How I Made My Scheepjes Stonewashed Riverwashed Yarn Pack Blanket

A square at a time. The ultimate 'pick-up-able' and 'put-downable' project. "Have I got enough time to just one more square? before I  a) do the school run b) cook the dinner  c) go to bed?" (delete as appropriate!)

This is the most deletable box of little squidgy balls of yarn (each one is 10g) and is guaranteed to make you happy even if you just stare at it! :-) This Stonewashed Riverwashed Yarn Pack contains no less than 58 different balls of sports weight Scheepjes yarn, with 36 colours in Stone Washed and 22 Colours in River Washed.

So some time ago I set about knitting each ball with the view to making a blanket. I then crocheted them together and then set about crocheting a little flower in a contrasting colour, to go in the centre of each square.

I cast on 32 stitches for each square onto our 3.25mm knitting needles and just knitted stocking stitch (one row knit, one row purl on repeat) until I'd used up the whole of each mini ball of colour. This is the loveliest yarn. It's got a slightly knocked back haze to it, and the colours are just gorgeous!

Every time I had a spare half an hour, I knitted a square or two....

until one day they were all done! :-)

And then I set about crocheting them together with a single colour of the Scheepjes Stonewashed yarn which we also sell in larger 50g balls. I used about 4 x 50g balls for this. To start with I did a double (US) crochet around each square using a 3.25mm hook.

I then used a 2nd box of yarn to crochet all the little contrasting flowers. You can use any little crochet flower pattern for this - (they are all over the internet!) I made flowers that are about 1.5-2" big

Then as you can probably see I spend some considerable time deciding which order the coloured squares and flowers should go together in. This was the hardest part for me! Haha.

Eventually I somehow made a decision, attached all my little flowers, and then set about single crocheting (US) all the squares together (so that the ridged seam was on the wrong side.) Start by placing 2 squares 'right sides' together, then single crochet them together square by square...

                          

First into rows, and then crochet the rows together into the blanket! As I mentioned I used approx 4 x 50g balls of the pale grey (Crystal Quartz) Scheepjes Stonewashed in total for all the edges - but you could literally pick any colour you like as any of the colours you've used in the blanket would work! :-)

And finally I added a crocheted scalloped border, as more is more right!? Plus I'm obsessed with scalloped edges. A scalloped edge finishes everything perfectly in my opinion, but of course this is optional! To make your scalloped edge, use a 3.25mm hook. 1)In the first stitch do a single crochet (US) 2) then miss a stitch 3) then do 5 x double crochet (US) into the SAME stitch; 4) then miss a stitch....This is the basic repeat for a scalloped edge, - just keep going! Just and join it up at the end best you can - anticipate if you might need to add a couple more spaces in to your advantage.

Here it is finished on my sofa in my living room at home! Although obviously no one was allowed to sit on it, so now it hangs over the back cushions instead ;-) xx

My finished blanket measures approx 175cm x 85cm.

This is an ideal knitting project for someone that doesn't have much time, or is just starting out with knitting and wants to make something relatively simple. It's a great way to practice your knitting! The crochet part is optional, so you could just join them all together with a simple mattress stitch once they are knitted if it's easier.

Get your Scheepjes Yarn Packs here, and your knitting needles here. And the larger 50g balls of Scheepjes stonewashed here. And your 3.25mm crochet hook here. Enjoy! xx Gillian xx