Charlotte's Dream

As I mentioned in a previous post, my Charlotte's Dream crochet blanket is all finished and being used. I had envisioned taking it to one of our parks weeks ago and photographing it amongst the beautiful colours of the fallen Autumn leaves. Unfortunately whenever I had a chance to do this, it was either raining or it had rained the day before and everything was wet and muddy.....soooo, over the weekend I photographed it, in use, in our house, instead.

Here she is, all snugly and colourful and probably the loveliest pattern I have ever worked on. My blanket has a 4 x 4 grid (16 squares) which made it a generous sized blanket for the couch or our bed. The cotton yarn is light but warm and those colours are just beautiful. Its just the right size to share with someone or to snuggle under alone, without your feet sticking out :)
I started my first square back in October and had the blanket finished early April, just in time for the beginning of the colder weather.

It doesn't have a designated special place in our home, nor did I crochet it for any one person so its used by all of us, whenever we want it. Its dragged from room to room and this is pretty much how I find it most mornings; thrown on the lounge chair, discarded after a late night TV session or deep and meaningful chat. I love that its so loved and that its being used everyday, that is the best reason to make the things we make :)

Ok, so a little bit about the pattern. I have shared a few posts  HERE, HERE and HERE which give you all the links and vital information regarding the designer, the pattern and the yarn/hook I used etc.
In this post I did want to talk about the construction of the blanket.
The squares were joined with another new-to-me technique of crocheting rather than slipstitching them together. It creates a small ridge on the wrong side of the blanket but I love the pretty flat join it makes on the right side. I did enjoy joining this way and it made the whole process quicker and easier.

Once they were joined, it was just a matter of adding a border and I really love this one. Its sweet and pretty and it took me quite awhile to crochet it because my blanket is so big. It was worth all the effort though and it finishes it off in such a beautiful way. The little popcorns really tie in well with the detail in each of the squares and I kept my plain borders white, to really frame the blanket.

And just look at all the texture, its swoon worthy! The flowers in the centre of each square balloon out so sweetly and draw your eye to all the detailed texture in the grey sections. Its a very clever design and so much fun to crochet.

I love all of the colours I chose for this blanket, they have that warm homey feel to them and they brighten up the house on these cold miserable days. At some stage I would like to make another one using a softer palette, mainly because I miss working on these gorgeous squares.
Until then, I'm going to enjoy my Charlotte's Dream blanket, whenever I can and take advantage of a few quiet minutes, snuggled underneath it's warmth, reading a good book and admiring all the hard work and love that went into making this beauty ♥

Happy crocheting :)