At last!  I finished my Forever Eileen blanket!

For those of you that haven’t heard the story yet, this blanket is based on the ones my Grannie used to make.  And my Grannie is the one who inspired me to teach myself to crochet which sparked my crochet business name and continued journey.

I love this blanket!  When I decided to start making it I picked yarn from my existing stash – but not knowing how much I would need I jumped in and ordered more in each colour before I started – only to find later that I already had enough.

My mum found and sent me a copy of the pattern that my Grannie used to make this blanket – which was Jacob’s Ladder if you have ever come across that.  It became clear though when I compare her blankets to the pattern that she didn’t follow the pattern!

So I spent part of an afternoon comparing her blankets to the pattern to try and figure out what she did.  And in the end I think I got there.  I also discovered that she used two different borders for the blanket too.  My original blanket had the same stitches in the border as you see in the blanket – which was very mind blowing visually.  Her later blankets that she made for my kids had borders in straight single crochet using each of the colours.  Not as mind blowing, but just as pretty.

Grannie made lots of these blankets.  I have one and she made one for each of my kids in variying sizes, and I believe that at least one of my siblings got one too.

I couldn’t decide which of the borders I liked best that Grannie used, so decided to add my own style to the mix and chose a border of my own – so now the blanket is a blend of both of us.

And I have to say that I am mighty pleased with the result.  And sitting with the finished blanket set me off in tears as it made me miss my Grannie.  I would really love to be able to show it to her in person, but I’m sure she is with me and loving it too.

So I have now published this blanket so that everyone can share the love that my Grannie had for this blanket.

It is available in my store here – and as always you can get 50% off if you use the coupon NEWPATTERN while it is still in the new patterns category.

The yarn I used was Knit Picks Comfy Sport.  It doesn’t matter too much what yarn you use.  Grannie always used acrylics as that is what she had access to.  It does use a lot of yarn, so you will want it to be affordable!  All you need to remember is to always have 10 different colours.  I used 2 balls of each colour, except for the one in the border, which I needed 3.  You could get away with 2 if you use a different border, or you could use more than one colour in the border too to use up what you have left.

The blanket calls for a 4mm hook, so try and choose yarn that will go with that.  I can’t promise how it will work with a finer or chunkier yarn.

I would love for you to share your versions too using the tag #forevereileen.  I will be making more of these blankets too – I need one for me!

If you want help with the pattern (should you decide to make it!) then contact me or join my facebook group.  I am always willing to help!

So this blanket will be my mum’s mothers day gift this year.  She knows she is getting it, so I’m not giving away any surprises!   But Grannie was her mum, so I figured it would be a well welcomed gift.

I hope you enjoy Forever Eileen as much I do…

xx