A Crochet Nana Blanket to Make Grandma Proud

Oh what dedicated women our forbears must have been. Its easy to forget that once upon a time, the only way to get most things was to make them yourself. Many skills now forgotten by the general populous were basic requirements for every household, and a matter of intense pride for those that mastered them. Every woman could knit a cardigan, darn a sock, crochet a blanket or sew themselves a stylish dress to wear to the town dance on a Saturday night. The skill of the crafts woman was evident in the clothes they and their family wore everyday, the furnishing of their home and the food on the table. There was no alternate place to source the basics of life. No high street shops or handy takeaways for those girls to turn to after a particularly hectic day. I am by no means suggesting we go back to that way of life. While it might sound distantly romantic, it was in reality just darn hard work for the average woman.

Now that most of the developed world has the benefit of an automatic washing machine, electric stove and other various assorted appliances, why not connect with social history and spend some of your spare moments indulging in an old fashioned craft?

See my previous blog for instructions on how to complete the Nana squares that are the foundation of this blanket. You can either plan the dimensions before hand, or just make as many as you feel like and decide on the size later. The choice of colours is completely optional. I chose to limit the colour palate and then randomly combine the colours of each square.

 

 

 Once you have all your squares, lay them all out in the required order. I arranged mine so no boarder colours repeated side by side. Time to get sewing...

The weather was so nice on Saturday I sat under the umbrella in the garden.

 

I used a simple lashing stitch to sew each square together using a wool darning needle. Use a colour that matches one of the squares. Start at one end of the blanket and sew around two or three sides of each square until most of the sides are connected. Then go back and sew up the odd ones that have been missed.

With all the sewing up completed, crochet a boarder around the outside. I used three rows of double crochet stitch - alternating the colours of each round. Be sure to crochet three extra stitches in the corner or they will curl inwards.

 

While this blanket was thrifty in terms of materials - using left over balls of wool and various oddments, it was labour intensive. The squares themselves are quick to crochet, but it takes quite a few to fill out a reasonable sized blanket. If you add up the number of squares x the time spent on each one the result might be surprising. The sewing up takes some time; however it's worth spending a little longer to ensure a tidy end product.

 

Good work Grandma. I'm not sure how you found the time to make whole bedspreads of squares; especially with the coal range to stoke, scones to make, lambs and chooks to feed, butter to churn, workers to feed and five children to look after.

 

And we thought we invented multi-tasking.    

Crochet Nana Squares

Once the sole preserve of Nana's and Great Aunts, the crochet square is becoming the blanket material of choice for Mummy's around the globe. It has many positive attributes. Its warm and snugly, thanks to the air trapping properties of its textured finish; it comes in a variety of cheerful colours; its environmentally friendly, because it uses up all the odd bits of left over wool; and it reminds you of outings with your Nana and Poppa because they always carried one in the back seat of the car.

Overcome by a wave of nostalgia, I decided it was about time for a Nana craft revival:

I used a 3.5mm crochet hook and scraps of 8 and 12 ply yarn. If your using 12 ply, restrict it to the same number of rounds per square or the squares will end up different sizes.

Start by forming a loop and working 6 chain (ch). Join to the end to form a loop.
Now work in rounds:

Round 1: Work 3 ch, 2 triple crochet stitches (tc), 2 ch, 3 tc, 2 ch, 3 tc, 2 ch, 3 tc, 2 ch, join the chain to the first group of stitches to form a circle.

Round 2: Turn the work over and crochet the next row on the other side of the work. Change colours.
Work 3 ch, 2 tc passing the hook under the chain from the previous row, 2 ch, 3 tc through the same chain, 2 ch, 3 tc through the second corner of chain stitches, 2 ch, 3 tc, 2 ch, 3 tc through the third corner, 2 ch, 3 tc, 2 ch, 3 tc through last corner, 2 ch, 3 tc, 2 ch, join onto the first group of stitches.

Round 3: Turn the work over and crochet the next row on the other side of the work. Change colours.
Work this round in the same way as the previous one. The only difference being that one extra set of 3 tc is worked in the middle of each side of the square as shown in the photo.

