever from idea to completion.

Last huge idea I had took over two years to complete, and I think I am sizing myself up for a similar experience.

I bought yarn for a large size Afghan approximately a year ago. For this one I am using Stylecraft Aran with wool. (available here). These are fabulous for a larger project as they come in these huge 400g balls.

Then I spent many hours designing a graph for it. In my head the Afghan has two picture panels. These panels have cats on them.

Sounds easy doesn't it? I got as far as putting the cats on the crochet panel via cross stitch and found I was a stitch out somewhere.

Cross-stitch on crochet is not hard. At least it isn't till you make a boo, boo and have to frog back several hours work. These cats were staring at me with their yellow eyes in a mocking manner. Something wasn't right! The cats refused to tell me what the issue was, selfish things!!!

So this has been one of those projects that gets taken out of the naughty corner for a bit, stared at, glared at, and I even begged it to show me what I was doing wrong.

For ages this horrid thing refused to answer and lay despondent in the naughty corner, cats, half done and sulking.

I worked my way through several million WIPS that had been piling up and decided it was time to take another look. It was as if a light bulb went off and all of a sudden it was clear. Why didn't I see that ages ago? After all it is pretty darn obvious!!!

I am now happily working on my Cat Afghan again and while this is going to take a bit of time to complete, it is going to be A-MAZ-ING!!!

Cross-stitch cats.

Leadlight Crochet Afghan/Blanket

You know that moment, that very special moment when you have worked really hard at something so it is unique, one of a kind? You press the publish button on the pattern and fingers crossed, people will like it and want to make it.

Today has been a button pressing and publishing day for me! My Leadlight Afghan decided to become an idea in my head in 2016. And today it has finally found its way to being published.

The pattern can be found on Ravelry, Etsy and Love Crochet. (click on place name)

It took my testers around four months to work their way through the 96 pages of pattern. They did a fantastic job. So Thank you to Carrie Skach, Kathy Mant, Bethany Colhoff and Corlia Van Zyl. This was a LOT of work to test!

The Leadlight is made from Stylecraft Batik Dk (available here)in the following quantities:

Materials 

5mm hook 

5 Stylecraft Batik Teal 138m/151yrd= C1 

3 Stylecraft Special dk Black = C2 

5 Stylecraft Batik Storm 138m/151yrd = C3 

5 Stylecraft Batik Biscuit 138m/151yrd = C4 

3 Stylecraft Batik Sage 138m/151yrd = C5 

4 Stylecraft Batik Indigo 138m/151yrd = C6 

5 Stylecraft Batik Lupin 138m/151yrd = C7 

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Leadlight Afghan the Journey

The leadlight is now in the capable hands of my testers and progressing very well!

Truth is that I have them all locked in a small room with their yarn and I refuse to let them out till they complete the testing of this design. Don't worry, I am feeding them occasionally when they work hard enough!

It is extremely exciting to see the blanket come to life in different colours. Each testers colour choices, has added a unique personal touch to their afghan, and made it their own.

The original design uses Stylecraft Batik (available here) in teals, blues, beige and just a hint of green (I grudgingly used green as I felt it needed it, but green is not often a colour I work with). With the use of Stylecraft Dk black to define the edges of each colour and give that stained glass look.

Original Leadlight Design

Kathy chose to use a very bold yellow, which gives the pattern a huge 'wow' factor. The overall effect will be quite stunning once the black comes into play in the final stages.

Bold Yellow

Carrie has chosen to use the Stylecraft Batik Dk (available here) in pinks and purples. I just love the soft effect this is bringing to the design. I am extremely fortunate to have Carrie on-board as a tester, as she also has the ability to Tech Edit a pattern and pick up any errors I may have made.

A vision in purple and pink

Corlia has selected Autumn tonings for her Afghan and I am excited to see how this is going to look, as it grows. Although purple is my favourite colour, I do have a soft spot for oranges and Autumn colours.

Gorgeous Autumn tones. Corlia's picture also highlights the challenge of this project with multiple bobbins in play.

I am very impressed with all my testers on this project. Their work is so neat, especially their organisation with bobbins. I know I did have a tangled mess at times, and their ability to work in such an ordered way tends to put me to shame.

