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!

Had anyone noticed that there haven’t been any BAMCAL squares on the blog for a while?  I somehow let the last three months slip, but have finished them in a burst over the last couple of weeks.  As usual, they are all worked in various shades of Bendigo Woollen Mills Classic 8ply wool, with a 4.5 mm hook.

The first October square is called Winterslace:

and the October filler square is In Treble.

The first November square is Shining Star.

I wasn’t terribly enamoured of the November filler square, so worked the Impossible Hexagon instead.

Cherries Jubilee was the main December square.

And my alternative to the December filler square was the non-bullion version of the April Whimsical Wonderland CAL block by Donna Kay Lacey, Spring Rolls. This square still needs blocking, and will probably need another row worked to bring it up to size.

So that is it – 30 squares worked for a blanket for my bed! The next tasks are:

• count the number of stitches on each side of the square, and work another row if needed to keep them of a similar number. From experience, I can fudge a variation of about four stitches along each side at the most, but no more.
• work out the final placement of squares and photograph it
• decide on a joining colour
• join the squares
• decide on a border design and colours (the colours are most likely to be the three largest balls of yarn I have left)
• work the border
• weave in ends.

Let’s take a guess as to when this will be finished! In the meantime, a little mosaic so that you can see all the finished squares and get some idea as to how the finished blanket may look.

The BAMCALs are a lovely way to pace yourself and end up with a useful result. I find it much simpler to crochet a blanket in this modular way than to just start at one end and work to the other. Which is why I still haven’t started a ripple blanket, or finished Clare’s Wool-Eater (although I have started working on that one again). I won’t take part in the 2013 BAMCAL – I’ll still be finishing this one – but maybe in the future I might be tempted to do another!

The 2012 BAMCAL provides us with two twelve inch squares each month, giving a total of twenty-four for the year.  I have decided on a blanket of five by six blocks, which meant that I needed to work six extra squares.  I did two extras earlier in the year, and last month worked the other four.

First up is Cat’s Claw (free Ravelry download).  This square uses lots of long post stitches, and I think that it is very effective.

Secondly, Stained Glass Square. This is quite different to the other squares, and is a very welcome addition.

Third is Duckbill Dalliance. This one is a nine inch square, so I added a few more rows to bring it up to size.

And the last of my extra blocks is Maggie’s Square.

My blocks are not all quite the same size at this stage, but they’re not far off one another. I’ll probably use a joining technique that will enable me to fudge any differences so that they aren’t really noticeable in the finished blanket. And to give you an idea of how it is looking all together so far, we have this mosaic:

I’m still not certain what colour I’ll join the squares with. After seeing them in the mosaic with a light background, I think that I’ll choose a fairly light colour – originally I was considering using the same dark brown that I’ve used in the blanket (which is why none of the outer rounds of any of my squares are in that dark brown). I don’t want it to look too heavy. Anyway, no need to make a decision about that just yet – and I still have some ends to weave in for all those extra squares.

There was a fair bit of hooking throughout September – I got the squares from previous months up to date, finished off the September squares, and even crocheted some extras!  Now there are only six left to do for the year (two per month) and then I’ll have 30 squares, enough to make a 5 x 6 square blanket.  I ran out of a few colours and had to re-order, but now should have enough to finish the year.

The first square for September is called Embracing Variety.  I’m a little ho-hum about my version.  Nothing particularly wrong with it, but nothing particularly exciting either.

The filler square is the Sweet Peas 12″ Square (a free Ravelry download).  This one was a little more complex.  The four centre squares are worked first, then joined.  I should have paid attention and gone down a hook size where instructed – I had to do a lot of blocking to make my finished square sit flat.

Now the October squares are up – I’d better get cracking! As always, all squares crocheted in Bendigo Woollen Mills Classic 8ply, with a 4.5mm hook.

The hook has been flying lately in my attempt to catch up with my BAMCAL squares.  I’ve finished one of September’s squares already – so I’d better show you the squares from August!  First up, Shape Shifting in 12.

This one has worked up beautifully! All the squares on the Ravelry page look quite different from one another, depending on how many colours they have been crocheted in and where the colour changes (if any) have taken place.  I used all seven of my BAMCAL colours in this square, trying to grade out the colours.  Very happy with it!  I’m also extremely happy with the Filler square, The Crocodile Flower (free Ravelry download).

This square was a little more time-consuming to crochet than the usual BAMCAL square, and took up a fair bit of yarn, but WOW, what an effect! It worked up rather large, so I had to leave off the sawtooth border.  It’s worth looking at the different versions of this square that have been crocheted so far.  Just imagine a whole blanket made from these!

As always, these are crocheted in Bendigo Woollen Mills Classic 8 ply, with a 4.5 mm hook.  This is part of the Ravelry 2012 Block-a-month Crochet-a-long (BAMCAL) group, where new blocks are introduced each month (but you can join in whenever you like).