Round 4:  Turn the work over and change colours. Work using the same pattern as the previous rounds, but add another set of 3 tc into each side of the square, as pictured.

Use a blunt tipped darning needle to work the loose ends of the wool back into the square.

Pressing the square with a warm steamy iron will help to form an even shape and texture.

The Nana squares can be left this size and joined together using the darning needle and matching wool; or an extra row can be crocheted around all the squares, and then they can be sewed up using the darning needle and matching wool.

Mixing the colours with alternating dark, light, dark, light colours and combining different tones of the same colour will make the blanket more attractive.

They are quick to make, so its easy to accumulate enough for a snugly blanket. One of the main advantages is that they are easy to carry around and complete where and whenever the mood takes you. No large project to juggle with your Cafe coffee and cake. Accumulate enough and you will be making your own enviable Nana car rug.

One Snugly Woven Blanket

There is always a place for a snugly blanket. Old or young, at some time or another we all need a handy snugly blankie for fending off those nippy picnic breezes, covering knees  and hands at the rugby-football-hockey, or cushioning a weary head on a long flight. From the cradle to the grave, the blanket never goes out of style.

Care of Mum, Dad, Trade me and Christmas, I was lucky enough to get my hands on this wonderful Ashford Heddle Loom and stand. This is the second project I have woven on it. The first was a girly pink, pale green and light blue baby blanket that looked just amazing, and was very happily received by one of my new mother friends. This time around I thought I would try something a little more masculine.

Using a variety of different coloured yarns is creatively very liberating, as I just let loose with the colour combinations without over thinking the overall design. All the yarn I use is 100% New Zealand wool 8ply. There are lots of New Zealand grown and manufactured wools available if you know where to look: Ashfords (Ashburton) and The Wool Company (Taihape) both make affordable, good quality yarns in a variety of colours - including some interesting variegated colours. 


There is little point in me attempting to explain the warping up of the loom, when Ashfords have such a great video tutorial on-line:
http://www.ashford.co.nz/newsite/tutorials/video-tutorial-how-to-warp-a-rigid-heddle-loom

This blanket used 210 warp threads. The 7.5dpi reed is the best one to use for 8ply yarn.

I used the following pattern for the warp threads: 12 Green, 8 red, 6 gray, 8 red, 6 gray, 22 blue, 12 red, 10 natural, 6 gray, 10 green, 18 blue, 6 green, 6 blue, 6 green, 6 blue, 10 red, 16 natural, 6 gray, 18 red, 6 natural, 12 blue.
For the weft thread I used all navy as pictured.

Time to just get weaving. It is much quicker to complete than knitting, as each row is done in a matter of seconds.

 

Ashfords have lots of on-line tutorials with all the information required to weave up a storm.

 

When the weft thread runs out, definitely join at the sides as it is much less obvious than in the centre of the work.

By join I mean overlap the ends of the old and new weft threads, as shown on the right.

 

 

All done and time to finish the ends of the blanket.

 As this blanket is intended for a baby or child, I did not want to have the fringed edges. Too tempting for little mouths to chew, and too fluffy and ticklish for little sleepy noses.

 

With this in mind, I tied the ends off in groups of 6; 3 threads on each side of the knot, and cut off the extra to about 3cm in length. This minimised the lumpiness of the knots and made them easier to tuck into the fabric band.

 

Cut the fabric strips the same length as the width of the blanket plus 3cm for seams.

I calculated the width of the strips based on a finished width of 4cm using a 1.5cm seam.

1.5+4+4+1.5 = 11cm

 

Turn the fabric right sides together and sew a 1.5cm seam on each end. Turn into the right side to form a neat end.

 

Press the 1.5cm seam under all the way along the band.

 

 

 

 

 

 Slide the ends of the blanket into the fabric bands and pin in place. Make sure the folded edges are positioned adjacent to each other on both sides of the blanket.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All stitched and ready to go. The zig-zag generally looks neater on both sides than a straight stitch.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One little lads blanket, just waiting for a belt of bad weather and a sleepy head.