Somehow there has been much more doing than writing going on at Chez Snail in recent weeks Having completely failed to manage a scrappy project in time for the March ScrapHappy, I am determined now to do better in the coming month. I’ve been busy with some scrap-based things, but I’m saving posting about those so I don’t miss another SH on the 15th. I have completed the crochet for the sofa seat covers, but I’m dithering slightly about the finishing as I have a choice to make about the backing… I think I know what I’m going to do, but I don’t want to post about that until it’s complete.
Much of my time, however, has been taken up with a blanket that I’ve had the pattern for since last summer, but hadn’t quite got round to doing anything with. Originally I was going to make this for Mr Snail to take to Reading whilst he’s working away, but then I decided to make him a snuggly hexie blanket from scraps first. However, having discovered that he’s got two sofas in his rented flat, it seemed appropriate to make him a second blanket. The squares are now all finished, and probably don’t look very promising at first glance:
Dull squares
However, when laid out, look a bit more interesting:
some depth
I rather like how different this design is from most crochet patterns – the simplicity and the optical illusion were very appealing to me, and it will look even better once the squares are joined and edged. The Pattern is Cubine by Magdalene Lee and you can find it on Ravelry. The wool is aran weight and all British: the brown is natural Zwartbles produced by my friend Val; the blue is from Woolyknit; and the cream is from New Lanark.
The Snail of Happiness 
nanacathy2
/ March 24, 2019Love it, and it’s very clever.
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The Snail of Happiness
/ March 24, 2019And it’s really, really easy too.
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Kim
/ March 24, 2019Clever pattern!
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The Snail of Happiness
/ March 24, 2019It is, isn’t it. It caught my eye as soon as I saw it.
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thecontentedcrafter
/ March 24, 2019That is an excellent pattern! I would spend hours following the progress of the cubes and looking at the relationships in different ways. There’s a wee touch of Escher in there. Your colour choices for the Mr are excellent. I wonder if he will ever go to work again…..
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The Snail of Happiness
/ March 24, 2019It is an intriguing design, isn’t it? I love flowers and mandalas, but I also love designs inspired by mathematics. In fact I wasn’t sure how well this one would come out, but I’m quite pleased with it so far. As for the colours, I had the chocolate brown already and then I spent about an hour dithering over which two contrasting colours to use (I was working in Red Apple yarn that day) – it was very nearly lime green rather than blue, but Mr Snail likes blue better than green hence the final decision.
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thecontentedcrafter
/ March 24, 2019Mr S has taste! 🙂
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anne54
/ March 24, 2019It’s stunning! I agree with Pauline ~ a touch of Escher. Maybe your next one could be birds changing from black to white. (I have just seen a large exhibition of his work, so it is fresh in my mind.)
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The Snail of Happiness
/ March 24, 2019Now that would be an interesting project to attempt.
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katechiconi
/ March 24, 2019Ooh, love it! The squares look quite chunky too, so it should be lovely and warm. The initial photo didn’t look so promising, but the job laid out is great (and I’m also glad you went with blue rather than lime!).
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The Snail of Happiness
/ March 25, 2019I dithered for ages, partly because of Mr Snails fondness for chocolate lime sweets! I’ve started attaching then together now and I think it’s going to look rather good. I don’t like the border suggested on the pattern, so I will be making that up myself. I’m wondering about using a grey and some more of the brown, but I’ll have a rummage about to see what I have squirreled away.
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katechiconi
/ March 25, 2019Actually, how about a lime green border…?
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tialys
/ March 25, 2019This look great – it reminds me of the Building Blocks design in patchwork which always fascinates me. I’d never thought about a version in yarn. I also think the blue was a good choice.
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The Snail of Happiness
/ March 25, 2019Yes, it does have a similarity to that patchwork design… I’d forgotten about that. Well, it looks like the blue was a popular choice.
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KerryCan
/ March 25, 2019Why does Tialys always get to a blog post first and say exactly what I was going to say?! I thought immediately of the quilt design, too–it’s going to be very effective when it’s all together!
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quietwatercraft
/ March 31, 2019That’s going to be an amazing blanket! It is so different, is it a tricky one to make?
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The Snail of Happiness
/ April 1, 2019It’s actually really easy – they are just mitred squares with different numbers of rows in each colour. The only thing is keeping a note of how many of each you have made and then attaching them together in the right order. I’m joining in strips and it seems to be going well so far.
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