Namaqualand

It's funny how we decide which project to create next. 

Sometimes we fall in love with a pattern and then choose colours to compliment it.

Other times we have a group of colours that we really want to use and then have to search for the perfect pattern.

Interestingly enough it was a combination of both of these which led to me making this blanket.

Namaqualand.

Last year or maybe the year before I printed out this pattern, I couldn't decide which colours to use so I filed it away for later.

At the end of 2016, I ordered some new colours from the Stylecraft Special DK range. The colours that I ordered were Tomato, Lobelia and Fuchsia Purple. I had a play around with some other colours that I already had and added Mustard, Pistachio and Spice. These six balls of colour sat on my spare bed for months. I wanted to make something using this colour combination but what? I couldn't decide on a pattern so they sat there all sad and lonely for months and months. Until one day I decided to organise all the patterns that I'd printed out and I came across Namaqualand, perhaps, on a subconscious level I'd had this blanket in mind all along.

Needless to say, the yarn was on my hook before I'd finished organising my pile of patterns.

I really enjoyed this colour combination and the pattern was a dream to follow. It was easy to make without being boring. I loved seeing the rows of flowers appear, followed by their frames.

Ideally, I would have liked to end with the Lobelia, but the blanket would have ended up huge, so instead, I ended after the Tomato round. I love seeing the Lobelia, Fuchsia Purple and Tomato side by side.

I used white instead of the grey from the original pattern to lighten the blanket at the same time as allowing all the bright colours to stand out and think that this combination works really well.

I struggled a little bit with the border. I always struggle with bordering square blankets created in the round. For me, it's important to add a border which is identifiable as a border and not just part of the blanket. I think a border should be to a blanket what a full stop is to a sentence. You should know the blanket is finished. It should look completed.

In the end, I chose an easy moss stitch border. The border had to be plain because the blanket has so much texture and pattern. And it had to be white. Like I said earlier I really wanted the blanket to finish with Lobelia but I felt that if I used one of the main colours then it would feel like it would need another colour and then another and so it would never feel complete.

I love that crisp white line cutting through the colour. It's so easy to do but is my favourite part of this blanket.

Quick Facts

Pattern: Namaqualand by Dedri Uys, found here.

Yarn: Stylecraft Special DK

Colours: Tomato, Lobelia, Fuchsia Purple, Mustard, Spice, Pistachio, White.

Hook Size: 4mm

Border: 5 rounds of Moss Stitch in white.

Blanket Size: 71x71cm (28x28")

Another blanket that I love!

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