Tah-Dah: Canada Blanket

Hello all!

Sorry I have been too quiet during the last two weeks! There are lots of things I wanted to write about but life got into the way. We had a wedding to go to (and handicraft the present beforehand), a lovely girl from Australia stayed with us for about 10 days and there was a lot of paperwork to be done. The latter is not finished yet but I'll get there. Paperwork can be so annoying, can't it? I changed our electricity contract for example. We now have "green power" which means all our electricity from from renewable energy sources. I feel good that I finally got the change done but of course there are lots of letters to write and tonight I will have to wander downstairs and note down the current meter reading. 

Still, I found some time to crochet and finally finish my "Canada Blanket". Half of the blanket was crafted during our stay in Canada, the other half here in Germany after our return. It took about five weeks which is great for a blanket this size!

So let me tell you the story of the blanket...

I have heard a lot about Red Heart Super Saver Yarn, so I wanted to try it. However you can't get it here in Germany and ordering it from the US is expensive. So when we stayed in Vancouver I went to a Michael's Craft Store and sure they had the yarn (Great store btw! So many craftsy ideas!). I bought two skeins only at first but quickly went back and got more.

Of course I spent a lot of time in the yarn section trying to decide on two colours. I ended up with "Aran" and a brownish one. Can't remember the name of the later one - sorry! Does any of you have an idea what the darker colour is called? I tossed the paper with the name on it unfortunately. 

 

The colours go together really well and it looks a bit like a cappuccino, doesn't it? The pattern is the lovely Corner to Corner Throw one which I have used many time. I reckon I might be slightly addicted to the pattern. 

The yarn suggests a 5,0 mm hook but I used a 4 mm one instead. I brought some hooks with me to Canada but my 4 mm one wasn't good. So I got myself a maple wood one in Nanaimo from Mad about Eve which is a great store hidden in a small arcade. That hooked perfectly and I treasure it quite a bit!

I started on the blanket when I was still in Vancouver. As I mentioned before the boyfriend had a conference, so I had time on my own. In the mornings I liked to sit in coffee shops, have a good coffee and crochet. Oh and talk to people. One meets so many interesting people sitting in a coffee shop!

After that I crocheted in the evenings in the hostels. A good converstation starter really! Some people thought I was making a scarf and quite a few called it knitting... It was rather large already by the time we arrived in Tofino and couldn't be carried around in my handbag anymore! :-) I planned to get some crochet done on the plane but I fell asleep instead :P 

Oh, I really love this blanket! Reminds me of the good times in Canada and all the wonderful places I crocheted it at! The beach in Vancouver during the sunset for example... So, yeah, I think I will keep the blanket. I was going to give it away, since I have the Rainbow Blanket and my Australia Blanket already but I need to keep this one too. For the memories...

Do you ever feel like that you just can't give something away?!

Details: Canada Blanket

Seize: 130cmx160cm

Rows: 180 (Clusters of 10 rows)

Yarn: Red Heart Super Saver

Crochet Time: July-August 2014

Take care

Anne

P.S. Sorry for the dark pictures! The weather here in Dortmund is rainy and stormy. Not a good time to take pictures really but it looks like the weather will stay like this for some more time!