28 Oct 2010

The Great Grannie Reveal

So this is it. Finally. The incredibly self-indulgent post that enables me to boast openly and deliberately about how clever I am. Let's face it - that's the the only reason that I have to show you these photos of the gorgeously delicious Grannie in all her grannilicious completeness.

So do ooh and ah over them and tell how wonderful she is, won't you?

Thank you.

Although I have already moved onto another project, this one of sheer ripply pleasure, Grannie will always remain special. To begin with your first love is always special, isn't it, and before Grannie I had only one solitary Grannie Square to my name. One. You can see her here, if you like. So Grannie will always be my first.

My feelings for Grannie will always be special for another reason, because for me those 204 silky mohair squares contain so many memories. I began her in April, and I worked on her in Japan in May. I crocheted her on the trains, on the Underground, and in the buses. I crocheted in ryokans and hotels and in train stations and kissaten and restaurants. These are lovely memories.

She was already pretty big and beautiful by July when my Dad first felt unwell, and I have wonderful photographs of her draped over his hospital bed. She was therapy to me during those next few short weeks as we came to terms with his terminal diagnosis and determined to live fully every minute that we had him with us. I couldn't sit still in those days. I knitted dishcloths, gloves and cushions, and I worked on Grannie. Obsessively. All the time. I had sore thumbs and wrists and shoulders. And still I crocheted. My Dad thought she was pretty special, and that makes her extra nice as well.

Finally, of course, Grannie will always remind me of dear sweet little Audrey. I wish I had taken a photograph of her curled up sound asleep on Grannie pooled on the floor around her. That would have been lovely. Alas, I didn't, but the memory still remains. Forever.

Yes, Grannie is one special blanket of lovely, lovely memories.

These pictures show Grannie in her intended home, draped over the end of the Guest Bed. I love getting this glimpse of her as I walk past the open door of the guest room on my way down the passage from our bedroom to the kitchen. She never fails to give me a thrill, even now. I am clever, aren't I? Imagine me being able to crochet. Finally. See, you can teach an old dog new tricks after all.

To some details.

Grannie is made of the sublimely huggly cuggly Noro Silk Garden Aran weight yarn in five colourways joined randomly but with some attention to colour placement.
45% Silk
45% Mohair
10% Wool
I joined each square using a round of the neutral colourway number 47, using a join-as-you-go method from YouTube to keep a fairly wabi sabi colour palette that matches our interior decoration. The crochet hook was 4.5mm.

As a border I used six rounds of trebles in the same neutral colourway as my joining colour, edged with a bright final round of six trebles followed by a single crochet stitch in oranges and pinks - colour 84. You can see it here:

I mentioned that Grannie's intended home is the Guest Bed, but she is rarely in residence there. Mostly you'll find her folded at the end of the sitting room chair by the fire, or more often than not, pooled in the middle of the sofa. This makes me sublimely trippingly happy. I love, love, love to see Grannie being used for the lovely snuggling that I intended her for. That's what all blankets are for really, isn't it?

(Bow modestly, and await thunderous applause.)

18 comments:

  1. If I had made some so beautiful I would be posting it, it's just gorgeous, well done, you so clever. And yes the memories make it extra special. It look great on the bed. Is it heavy?

    ReplyDelete
  2. It is so amazing! It looks good on a bed and curled up with adorable toes. Great job. I love the memories that you shared, it made is more specialer. That's a new word, just like grannilicious. :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Absolutely incredible. Your first crochet project... well done.
    Grannie *is* beautiful, you *should* be bursting with pride.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Really lovely ~ & I'm a crocheter so I also appreciat how much work went into this. ☺ You should boast.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Wow Jeanne, how rewarding for you to complete your first Granny, and she is very adorable, cuddly, colorful and cheery. You are clever! She looks beautiful wrapped around your princess! xxx

    ReplyDelete
  6. Wow, wow, wow!!! I am so impressed! That is really beautiful, Jeanne. I wish I could hop over to your house for a lesson.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Well done!!!!!!!! Huzzah!!!!!! It's so big!!!!!!

    It really is beautiful and I'm glad you showed all of us. It will be treasured by your family for a long time (my mom has a granny my great-granny made).

    And it looks like you're hooked...(hahahaha. I just couldn't help it. Really).

    ReplyDelete
  8. {I hope that was the kind of comment you were after!!!!}

    ReplyDelete
  9. I am really looking forward to meeting Grannie!!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Ah, Rooby Looby, you may just make an intimate aquaintance seeing you'll be sharing a bedroom with her...

    ReplyDelete
  11. oh wow Jeanne! That is so beautiful! I love the colours and it looks so snuggly... not that we need 'snuggly' up here in the tropics but should we ever need one, that one would do nicely lol!

    I have a crocheted blanket like that, which my grandmother made for me (and one for each of my sisters) when I was a teenager. It sadly has a moth hole or two, but it is still going strong regardless. It is precious as my grandmother died when I was 16.

    ReplyDelete
  12. It's a PIECE OF ART...and you have all the right to ask for our thunderous applause...we are clapping here in Texas!
    hugs

    ReplyDelete
  13. Jeanne,
    the colors are beautiful... the PERFECT combination I think. I once bought fabric for a quilt (back when I actually had time to do those beautiful sorts of things... ;) and your colors remind me of it. It's all tucked away somewhere waiting to be crafted. I just love grey...

    way to take joy in a job well done ;)

    amy in peru

    ReplyDelete
  14. Applause, encores, bravas coming from New England - and it's the first time I've ever called a granny "gorgeous!"
    It's also the first wabi-sabi granny I've ever seen. A+

    ReplyDelete
  15. I love the idea of working on something throughout the year to mark the passage of time.

    It is a beautiful, beautiful creation!!

    ReplyDelete
  16. Oh it is so lovely to have a minute to pop into see you Jeanne. I had hoped to find your ripply pleasure but you post too regularly for me these days ;)

    Grannie however is gorgeous. I wish I could bundle her up and hold her, feel her texture and warm my cool toes with her as well. I can see how special she is in your special daughter's eyes. Of course a blanket is just a blanket, beautiful though it be, until it is infused with the memories you describe. This blanket will not just reside in your guest room I am certain.

    Congratulations. She's beautiful in so many ways.

    Sending love
    Cee..xx

    ReplyDelete

I'd love you to leave me a message. Tell me what you like - and what you don't. Just remember that this is what we do in our family - it doesn't have to be what you do in yours...