20 April 2015
Finished and I think it just looks so soft and pretty. Its taken a while, but it was definitely worth it. As I thought, the border was a breeze and the project seemed to come to an end quite quickly. I’ve included a picture of the back too because I think its really pretty too!

Oh, and I didn’t need to block. It lies beautifully as is ❤️

14 April 2015
Life has intervened to slow me down, but I now have only 3 more rows to join, then onto the border. I think the border will be quick because it is just straight rounds with no joining or ends.

7 April 2015
Now joined 9 rows (of 16), feel like I’m over the hump. Joining has definitely got quicker as I’ve settled into it and it has a nice rhythm.
I think I may be slowing the whole thing down by insisting on sewing all my ends as I go. I’m paranoid about ends coming loose so I don’t just want to crochet over them - weaving back and forth is my way which may be a way too far!

29 March 2015
Joining flowers now. This is taking a long time and will not be rushed. Having bought such lovely wool, I really don’t want to spoil it with impatience so am taking it gently.
One thing to note, I’ve had to buy a lot more of the background colour than I originally calculated. I’ll update the amount when I have finished.
I am also realising that it will need some serious blocking and, as I’ve never blocked anything so big, I’m giving that some thought.

9 March 2015
All flowers done, layout decided and rows gathered together in the correct order so that I can join them easily (as recommended by the designer). I threaded them together using left over yarn and numbered the rows using small squares of paper with a hole punched in (hopefully you can see this on the pic).

6 March 2015
With 30 more flowers to go, I laid them out on the bed to try to get an idea of pattern, and which colours I need to make more of. I thought that if I could squint at it, I would see where the gaps are. A mix of pinks, old gold, pale lemon and the mink and blue neutrals should do it, methinks.
Getting excited for the joining now.

27 February 2015
Basket shows 166 flowers. 122 to go. They only take 3-4 mins each, but then weaving in ends as I go adds to that. I HAVE to retain the discipline though, I couldn’t face tidying them up at the end!
I have a mixture of yarn weights and am getting between 14 and 19 flowers per ball (the baby cashmere silk goes a long way and is finer than the other dk). I have got 166 flowers out of the first 10 balls.

20 February 2015
I chose these colours for a slightly different effect than the pattern. I wanted to create a blanket that had the soft, faded look of old rose bouquets.

Stats

I made the mistake of buying a number of balls, rather than length. I actually used 22 balls of the background colour which worked out at 1936 yards - I bought 12 to start with - waaay off! The pattern called for 6 skeins of Caron Simply Soft (315yds per skein, 1890 yards) so I was spot on in my usage actually. Lesson - buy your yarn by yardage, not by number of balls!