Well, I am really Loving Myself Sick right now!

Yes, I'm pretty happy with myself today!

Why?

Because of this:

Yes! Babette is done! After just over a week solid of seaming, and a couple of days to crochet 3 rows around the entire edge, she is done! And I am Loving Myself Sick!

Details:

Pattern: Babette Blanket, by Kathy Merrick, from Interweave Crochet, Spring 2006 or from Interweave's web store. A modern take on the traditional granny square crochet blanket, this pattern is quite a hit with the crocheters. Done in 17 colours of 4ply/fingerweight yarn (Koigu, no less!), it really is lovely. Helped quite a bit by the fetching photography and beautiful girl "modelling" the blanket! But I must say, the use of so many different colours means just one thing: SO MANY ENDS! That put me off making this pattern for such a long time.

And then an inspired idea from a very smart blogger, combined with an amazing sale on Regia Kaffe Fassett yarns in the UK, meant the door opened for me to make this. Thanks so much Mooncalf and Kemps!

The pattern itself is made up of 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 and 12 row squares - if you use 17 colours, it tells you exactly which colours to use for which squares, but for me, using the self-striping KF yarn, in 3 colours, meant I just had to ensure I shared the colours around the differently sized squares.

Once the squares are done, the blanket is constructed in 10 strips, just like a log cabin quilt. I laid all the strips out on the bed and photographed each, then bagged the squares for that strip - it made it a lot easier to ensure that the different colours were spread around the blanket reasonably evenly! As I was seaming the strips, I felt just like a quilter hand-piecing a patchwork quilt (or at least, how I imagined one would feel). It was a joy watching each strip come together and the colour sing!

I blocked each strip once they were sewn together, then sat down to seam strip by strip.

Yarn: Regia Kaffe Fasset Design Line 4ply sock yarn, 3 x 4251 (Landscape Storm), 3 x 4253 (Landscape Fog) and 4 x 4261 (Landscape Caribbean) for the blanket, plus 0.4 x 4253 for the edging (1 row) and 1 x 50g ball of Jaeger Matchmaker Merino 4ply in col 650 for the other 2 rows of edging plus for seaming (yarn from stash). I thought a plain colour sandwiching one of the striped yarns would work nicely for the border. I also used it for seaming all the squares - I figured no yarn would match perfectly, so I picked the best one from stash.

I picked those 3 KF yarns because they all seemed to co-ordinate nicely - they had common colours in each, but also complementary colours. That KF, he really knows his colours! I just wish I could capture the depth and variation accurately in my photos - it looks so much better in real life!

Hook: 3.5mm bamboo hook for all squares and two rows of edging, 3mm bamboo hook for last edging row. I think my hooks might be a bit small, but I'm still happy with the drape of the squares.

Time: 20 December 2009 - 29 March 2010. Making all the squares was so enjoyable, and even seaming this project (SO MUCH SEAMING!) was something I actually enjoyed for a change!

Modifications: I added an extra strip along the bottom of the blanket - because of the hook size issue, I thought the blanket might be a bit small without it, as I plan on using it as a cot blanket for Teddy. And I'm really glad I did, because I would have been right! As it is, it is 1m (36") wide, and just over a metre long.

Now I (or more correctly, husby) just need to put the cot together so Teddy will have somewhere to sleep!

Babette-ing along...

I've been pretty much obsessively crocheting my Babette squares for most of this month. So far I've used 6 balls of yarn and have made almost 3/4 of the required squares.

I decided I'd lay them out today to give myself an approximate size for the finished blanket. I didn't try to organise by colour or anything, just used the layout guide in the pattern to set up the two longest external strips.

I'm pretty darn pleased with my colour choices, I have to say!! (I've used 3 different Regia Kaffe Fasset Design Line sock yarn colours, 4251, 4253 and 5261) (although they look a bit more blue-er and washed out than they actually are!)

I think I will add an extra strip to make it a tad bigger. As it is now, it will be about 87cm/34" along the shorter side, and about 95cm/37.5" along the longer side. An extra strip will add another 20cm/8", which I think will be better. Of course, these measurements are all pre-seaming and pre-blocking, but I'm not sure that will make a lot of difference given I'm using machine-wash sock yarn?

But I am loving making these squares. An extra strip just means more of them! Weeeeeeeeeeee! (shhhh, don't mention the extra seaming!)

Oh no you didn't...

But first, a quick community service announcement:

The vegemite (or peanut butter, nutella, jam, mustard, whatever floats your boat) smiley MUST be performed with a knife and then spread on your toast or whatever! Using your finger (or other bodily part) and eating it is just disgusting and childish!! Heh!

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Onto today's post...

It often surprises me when a pattern which I've seen around a lot, and not particularly liked at first glance, grows on me until I decide I like it so much I want to make it. It happened to me with the clapotis and the monkey socks - I've now made 1.5 of each of these patterns. And no doubt others too. I don't know what it is that makes me change my mind, whether it is just simply seeing everyone else make it and not wanting to feel left out - or thinking well, it must be good if so many others have made it, I should see what I'm missing out on - or whether it is seeing versions in colours or yarns which appeal to me, or what it is.

And so it is with another pattern - the Babette Blanket. I suppose I have always quite liked this crochet blanket, but was always scared of getting the colour combinations wrong. With 17 different colours (of Koigu no less!!) in the original pattern, and a relatively random organisation of different sized crochet squares, it has a lot of potential for looking great - if the right colour combinations are used - or pretty ugly - if you get the colours wrong. I never had enough confidence in my colour choosing ability to do it right, and so this pattern was admired but not enough to commit to as a project.

Unti one day in December...there I was, innocently reading blogs as I do every day, and I came to Make Do and Mend. Mooncalf had a simply INSPIRED idea to crochet a hexagon blanky using Regia Kaffe Fassett self-striping sock yarn - thus eliminating the need to change colours every row (AND weave in multiple ends) - AND with the added bonus that you know the colours will work together, because, hello - KF is a colour genius! Oh, and did I mention it's also machine washable yarn!

OMG! How had I not thought of this before?? Babette was now possible! I just had to pick which KF yarn colourway to use! I had two balls in the stash already! Perfect cot blanky for Teddy! Hurrah!

And I was off and crocheting. Before I knew it, I had a ball's worth of squares done:

The colours obviously don't necessarily change when the new row starts, but I can live with that!

But then slight disaster...I couldn't get more of this colour from a most excellent bargain yarn store in the UK (I almost don't want to give away this super special secret, but I will...) Kemps Wool Shop. They were selling the Regia KF yarn for GBP1.20!! That's around AUD$2.40 right now! (Compared to a price of somewhere between AUD$10-12 in yarn stores here!). I felt slightly guilty about buying it from o/s, but hey, when I can get 10 balls of the yarn for AUD$36 (including postage!!) as opposed to $100-120, can you really blame me!

So I checked each available colour on various websites, and I found two of them which I thought would tone in nicely with the colour I'd already used, as well as with each other (fingers crossed). And so I put in my order (I may have ordered for someone else too, for the same reason - but I'll let her share the story at the right time!) and was so pleased when it arrived, my gamble had paid off! Both new colours contain elements of the original colour, as well as of each other! Woo hoo!

So now I just have to make about 100 more squares, sew them all together, and crochet around the edge. In the next 3 months or so...can I do it?

I say: Yes I Can!