I present you my "Globetrotter Blanket" !!!!

…. My first huge project has been completed the day before yesterday afternoon !!!!!
Ok, this is not the first blanket I made ( remember this one ?), but this is THE BIG ONE, that challenged me for almost one year ( started on the 5th of May 2013/ completed on the 13 of March 2014 !!!!)….

In my last post about the blanket, I showed it without any border, but now I can !!! ;oD

Sorry, my boys were still in school when I was taking these new pictures, so they couldn't help me in the showing off!!!!!

Obviously, there are more photos about the completed work and I'll post them at the end of this presentation.
Now, I'm really interested in explaining what I did to crochet my simple border, which consists of two rounds of acrylic/cotton yarns ( for each round I have been working with 2 contrasting colour strands together), crocheted with a 4mm hook.

THE BORDER

( Please note that I follow the US crochet terminology!!!)

first round
I choose to start the first round of the border using together a red strand with a hot pink one!
Starting from the base of the blanket ( where the foundation chain is) and working in the front of it, I attached the yarns (in the meantime I made a slip knot on the hook) in the first space on the right using a single crochet. Then I crocheted 2 chains, 2 double crochets (in the same space), and 1 chain

In this way, I've obtained a first border made of 3DCs (= double crochets) shells, spaced out by a chain-1 space.
Apart the first shell, all the other ones are made just with 3 DCs !
After doing the last shell of the base, I crocheted 3 chains (to make a rounded corner, the first one) and I started, around the first stitch of the first row, to make 3 single crochets+1 chain.
I repeated this scheme along all the side of the blanket. All the threads/fringes were kept on the back of the work, while crocheting the side border.
When I worked the last group of 3 SCs (= single crochets) in the first stitch of the top row, I had to chain 3 (second corner), then I made my first shell of 3 DCs in the first chain-1 space (in my case, between the first two blue shells)

As for the border at the bottom of the blanket,  I adopted again the scheme 3 DCS+ chain 1 for the top of my blanket.
Completed the last shell at the top, I made 3 chains (third corner) and I started again to crochet 3 SCs along the last stitch of the last row of my blanket, plus 1 chain.
I just repeated the same pattern ( 3 SCs + 1 chain) as for the other side of the afghan.

At the end of this second side, so after the last 3 SCs, I crocheted 3 chains and attached them at the beginning of the border with a slip stitch. The first round was done!

second round
I collected a couple of new colours (yellow and orange), made a slip knot on the hook and (following the edging #67, pages 144/145, from the book "Around the Corner Crochet Borders by Edie Eckman) I started to crochet points (chain 7, make 1 half double crochet in the 4th chain from the hook, crochet 2 DCs in the next 2 stitches, crochet 1 treble in the 7th stitch), starting at the top of the third shell of the previous round

I crocheted points on the top of shells (one point, one shell)

It took a while to complete the base, but, honestly it wasn't hard

around the 3 chains of the first corner, I made a point that follows the same pattern used for a basic star.

Then I used once more the previous scheme ( 3 SCs + chain 1) for the side of the blanket.
When crocheted the last group of 3 SCs, I made 2 SCs in the corner, so that I could start the top side of the border using some scallops (made in the between of two shells), each scallop made using trebles, seven of them for each group

each scallop is attached using a single crochet stitch in the chain-1 space between 2 shells!!!

When the last scallop was done, I attached it with one SC and then I crocheted 2 SCs around the third corner and I started the other side of the blanket, repeating : 3 SCs + 1 chain till the end of this margin.

Completed the last group of 3 SCs, in the last corner I made a basic star point.

To complete the second round of my border, I had to add two points at the top of the first two shells at the base of the blanket. Then I made a slip stitch and fastened off.

…. not yet finished….

What happened to the tails left on both left and right sides of the blanket?

First step : knot them by pair
Second step : cut the excess of thread

While crocheting the border, I kept the tails under it.
With the help of a yarn needle and working with a couple of threads each time, I did as follow :
I took the needle and, starting from the back of my blanket, I let one tail pass trough the corresponding chain-1 space of the first round of my border. The same tail, from the front now, was passed through the equivalent chain-1 space of the second round of the border, from the front to the back again.
The second tail, still in the back, was passed from back to front, through the same chain-1 space of the second round.  Then, I made a knot with the two tails!!!!
I've done this with all the pairs of tails, on both sides of my blanket!

After completing all the knotting, it was time to adjust the length of the fringes.

I decided to have them (more or less) 3cm long, so with the help of a mini drafting triangle  and a pair of scissors, I started the cutting of the fringes

…. After a while, I had my Globetrotter Blanket done on my laps!!!!!! HURRAY !!!!!!

The reason of this name is really simple : because of my kind of life (travelling around the world!) that made me buy yarns wherever I had been in these last 10 years !!!!! Easy peasy !!!!!

Here it  is in all its splendour ….

Well, your moment now to say something….. ;oD

All links related to the blanket : here !!!!

Today link party : Link your Stuff !

xxxx Alessandra
Happy Weekend !!!