30/11/2014 - I decided that I did want 6 repeats and ordered more wool. I’ve finished the main body of the blanket, sewn in all the ends and gone around my blanket in double crochet (US Single crochet).

I had a look at Lucy’s instructions and decided to start my border differently, ie, go up the side, across the top to level it off, down the other side, and along the bottom. Well, it turns out there’s a reason that Lucy goes up each side first! As I got to the bottom of the 2nd side, ready to go along the bottom, I realised that I didn’t have enough height to do the first couple of trebles (which I would have done if I’d put a row of trebles up each side first). In the end, I did a chain 3 to give me the height and put an extra treble on the end. As the first couple of rows of my border will be double crochet, it’s no big deal and there is no multiple to worry about.

15/09/14 - 5 repeats took the blanket up to the pillows and I was hoping to squeeze one more repeat out of the wool I had left, but have run out of orange 3 inches before the end of the last orange row. It was going to be even tighter on the brown. It’s still a decent length and I have a fair bit of brown, red and green to play with for the border, plus an extra skein of gold.

06/09/14 - I’ve just completed the 4th repeat and will make the next one the last… probably. I’ve decided to do the border in gold and am only going to put a border on the sides as I like the ripple shape so much. I think I’ll try and echo the ripple up the sides and give the border a wavy edge.

21/08/14 - I’m just about at the end of the 2nd repeat and pleased with how it’s looking. I like the green and have decided to keep it in. Each repeat is about 11” long; I’m hoping I have enough wool to do 6 repeats.

12/08/14 - I’m starting again. The blue, while a gorgeous colour, is not what I intended when I ordered it. It’s actually a difficult colour to photograph accurately and it’s a lot more green in a certain light. It’s also a very electric colour and although I put it between 2 very strong colours, it doesn’t tone it down at all; rather, the blue makes the orange and red look dull. The photo doesn’t do it justice at all.

I’ve also decided to ditch the cream. It’s not awful, but it’s not adding anything either and I think it looks rather stark against the depth of the other colours. The green is lovely and will stay, but I think I will use less of it than the other colours. I think I’ll just slip a row or two of it between the brown and the red. We’ll see - I might ditch it completely! Then again, if it looks fantastic, I might use more of it :)

One thing I was pleased with was the interlocking stripe. I really liked the effect so that will stay. So the pattern will be:
AAABABBBCBCCCDECDEEEAE
A=Gold
B=Orange
C=Brown
D=Green
E=Red

08/08/14 - my wool has arrived and I’ve realised that I need to invest in a wool winder! Overall, I’m happy with the colours but the blue (Pacific) is a lot more green than I expected. As it turns out, it fits in well with the other colours but the shade is nothing like I expected. It’s not my monitor, as I’ve checked all the other colours against the pictures on my monitor and they are a good match. The Pacific blue is more like a kingfisher blue. Hopefully, the wool winder will arrive tomorrow and I can get cracking. This yarn feels so soft, I can’t wait to see (feel) how it makes up.