My stripy perpetual blanket

♥

My Stripy Perpetual Blanket.

I am writing up this pattern following several requests and also because I soooo enjoyed working on this blanket and cannot recommend enough that you give it a go.

The possibilities of how you personalise your own blanket are pretty endless as you can just keep adding different stitches, patterns and colours as you go.

I called it my Stripy Perpetual Blanket because it was a project that I worked on for several months, fitting it in between lots of other makes. It took me from Late Spring right through to the following Winter, and there was something very comforting about working slowly and carefully on it, bit by bit, until it was finished.

My original inspiration for the blanket came from Jules at Little Woollie, and I thank her hugely for all her wonderful inspiration.

♥

 

So, lets begin...

My finished blanket measures 120cm wide by 140cm long.

I used a size 3.5 mm hook , as this added a lovely firmness to the blanket.

The first chain row was worked with a hook a size or two bigger as this really helps with the horrible fiddlyness of getting the first row completed.

All the wools that I used were DK but the actual types of yarn varied from colour to colour.

 

I am a bit of an organised freak and found that it really helped to have a reminder tag with all of the different colours attached. I labelled them with a number on this tag as this makes it easier for writing up the pattern. But you will see from the photo below that I also have written a tag with the names and colours of the wool should further yarn be needed part way through.

 

When I was thinking about the pattern I wanted I decided to make my blanket with a repeat in it.

Each repeat is a 45 row pattern, and I repeated it 5 times.

You will find when designing your blanket that there are so many different things that you can do to vary or add to your pattern, simply by changing the colours around.

For mine I stuck with the same colours with each pattern repeat as I have to admit to not being able to do random, so a bit of symmetry and a regular pattern suited me best.

The stitches I used are nothing more complicated than DC, HTR's, TR and some TR and Four Clusters. I added bobbles as well, and I have another small tutorial on how to make bobbles here should you need it.

As I worked on my blanket I would check every few rows to make sure I still had 240 stitches.
If you find that you are sometimes a stitch down or up just simply slip in an increase or decrease as you work. It really won't show in the finished blanket.

Also because you are working in a number of different stitches you will always need to remember to chain enough stitches at the beginning of each row to allow for the height to grow at the sides. If you find the edges of your blanket going a bit wonky it might be that you need to increase/decrease the number of height chains at the start of each row.

 I tended to work with 1 chain if I was going into a DC row,

and 2 chains if I was going in to a TR, HTR or TR cluster row.

Also, because on some of the rows you are working in multiples of three or four you will just need to be aware that as you come to the end of these rows you may need to be a bit flexible about fitting in the clusters right to the end of the row. I am sure that if I was clever enough I could have worked out a starting chain that allowed for both multiples of three and four but I'm not !!

 ... so I just winged it as I went along.

The pattern for my blanket is as follows:

Row 1.Chain 240 stitches in colour 4

Row 2. DC in 4.

Row 3: DC in 8.

Row 4: DC in 5.

Row 5: TR in 1.

Row 6: DC in 5.

Row 7: DC in 8.

Row 8: TR in 3.

Row 9: TR in 9.

Row 10: TR clusters in 2.

Row 11: TR clusters in 7.

Row 12: TR clusters in 2.

Row 13: TR in 9.

Row 14:DC in 2.

Row 15: HTR's in 5

Row 16: HTR's in 5

Row 17: HTR's in 5, with a bobble every 10 stitches along in 1.

Row 18: HTR's in 5.

Row 19: HTR's in 5.

Row 20: DC in 2.

Row 21: TR in 8.

Row 22: Four clusters in 4.

Row 23: DC in 5.

Row 24: Four clusters in 4.

Row 25: HTR's in 7.

Row 26: HTR's in 9.

Row 27: HTR's in 2.

Row 28: HTR's in 2.

Row 29: TR in 9.

Row 30: TR clusters in 1.

Row 31: TR clusters in 5.

Row 32: TR clusters in1.

Row 33: DC in 8.

Row 34: Four clusters in 1.

Row 35: TR in 7.

Row 36: DC in 1.

Row 37: HTR's in 5.

Row 38: HTR's in 5.

Row 39: HTR's in 5, with a bobble every 10 stitches along in 4.

Row 40: HTR's in 5.

Row 41: HTR's in 5.

Row 42: DC in 1.

Row 43: TR in 8.

Row 44: Four clusters in 9.

Row 45: DC in 5.

 

Depending on how you like to work you may prefer to work all your ends in as you go.
I left mine all until the end of the blanket and so the details below explain how I then finished them all off.

For the sides I knotted all the loose ends together to keep the tension tight and then I made little bundles all down the side of the blanket, using some of the ends to tie the bundles down.
I then began on the border of the blanket as this, when finished, would fold over to encase all of the ends.
I worked the two side borders first.
With the back of the work facing DC all the way down one side.
I then worked several rows of DC, until I felt there was enough of a border to fold in half and encase the ends.




Once the border was folded over to cover the ends I then folded this double layer of edges back on
itself to enable me to crochet it closed.

I found this worked really well as not only did all the ends get tucked away nicely it also gives a lovely heavy border to the blanket.

Once I had completed both side borders I then worked a similar border along the top and along the bottom.




Unfortunately there wasn't such a quick fix for the ends left from the bobbles
and although this took some time to do it really was worth spending the time to sew all the ends in.



The picture below shows the ends once they have been finished off.
I used a kind of darning method and this made a good flat and tidy finish.




The final touch once the border was completed all the way round was to add a little wavy edge to soften the overall effect. This was simply a curve made from sl st's, dc's and htr's.




And that is pretty much it !
I hope it helps and inspires you to have a go.



Let me know how you get on.

♥