Rippling along......

For the past few years at this time, I seem to develop an urge to create something woolly and warming. Last year my urge came towards the end of the Summer when I had that need to knit some lovely toasty wrist warmers. I read somewhere that they were to be a 'fashion essential' last Winter. It always seems strange when something I have been doing for years previously seems to hit on. Fashion!!! PPPfffttt.....
Anyway, I made myself a lovely cream pair and would you believe it, my predications for very cold Winter were totally wrong and I didn't even have the need to wear them.
This year my little woolly urge has been edging towards creating a large crocheted blanket. I have been inspired by the lovely Lucy at Attic 24. Lucy inspired me way back with her wonderful world of colour and her chirpy uplifting blog. At a time in life where everything seemed rather dull and grey, adding an element of colour to my life brought new hope and inspired happiness to bloom. It also encouraged me to get my butt into gear and learn to crochet. It's really rather simple when you get shown how (check out You Tube tutorials) and I've created many litre treasures as a result. Actually thinking back I had experimented with crochet some time back. I had a few (dare I mention??) comical disasters, including the rectangle trial piece that turned out coffin shaped and the circular place mat that would have been more suited as a 'willy tip warmer'....(well I'm being honest!!), I also attempted (rather ambitiously) a blanket back then, but gave up after  making a piece about a metre long by five centimetres wide.....it wasn't wasted and became a bag handle :-)

So I've been inspired to crochet Lucy's Ripple Blanket. I popped into my beloved Mason's today and fiddled around with the different colours of yarn and after joining the queue about three times and backing out with moments of doubt, I bit the bullet and bought the fifteen balls needed to complete the project. So now I have to do it right?!! Otherwise that is another stash/hoard that I will have squirrelled....not good in relation to my intention to clear out!

So Saturday evening I looked at the fifteen balls of lovely Autumnal yarn I purchased, I even arranged them in a basket so that I could admire their beauty. Yes I know 'Bonkers!!' Well it gave me a moment or two of divine visual pleasure. A moment to dream about how amazing this new creation will be when it is finished and admired by visitors. How it will become a family heirloom that will join us on picnics and be fought over in the car......arrrrr drrrreeeeaaaaammmmm......

Sunday night, I laid out the balls and fiddled around with their order. Hmmmm there's quite a lot of pressure at this point. If you don't combine the colours in a decent and delicious order, the finished something can look awful. I made a flowery cushion a year or so ago and combined the colours in a terrible way and , well...after hours of work it remains hidden behind the sofa!
Starting these big projects is always the hardest part. The initial first rows seem to take forever they really do. So after much deliberation and hesitation over whether to actually go ahead and make a ripple blanket or another design and after many texts to a friend who I rightly guessed had also tackled the same blanket, I commenced.


I tinkered about and experimented with just a short stretch of the pattern to see whether I could actually achieve the desired design (thumbs up there :-)) ....

So all set and go.......
First night in and the first two rows and single band of colour are complete...arrrr I'm off.....just another fifty or so rows to go (at least). Might be finished by Christmas :-)

One week later........

A week has passed and I've been rippling away happily with my blanket. The thing I like about a project like this is that it actually becomes a part of your life during the period that you are working on it. At the moment it fits nicely in my bag but I'm imagining that it won't be long before it's going to require a large bag all of its little own. One thing that is becoming very apparent is that I must have made a mistake on the first couple of rows....that is a serious bummer because it's not going to be anywhere near perfect as a result and not as pleasing to the eye. I did contemplate undoing it all as any good knitter or crocheter would do and starting all over again but by the time the mistake was noted I had been rippling away for hours and well...life is too short! This one will be a ripple blanket with a wonk! It will have character and be totally unique. Besides, no one will notice once they are snuggled up with it on the sofa :-)

I apologise in advance if you do not share my enthusiasm for this project but I'm afraid I shall be keeping you posted on my progress regardless :-)