New Project - Ripple Blanket

 

I have some yarn left over from my giant granny afghan which needed using up (so I can buy more, obviously) so I decided to try out a slightly different pattern and make another smaller blanket.  I have no real idea what purpose it will serve once it's done though, maybe as a gift for someone, or maybe to throw over the back of one of the chairs on my living room.

 

I decided to use Attic 24: Neat Ripple Pattern.  I've tried a ripple pattern before and didn't like how it was turning out, it was slightly different in that it made deeper mountains and valleys and for some reason I just wasn't keen on it.  In hindsight I think a lot of that was to do with my tension but anyway I abandoned that effort and started a new version with Lucy's guidance.

 

The pattern isn't dead simple but it is pretty easy to follow and as long as I count my stitches and keep an eye on what I am doing it seems to work up pretty well...

 

 

There's been no real thought put into the colours, I am just planning on doing one stripe (2 rows) of each colour I have and seeing what size it ends up, if I have enough yarn and it's still small I will add on more stripes.  It's very much a work in progress with no real plan.

 

I do however love how it's turning out, the waves really are gorgeous so I think once I have mastered the technique I might buy yarn in specific colours to make a properly planned version of this blanket, for now I am quite happy to see where this one ends up. :)

 

I found the initial row pretty hard to do, I HATE crocheting into the starting chain, it's so fiddly and I never seem to have the right number of stitches (I had to squeeze the last two stitches in on this blanket as I was one stitch short to work into when I got to the end, it doesn't seem to have caused any major problems though).  I've also found that I need to keep an eye on my tension with this pattern too, if I'm not careful and let the stitches get too loose (as I am prone to doing) I end up with holes in the work so I'm having to be mindful to keep my tension nice and even all the way through, so far it seems to be going ok but time will tell!

 

 

 

My favourite thing about this pattern?  How easy it is to sew in your ends as you go!  No need for doing them all afterwards you can easily tuck them in and crochet right over the top of them.

 

I'll be back with more pictures and some progress news in a little while, I'm hoping this blanket works up quite fast as I have other ideas for my next project which I really want to get started on too.