The more I see the pile of squares grow, the more I love this blanket.  I’m so pleased with the colours that I chose to work with (although when I go and take a look at the colours that other BAMCALers are using I often want to steal their combinations as well).  The July square is called Eyelet Lace.

A very effective, almost solid square. And easy – which is always good when crocheting while watching tv. The July filler square is Eight Pointed Flower, another free Ravelry download.

I rather wish that I’d crocheted the petals in a stronger colour – there is not enough contrast between them and the background colour for my liking. Otherwise, I’m happy enough with this one too!

As always, crocheted in Bendigo Woollen Mills Classic 8 ply, with a 4.5 mm hook.

It is SO easy to get behind with things!  I’m still working on getting my BAMCAL squares up to date.  I’m almost there, with just one of the August squares left to do.  Oh, tomorrow is the last day of August – then there will be another two squares for September.  Oh well!  As always, these are worked in Bendigo Woollen Mills Classic 8ply with a 4.5mm hook.

First up is the June square Moroccan Tile.  This one has worked up much better than I’d anticipated.  My colour placement often occurs fairly randomly now; I don’t always work out in advance what colours will go where in the square, but instead I just let it evolve as I crochet away.  That can be a good or a bad thing.  This time it was good.

The June Filler square is Crown Jewels, a free Ravelry download.  I love the way that this one crocheted up as well! It is another example of where I let the colour changes evolve as I went along rather than pre-planning them.

Check out those popcorns!  Look at that texture!

So there you go, June BAMCAL squares all done! I’ll be back later with the July squares, and hopefully not much later with the August ones. This is going to be a terrific blanket, if I do say so myself! But I’m only just over halfway there in terms of the number of squares (and then there will be the joining and the edging…)

It’s fairly indicative of the last month – I didn’t get around to crocheting the May BAMCAL squares until just before we went away in early June.  But hurrah, here they are!

This one is called the Windowpane Square. A little different to the usual, and I rather like it.

The filler square is the Stained Glass Afghan Square – and I really like it!  My blanket is progressing nicely.  I plan to finish the June squares in June!

We spent the Easter break with my parents.  I took yarn and hooks of course, and finished off the two April BAMCAL blocks and a couple of extras as well while chatting and watching TV in the evenings. All blocks are crocheted in a combination of Bendigo Woollen Mills Classic 8ply, which is a machine washable wool with a crepe construction. I used a 4.5mm hook for all of them too. First up, the main April block, called Lion’s Mane.

The filler block was Schoharie Spring Square. I was very pleased with how this one turned out.

And just for fun, Lucky Charms:

and More V’s Please.

My plans are to make a blanket big enough to go on our Queen sized bed, so I’m going to do 30 blocks rather than 24, and assemble them into a 5 x 6 layout. That means six extra blocks over and above the BAMCAL ones – which is not difficult at all considering how many wonderful 12inch blocks are out there. My blocks are not turning out the same size at this stage. I plan on counting the number of stitches on each side and adjusting them with extra rows to match (or fudging things a little if the difference is minimal). Here is how the blocks are looking so far:

I am doing the “right” thing and weaving in the ends after I complete each block. With all those colour changes it would be very painful to do them later! I also haven’t yet decided what colour I will join them with or what edging I’ll use. Plenty of time for that!  All blocks are on my Ravelry project page.

It’s amazing how much crochet you can get done while watching the ABC2 re-runs of Doctor Who.  Clare became interested in Doctor Who over the past series, so is enjoying the re-runs and finding out why some of the things in the most recent series have happened.  And my husband and I are just enjoying watching them all over again!  Donna Noble was simply the BEST companion ever (although Sarah-Jane Smith runs a close second…)

Anyway, back to the point of this post!  My 2012 BAMCAL March squares are finished (if you don’t count weaving in the ends, that is).

This square is called Hint of Spring. In my opinion the instructions aren’t written quite as precisely as they could be, but I like the resulting square. It did need serious blocking to get it nice and flat though – the centre was terribly rippled before copious steaming with my iron. Crocheted in Bendigo Woollen Mills Classic 8ply with a 4.5mm hook.

The filler square was the Double Treble Burst Square. This is a great one for playing with colour. I am very happy with the graduation from darker to lighter. In Bendigo Woollen Mills Classic 8ply with a 4.5mm hook, once again.

While chatting to my Mum on the phone this afternoon she commented that I must have been busy over the past week because I haven’t been updating my blog very much! That is one of the realities of life. I am planning sewing/quilting/crafting projects in my head, but finding the time to put them into practice seems to be more and more difficult, despite having Thursday as “my day” with Stella at childcare. And even when I do get things finished, I don’t always get them photographed and/or blogged.  Mum can read the nuances of my life from my blogging patterns – I suppose that some mother/daughter relationships are like that!  Mum, you know me so well!

By the way, have you seen Tangled? It’s such a beautiful Disney film, and I think that adults enjoy it just as much as the kids. I originally saw it at the movies with Clare, but we all watched it on DVD this evening as a family and everyone liked it. I think that I might have even cried in some parts…