Sunday, October 9, 2011

Magic Blanket Ride: Chapter 5

I've made some more progress on the Magic Blanket Ride last week. The blanket's got a length of 140 cm (~ 55 inches) now, that means I just need another 30 - 40 cm (12 - 16 inches) - time to worry about the edging!



You know what I like about granny square blankets? You've always got four nice edges where you can place your stitches for the border, and everything looks neat and perfect. Unfortunately this blanket is made in rows, which means I have to deal with the vertical edges as well - and I hate that! I never know where to put the stitches to avoid holes, or how many stitches I need so that the edge lies flat. Any suggestions from you are more than welcome!! :)



Recently I've bought Edie Eckman's book "Around the Corner - Crochet Borders", because I thought that a magic blanket needs a magic border :) The author's got a good tip actually: she advises to crochet the base round of the border in the same color as the actual fabric, so that those stitches look as inconspicuous as possible. Sounds reasonable, but which color should you use when the blanket is striped? I'll probably have to do a lot of trying, ripping, and trying again. But maybe I should deal with the last 40 cm of the finish line first :)



Intermediate Statistics:

Width: 150cm (~59 in) (no news, I'm sorry)
Length: 140cm (~55 in)
Colored Stripes: 28
Yarn Usage (basic colors): 15 balls of grey + 11 balls of white
Days actually worked on the blanket: ~ 40
Estimated hours worked on the blanket: ~ 122 (easy calculation, it takes about 30 minutes to work back and forth)

Another thing: don't forget that there's another theme-party here on friday! You've got four more days to vote and it looks like a tight race between blankets and bags/purses - I'm really excited which topic's gonna win! :)

9 comments:

  1. I love a simple crab stitch for an 'already perfect looking' boarder. it's also called the 'reversed single crochet' and I've used it on the little puff hats: http://happyinred.blogspot.com/2011/10/mini-girl-power.html
    I am looking forward to your theme party, now if only I'd have my blanket ready before then: PANIC! ;-) Esther.

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  2. Liebe Barbara, ich weiß nicht, ob ich dein Problem richtig verstanden habe, weil ich es mir kaum vorstellen kann. Ich dachte immer, das wäre nur mein Problem, als unvollkommene Häklerin. Du als Profi kannst doch nicht dasselbe haben wie ich ... anscheinend schon. Ich löse derartige Probleme - bietet sich gerade bei einer Decke an - indem ich das gesamte Häkelstück mit der Nähmaschine und einem hübschen Stück Stoff einfasse bzw. einfassen lasse, weil ich keine Nähmaschine habe. Es bietet sich einfarbiger Taft oder ähnliches an. Kommt das für dich in Frage? Nein? Dann - außer jede Reihe die Maschen mitzuzählen - fällt mir auch nix Gescheites ein. Aber ich bin sicher, Du kommst auch ohne meine Klugscheißerei klar :-) GLG Anne

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  3. Maybe you can find a variegated that is white and gray so it'll match the majority of the blanket.

    Or use both the white and the gray, and leapfrog the colors as you do the border. do a sc in white, then sc in gray, then sc in white. etc. this lets you carry both colors around the whole blanket, uses colors in the blanket so it blends easier, yet keep it from being thicker on the border than the rest of the blanket.

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  4. I was thinking along the lines of littleorphanskein's idea. But I'm sure whatever you come up with will be pretty. :)

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  5. Hi Barbara! Schwierig, ich würde vielleicht auch den -reversed single crochet- Stich nehmen (weiß gar nicht wie der auf deutsch heißt?). Der würde auch gut zur "männlichen" Seite deiner Decke passen. So lange du immer in zwei Schlingen einstichst, bekommst du auch keine Löcher. Du mußt halt wirklich ausprobieren, wie es am Besten klappt. Ich hab das Problem mit meiner Decke dann ja auch, bei mir dauerts aber noch ein paar Wochen.:)
    Hab noch einen schönen Abend! Barbina

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  6. I posted a quick tutorial on the leapfrog crochet border on my blog if you're interested in trying it. Hopefully I explained it well enough on the blog so that it makes sense. :)

    any border you pick though will look great!

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  7. How about using the main color? I think it looks awesome, by the way!

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  8. When picking up on a raw edge I don't worry about the technique but place them where i feel they should go for best fit. Crochet stitches aren't square(nor knit stitches)so you can't pick up one per row. If it feels right to grab into the next stitch along to avoid a hole caused by grabbing a turning chain then do it. I find it easiest to pick up a row of doubles before i start my border as its easiest to make them even and less disheartening if you do need to rip it back a bit.
    Good luck, its going to be,well, like you say, MAGIC!

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  9. Fascinating to see this technique (I've looked back at your other posts for this blanket). I've never seen those double ended hooks before - very, very interesting. But I can't get sucked into another new technique just now because I have some Christmas presents to hook!

    Your blanket looks great - hope you get it finished soon!

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