Holiday Blankets

It's that time of year again! No one's on a diet, and everyone is unusually cheery. Chanukah really is my favorite holiday - after Halloween, that is. Don't get me wrong, even though I don't celebrate Christmas, I do love this season. Down here in south Florida, there isn't a whole lot of holiday cheer, but maybe one year I'll make it to somewhere like New York so I can see the Christmas spirit in all of its glory!

Until then, I'm working on my -as always- mile long list of gifts I'd like to make for friends and family. And I'm trying to get through my Chanukah presents first, seeing as that holiday starts in about eight days, versus the 25 days until Christmas when I need to get presents to the rest of my friends.

This year I've taken on the daunting task of making four different blankets for my family members. It all started with some wonderfully soft yarn that found me in a Joann Fabrics store. I like to call it the Narnia yarn because it's fluffy and white, like how I picture snow, and you can only find it when you're not looking for it.

Of course, this was the first blanket I ever made, so I really had no idea how much yarn would go into it. I found the Sensations Rainbow Classic white yarn and knew I had to do something with it. Which brought me to Pinterest (it always comes back to Pinterest.) I had repinned this living room afghan pattern which just seemed like a perfect solution to my problem. So I went to the blog itself where I got started on this great piece. It's a surprise for my mommy -shhh! don't tell her! ;) This is as far as I got before I ran out of the miracle yarn which, when I went to look for it, seemed to have disappeared. Like I said, if you look for it, you won't find it! Heh.

Well I went online and was lucky enough to be able to track down the yarn...at Joann.com. So I ordered three more rolls, which just got here a few days ago.



In the mean time, I decided I would start making more of these bad boys. I stocked up on some of the plain Caron One Pound bundles. I got a nice light beige color for my sister, a dark blue for my uncle, and a light blue for my baby cousin. Today I actually finished my sister's blanket. (I guess I'll be introducing my family to this blog after the holiday so as not to ruin the surprise hehe.) I'm truly in love with it.

 

As for the actual process, I followed the directions in that blog I mentioned earlier up until the part where it says to hdc across the top and then scallop around the edges. Well, I tried the scallop, but I'm afraid there's no instruction on how to make it and I couldn't seem to create anything I liked. So I decided to continue the hdc edge all the way around and I really like how it came out. And as for the amount of yarn and hook size, which isn't mentioned in the blog either, it took two of the Caron One Pound rolls to make my sister's which came out to about 58" by 47". 58" is how long I chose to make it, versus the 47" side which is the one that you make with the 122 chain. I also used a K10.5/6.50mm hook which seems to be really good for the rainbow classic yarn but possibly a little small for the caron one pound, so feel free to play around and decide what suits you best!