At last - I finished my 10-year old WIP

Hello everyone, how are you all? I do hope you're well and have been able to enjoy some crafting time. I've been a busy bee with tech editing, book editing and a few commissions here and there. 

But despite all that, I've managed to finish a few personal projects, which is quite amazing (if you've been following me for a while then you'll know I'm not very good at this). But 2018 is my year of finishing the things I start. Over the last few weeks, I finished my 10-year old WIP and I'm so pleased.

It's really nothing special to look at, but for me it holds a lot of memories. When I found this WIP in a bag under the stairs, the memories came flooding back of when I first picked up my hook about 10 years ago to start crocheting again, after a long break from crafting. 

I bought quite a bit of cheap yarn off ebay and along with yarn given to me by family and friends.  I also bought Jan Eaton's fab and ever-popular book called '200 Crochet Blocks', which is now well-thumbed and really showing signs of regular use. It's one of my 'go-to' books for teaching and I'd recommend it to anyone.

I remember being quite amazed and intrigued at how the same square could look very different, just by changing the colours used, or by using the same colours in a different order. Little did I know that my love of crochet would eventually become my source of income.

Also in the bag that was tucked away and forgotten about, was a cone of super soft 4ply sock wool in the most gorgeous purple-heather tones. I think I'd be right to describe it as vintage - it was gifted to me from an old lady's stash and I've had it at least 10 years too. 

The company name is stamped inside the cone, so I think I'll look them up and try to find out more about them.

The pink and purple crocheted squares were intended for a 'girlie' throw for my daughter , who was 13 at the time, but alas, I didn't finish it and she never did get her throw. So I've now joined my newly-found squares into a large rectangle, edged it with a pretty scalloped edging and I will pass it to a friend who collects blankets and toiletries to pass on to those in need. 

For the scalloped border, after joining my squares, I worked a few rounds of different stitches and ended with a round of trebles to form a base for the border stitches. I've written out the instructions below for those of you who would like to use it.

The instructions are in UK terminology, so for US readers, replace tr (UK treble crochet) with double crochet, and replace dc (UK double crochet) with US single crochet. The last round before the border should be:

Last round of blanket:
3ch (counts as 1tr), [work 1tr in every st and 3tr in each corner] to the end, slip stitch into the top of the beginning 3ch to join and fasten off.

First round of border:
Note: Try to create an even number of chain loops ready for the next round.
Join chosen yarn with a slip stitch to the right-most stitch of a corner group of 3tr, 1ch (not counted as a stitch), 1dc in the same stitch at base of 1ch, *work 3ch, skip the next 2 tr, 1dc in the next tr; repeat from * all around the blanket to the last 2 tr, finally, work the last 3ch, skip the last 2 tr and slip stitch into the first dc to join. Do not cut yarn.

Note: If you reach the end and there is only 1tr left, just skip this 1tr instead, or undo the last dc and skip the last 3 tr instead; it won't be noticeable (choose whichever method will work to create an even number of chain loops).

Scallop round of border: 1dc in the next 3ch-loop (working under the chain loop and not into any chains), 7tr into the next 3ch-loop (working under the loop and not into the chains); repeat from * all the way around to the end, slip stitch into the first dc to join. Fasten off and weave in ends.

For those of you who like to read from a chart, here is a small sample section of the border.

I'm really delighted that I've turned a bag of forgotten-about squares into something useful and practical, as well as being quite pretty. 

What's your oldest WIP? Is it knitted or crocheted? I hope you find the time to finish it soon, and if you do, don't forget to post a photo over on my Ravelry group. Click here to join the group.

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Happy Crafting, Lynne x