I am aiming for a June (Maybe earlier if I can force my testers to work faster) launch date for this pattern, on ravelry and Love Crochet. So stay tuned for further progress.

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How many W.I.Ps are too many?

I refuse to count how many designs I have in progress at present. Surely a girl CAN'T have too many!

I truly must finish some of them, one day, maybe!

Yesterday I saw a post where someone was asking about all things Holly Hobby. I popped up a picture of a little blanket I did ages ago. A couple of people asked about the pattern and while there is one, I never got around to completing it.

I had only been designing a short time and it got away from me, so I placed it in the 'I must finish one day' basket. There is really not a lot of room left in that basket. It is quite full.

The idea for the design came from a very old doily that I spotted in a Op/Thrift shop one day. I snapped a picture of it and 'Bonnets and Bows' was born.

Today I found myself looking at my yarn stash. I spotted some Bendigo Mill Luxury, and it occurred to me that I could re-work that blanket. Fix the few things that were bugging me. I have the yarn and it is only a smallish blanket! It shouldn't take long!

So keep an eye out for 'Bonnets and Bows' soon.

Leadlight! Sending the Testers 'Down The Rabbit Hole'

After spending forever on the design process, the Leadlight Afghan is about to begin its journey into the testers hands.

I put out the call for testers about a week ago and had quite a few testers (people crazy enough to put their hands up), respond. I have selected/forced 6 testers through a vigorous selection process. In a kind of ' survivor camp' of crochet, set of tasks to prove their worth. No, not really! They were the only ones silly/brave enough to offer to test!

The first part of the pattern will be sent out on the 28th of this month and then the fun begins. I hope for smooth sailing and happy testers! And if I only allow them out of the locked room I am keeping them in, for short breaks, I am hopeful to have the pattern successfully tested and published mid year 2019

And to my testers I strongly suggest that they use the plastic bobbins that stop the yarn from unravelling. Cos' if you are cheap like me, and only use cardboard, the tangle factor is quite large. The final Colour Work section has 96 Bobbins in play!

Major Tangles

Keep an eye out for my Leadlight Afghan mid year 2019

The Leadlight uses Stylecraft Batik Dk and Stylecraft Special Dk.  It is comprised of simple stitches and some surface slip stitch. It has three colour work sections that require Bobbins worked in the round. This spans 62 inches and looks lovely across a Queen or King Bed.

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Woo,Hoo! Leadlight Afghan Done!

Excitement plus! It may have taken me a forever from idea to completion, but it is finished.

My Leadlight Afghan is done and I can move on to one of the dozen, other designs I have partly done.

What a feeling of achievement! You know how it is when you can see that finish line looming. You only have a few more stitches to do and a few ends to sew in. You find yourself trying to work faster, and that feeling when you put that last stitch in place!

The border on this gave me some headaches. Being round I felt it had to have increases. I took three goes to get this and each time I frogged it, I considered heaving it off the balcony and pretending it did not exist. My darling husband just looked at me and stated he was amazed at my persistence. By these last few rows, I had almost 900 stitches per round.

I finally came to the realisation that, although this is round, the increases became unnecessary in this section as each bit of colour was over a section that seemed almost straight. Yes, the blanket had become so large. It ended up being 62 inches across.

When I first began this beauty, I had envisioned that it would be around 52 inches across. That was not to be.

The initial idea had sprung to life in my head after looking at Stained Glass mandalas on Pinterest. I saw this one in greens and blues and thought to myself 'This would make a great crochet afghan!'

I spent quite a while mulling around in my head, as to how I could get this idea from my head into a workable crochet blanket.

The Colourwork sections are done with bobbins, but I used cut cardboard. Yes, I am cheap and didn't want to spring for all those bobbins. Each time I did a colour section I was kicking myself for not getting the bobbins. At times I had a tangled mess and even my beloved Stella (dog) was looking at me thinking I was crazy!

Middle section of Colourwork.

I am now in the process of organising my test group. Testing will begin in a couple of weeks, and I have some very keen (or crazy) people signed up for testing.

I hope to have this pattern published by mid year 2019.

This uses Stylecraft Batik yarn (available here) and a 5mm hook.