Louise blanket

Here is my finished ricrac crochet blanket.  It is a mixture of wool and acrylic.  By some small miracle, the flower squares I made fit around the edge neatly, in fact, I made too many as I didn't allow for the space needed for joining the squares together.  I also had enough purple yarn to border the blanket (yes!).  I was sweating tacks there for a bit thinking I would need to make a trip for yet another ball of yarn.

I am calling this my Louise blanket in honour of my quick-thinking sister in-law who saved this blanket from having a bowl of beetroot juice spilled on it when I was setting up to work at the kitchen table.  It was one of those heart in the mouth moments.  Might have been better to clear the table of food before I started...

If anyone would like the blanket pattern, it is here but there is no pattern as such for the flower squares or for joining them to the blanket, I really just fumbled my way in the dark on the flowers and joined the border using part-flat braid technique, part-I'll-just-chuck-a-stitch-in-here-and-really-hope-this-works -out.  Anyone who is an experienced crocheter will look at the stitching and know that unconventional stitchwork was used, and while the stitching is not the neatest, the border sits flat and I am very proud of myself.

How many hours were spent on this?  Plenty!  I craft when time permits, usually in the evenings, but with my husband home for the summer holidays, I crept away during the day too and the borderless blanket was made over two weeks.  The flowers took nine and a half hours to make and nine hours were spent stitching them together.  I needed a further three and a half hours to stitch the border to the blanket.  It feels so great to finish it.  On with the next one now.

Degree of difficulty: The ric rac pattern uses a shell stitch, is repetitive and works up steadily, but I found it not as quick to make as the granny square blanket
Time taken: 2 and a half weeks
Result: I cannot stop looking back over at it, so I guess that means this was a success.