This was a wonderful project to work. I have been drooling over it ever since Frank started to post his first pictures when designing version 1. I love the way it changes shape from a circle to a diamond, eventually settling into a square.

I’ll admit I was anxious at the start, not sure if I was up to making something so complex. The pattern changes a lot, so there’s no opportunity to get bored and I found that as one section materialised before my eyes, I started to get excited about the next section.

The pattern is complex and demands concentration, and a few sections require a lot of counting and double-checking, but what I found was that it all made sense and there’s nothing in it that technically very difficult. On each new section you can see the pattern forming quite quickly and you soon know if you’re going wrong because of how it fits in with the previous round. I only had to rip back 1 complete round to fix a mistake at the very end of the previous round.

I also liked the way a complex section would be followed by a much simpler section. There were a few stitches that were new to me, eg, extended stitches. It took me 5 minutes to look these up and find a video on YouTube and the great thing is the same principle applies to them all. If you can work an ehdc (extended half double crochet), you can work an edc and an etr.

10/01/2015 - Yarn ordered from Deramores. Should be here by the middle of the week.

17/01/2015 - Finally, all my yarn is here. I’ve decided to go for a dark/light colour sequence, rather than a gradient effect. My colours will be:

1 Copper
2 Camel
3 Dark Brown
4 Cream
5 Burgundy
6 Gold

19/01/2015 - I’m completed 46 rounds and am really enjoying it, so far. While this pattern demands a lot of concentration, there hasn’t been anything that’s felt too difficult. I’ve had to rip back part of a round once or twice, but it’s always been because I’ve missed an instruction in the pattern. Some of the instructions are very long and I’ve found it helpful to jot down some rounds in a list form in a notepad so I don’t lose my place in the middle.

I have a little cupping on the sides at this stage, but feel confident that once I’ve worked more rounds, the weight of the blanket will pull these flat.

20/01/2015 - completed up to round 52

21/01/2015 - completed up to round 58

22/01/2015 - completed up to round 64. I’d hoped to get a little further on today and complete part 2, but buggered up at the end of round 61, which wasn’t obvious until I got right to the end of round 62. There was no way to fudge it so I had to frog it and do it again.

23/01/2015 - completed up to round 69. I seem to have reached that point in the project where, all of a sudden, the rounds seem to take 3 times as long to complete.

24/01/2015 - completed up to round 73.

25/01/2015 - completed up to round 77.

26/01/2015 - completed round 79

29/01/2015 - completed round 82

30/01/2015 - completed round 84

31/01/2015 - completed round 87

01/02/2015 - completed round 91

02/02/2015 I really wanted to complete 3 rounds today, but my shoulder’s complaining a little so I’m only about 1/3 of the way through round 94.

03/02/2015 - finished :D