1 June 2014 I haven’t done any crochet for years but was tempted to have a go at this as it was so beautiful.

I watched a few youtube tutorials on how to crochet granny squares and used a simpler pattern that ended in one of the corners rather than the pattern in the magazine. As I’ve got better at the stitching and understanding the way the squares work, I’ve switched back to the proper way in the pattern.

I’ve used two balls of the Crofter wool so far, these are in Poppy and Baillie Blue. I’m getting around 13 squares per ball and I’ve added the cream border to 9 of the 26 so far. They are coming up a bit smaller than stated in the pattern - not 14 cm, more like 11 in my hands. I’m not sure why they are so much smaller.

The squares don’t take long - I can do one of these during my train commute fairly reliably.

3 June I’ve finished another ball of squares today but only got 12 and three quarters squares this time. The colours were lovely. Looked like raspberry ripple ice cream.
4 June About to start on the seagrass ball today. Train was on a go slow so I managed two squares on the way in. The seagrass colour is lovely. Put some cream borders on a few squares this evening during the football on TV.
14 June This project has come on holiday with me to France and I am crocheting under the shade of a willow tree in 30 °C heat. I forced myself to sort out all the loose ends on the squares I’d already done and to add the cream border so I’m now up to date and each new square is being completed fully so that it will be ready to block when I’m home. I’ve lost the crochet hook twice in the large garden already as I’ve moved around in search of shade. I’ve now only two balls of Crofter left to do, Burnett and Hepburn. I’m working on the last square in Wylde now.
24 June I finished the last square on the train this evening so I now have over 80 that now need blocking before joining together. I’ve never blocked anything before so I need to gather some equipment before the weekend so I can get going. Can’t wait to see how it is going to turn out.
29 June I managed to get some gingham, pins and foam playmat squares during the week and started blocking the squares yesterday. The last batch are drying in the garden now. Blocking has made a huge difference with all the squares looking really square and all the same size.I made a mistake when laying them out. I packed them up in batches of eight rather than ten as the pattern says. Will need to rearrange them again when they are all dry.
30 June Put the first strip of ten together tonight and once I’d got the hang of it, it was quite quick to do. Impatient to see how it is going to look as it comes together.
9 July I think I’m almost finished. I’ve just sewn in the last few ends. I’m wondering whether to block the edges where the border has been added. It looks and feels beautiful.
12 July all the ends are sewn in and the border is on. I had some calico yarn left but not huge amounts. Certainly needed the six balls specified in the pattern. As a very basic crocheter this was a great project and so easy to put together. Blocking the squares made a huge difference. I use chad valley foam playmate squares from Argos to pin the squares for blocking.
I’ve finished this much sooner than I thought I would so I it will be have to be put away until October.
October. The recipient for the blanket arrived safely and I delivered the parcel when she was a couple of weeks old. I hope that it gets some use.