Happy Solstice

Wishing everyone a happy Winter Solstice! Welcome the return of the light...

Image from http://www.freeimages.co.uk/

Blanketed 2

Those of you who've been following this blog for a while may remember a post a while back about my second attempt at crocheting a blanket. I was making it for my cousin and his wife with the main criterion being "bright colours." Well, after much time, blood, sweat, tears, and cat hair, the blanket is complete! It now covers the couch at my cousins' place, where, as they put it "everyone can see it." I guess it was worth the wait :)

Crocheting the squares is really what took forever. Once I finished them (168 total), the blanket came together relatively quickly. In the meantime I stored them in a chest we use as a coffee table/foot rest/scratching post (technically the cats are the ones who use it for that last part).

This pile of squares made one row of the blanket

Coming together...

I used a variegated yarn to join the pieces together. This one blended well with the colours I used in the squares.

It was pretty cozy working under all that :)

Shadow regularly showed his appreciation for my work by napping on it.

He's less impressed, however, with my sticking a camera in his face. Yes, he is sticking his tongue out at me.

Hoping I'll just go away. His brother, Wraith, would usually sit on my blanket-covered lap as I worked on it. And that's why the blanket got washed before I gave it to my cousins (it still probably had a ton of cat hair on it--sorry, guys...)

All done

For the granny squares I used this pattern.
For the joining technique I used the Flat Braid Joining Method (instructions here).