I am rather thrilled to have finally finished this crochet blanket that was started back in 2012.  It was part of a Ravelry crochetalong, with two different block patterns chosen each month.  I added another six blocks to bring the final number of blocks up to thirty.  I finished all 30 blocks in early 2013, then they waited for me to edge and join them.

That’s how things looked in early 2013. Each of the blocks is here on my blog under the ‘2012 BAMCAL’ category if you’d like more details on a particular one(I note that some of the photos have vanished due to an issue with Flickr and older photos) and they’re also on my Ravelry page.

I suspect that the sticking point had been counting the stitches in the outer row of each square. Because each square was crocheted from a different pattern, they had a variety of stitch counts. I had to count how many there were for each one, then do another row of single crochet around them in the yarn that I was going to use for joining, either adding a few more stitches or decreasing a few in order to end up with the same stitch count along the side of each block. Then I began to join them, using Priscilla Hewitt’s Flat Braid Joining Technique. There are also YouTube videos showing this technique, along with this detailed blog post with photos that I found helpful. It took the entire Tiger King series to get them all joined and work the final edging.

And now it’s done! Well actually, almost done. I haven’t darned in all the ends yet, and I ran out of yarn in the final row of the edging with only about 40cm distance still to cover. The yarn is all Bendigo Woollen Mills Classic 8 ply. But it’s definitely now a useable blanket.

It’s difficult to photograph something this size! It will be living on one of the couches, where I am confident it will be in regular use. Now I’m thinking about what blanket I might crochet next. I have a whole lot of cotton 8ply waiting to become a ripple blanket of some sort, so that will probably be it!