WPLUP: Crochet A Long

I have been trying to juggle four different projects this month, with varying degrees of success. I have three different crochet blankets on the go- my granny stripe, the Attic24 Moorland CAL and a remnant granny square blanket- as well as my Moorland Stitchscape. The best way to go about it I have discovered, is to allocate times to all of them. The squares can be crocheted on the bus so I have been taking those to work with me, the CAL is released every Friday so that gets done at the weekend, and then it's a toss up between the granny stripe and the stitchscape depending on what I'm doing in the evenings during the week. Busy, busy, busy!

I am quite enjoying the Moorland CAL blanket, designed by Lucy of Attic 24. The Mother bought me the yarn pack from wool warehouse as a Christmas present, and every Friday Lucy publishes the order of the next 20 stripes which, for once, I am following to the letter! It took me a while to get started I must admit, I just couldn't get my head around the pattern and must have frogged the first two rows about twenty times, cursing under my breath when the stitches didn't match up before it suddenly clicked. It does also get easier the more rows you do as you start to see the pattern more clearly and the stitches get logged into your head so that your hands just do the work. There is still quite a bit of counting but it goes in twos so it's not bad.

These are the first twenty rows which represent the green mosses and scrub grasses, and the brown weather beaten rocks that litter the moors. Brown isn't really my favourite colour in a blanket (we are using Mocha and Walnut here) but I think it will be balanced out by a hefty swathe of purple in the middle so I won't notice it so much when the blanket is finished.

This is rows one to forty-four (I had meant to photograph it at the end of row forty but got a bit carried away) and you can see the purples starting to creep in now. There are still colours in the bag I haven't reach yet at this stage, but it is getting big enough to warm the tops of my knees which is always the best part of blanket making in my opinion!

There's a really nice texture to this ripple pattern. It sort of bobbles where you create a cluster of longer stitches to make the deep part of the wave, and you end up with a vertical raised stripe- can you see it in the below image? It's also quite close and tight so I imagine it will be very warm when finished, as well as beautiful.

At weekends I have been taking the blanket with me wherever I go like a crazed crochet person, trailing my bag of yarn behind. Regular readers will have seen I took it with me last weekend down to Eastbourne, crocheting through the car journey there and back, and I also took it when we visited relatives one evening- it was rather lovely sitting on the floor adding wavy rows in front of a (faux) log burning stove. Super cosy.

And finally, this is where I am up to now, having completed rows one - eighty!!! The purple has exploded across the top of the blanket, with tones of Grape, Plum, Wisteria and Violet. These are much more my sorts of colours and I can't wait to get to the sky with the blues that are still patiently waiting at the bottom of my bag. The next stage of eighty one - one hundred rows have been released but unfortunately I am being forced to give my wrists and hands a rest from crochet for a little while as I am experiencing some nasty pains, especially in my right hand. I shall begin it soon though as I don't want to fall too far behind, maybe take things a little slower than my normal pace.
As always, do pop over to see Jen at ThistleBear and see who else is taking part in this months Winter Project Link Up Party, and if you are popping in from over there, it's lovely to see you!