Finished … The Many-Stitches-Blanket!!

Tuesday was a happy day, as I finished my many stitches blanket! Yay! And I am so utterly happy with it, I just love how it turned out.
It all started with basket, filled with lovely yarn. Soft and muted colours. Colours that made me smile every time I looked at them. And then I took my hook and a ball of dark blue yarn and made a foundation chain of 173 stitches, and after the first row of trebles (NL: stokjes/US: dc) I counted 171 stitches. So that was my beginning. As I have used a wide variation of stitches I didn’t always have the right number of stitches at the end of a row. That has always been a mystery to me: how can stitches suddenly disappear or add them themselves? Now I do live in a very old house so I guess we must have a naughty crochet ghost playing with my blanket while I asleep. Well then, here and there I had to decrease or increase one or two stitches. It doesn’t show. And there is also not really a front or a backside at this blanket.
Stitches that I have used are also used in that beautiful “Fantasy blanket” by Lanas de Ana and I got some inspiration from the lovely “Not your average blanket” (for the star stitch, see row 16), plus some stitches from my own Haakbijbel by Sarah Hazell. I cannot show you the complete pages of this book, due to copyrights, but I can tell you which stitches I have used: (Dutch version!!) no. 50 (iris), 58 (rack), 55 (linked shell) and 11 (staggered half double pairs), but instead of half trebles I used trebles for that one.
I am so glad I have bought this book. Although I usually watch instruction films on YouTube, this book has really taught me some new crochet skills, till my own surprise.
The pink-white-pink rows is the iris stitch (no. 50), I really love that one. I think no. 50 would make a wonderful shawl, don’t you agree?
I placed a couple of photos of my blanket on Facebook and Instagram and the response was shocking, in a positive way that is … :-). Many sweet ladies asked me for the pattern. The thing is, I didn’t take any notes while making this blanket. Well, just a few.
So there is not really a pattern, sorry. There are also stitches in this item I made up myself and I forgot to write down how I made them. Yes, that is very, very, very stupid and I have learned my lesson. Next time I’ll write it all down immediately.  I love my little pink tulips in the grass. You can find a pattern to make these cuties here.
The border was kept simple as the blanket itself is busy enough. I ended the blanket in dark blue, and at the corner I ch 2 and made a side in half trebles. The other side got the same colour. Then I made another round in dark blue, this time in trebles. After that row I turned the blanket.
So, to be precise:
First row – half trebles (US: hdc).
Second row – trebles (US: dc). Turn work.
Three more rows of trebles, turn work after every row.
Final row (pistachio): Work in same stitch 3 tr, 2 ch, 3 tr. Skip two stitches, in next stitch 1 dc, skip 2 stitches, in next stitch 3 tr, 2 ch, 3 tr, etc.After the final (yay!) stitch I blocked my blanket. I just pinned it on to the floor and used a water sprayer, and let it be for the night. During the night I hoped for a dry and sunny day so that I could take decent photos outside. But no such luck as it was pouring this morning.Right, some other facts you crochet-peeps wantlove to know:

Measurements: The size of my blanket is 120 x 155 cm. To me that is rather small but it sure is big enough to snuggle up into.
Weight: 1288 grams.
Colours and yarn: I have used eight colours of Drops Lima, that is 65% wool and 35% Alpaca-yarn (which means handwash only!):
3145 Powder pink
4305 Dark blue
8112 Ice blue
7219 Pistachio
0100 Naturel
0206 Light beige mix
6235 Grey blue
7810 Moss-green
Hook: 4 mm. I made the foundation chain plus the first row of trebles (stokjes in het  Nederlands / dc for US readers) with a 4.5 mm hook.So, are you ready for the big reveal? I am so here it is … my many-stitches-blanket …. and I really want to say this time …..ta-daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhh …………….. !!
Sorry for the sad pics, as the weather is still crap and I couldn’t take any photos outside. Okay ….. one last pic then, just me snuggling up in the blanket. I usually don’t do selfies, but hey, what the heck. Did I tell you already how utterly happy I am with this beautyblanket??

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