Crochet Advent CAL 2022

It’s not finished yet but, as I only have the border to finish, I thought I’d share my advent calendar blanket.

After missing out in 2021, I didn’t realise that there were crochet advent calendars until it was too late, I signed up to be reminded when the Crochet Society Advent CAL was released. When I saw the video which included a sneak peak at the completed project (a blanket) I knew I had to sign up. It looked gorgeous. I also love the advent calendar itself with 25 drawers which I will find a use for.

Each day had a 33g ball of yarn which, I have to admit, I had a few problems with but overall it was OK to use and a gift. The first 2 days came with crochet hooks to use for the project. There was also a link to the pattern for a square each day. If you try to access the patterns at the moment, they are password protected, so you can’t get them. As the 2021 and 2020 patterns are now available I am sure that 2022’s pattern will be available to everyone at some point during the year.

Personally, I liked most of the gifts in the advent calendar, but not all. I didn’t expect to like everything, I was in for the project rather than the gifts and you can’t please everyone all the time, can you?

On to the blanket…

I love the design but I found the first few days tough while I worked out how to get the right tension. The pattern said that the squares should be 17″ square but mine were coming out at 22″! Once I worked out my tension, I undid the first 2-3 days and re-did them. Although my squares still came out at between 18″ and 19″. With a bit of blocking they were OK to join.

I managed to finish the squares and join them together by 1st January but I’m still working on the border. The photo shows what the blanket looked like with 3 rounds of border but I’m going rogue and making a bigger border in an attempt to use up all the yarn I have left over. I’ve also chosen to merge the colours from each colour palette from light to dark, dark to light and then light to dark with the pink/red first, blue/grey second and the beige/brown on the outside. I don’t know how it will look but it’s my first “proper” blanket project which I have (almost) completed so I will learn from any mistakes I make.

In summary, I really enjoyed the advent CAL and would definitely do it again. Although, I will watch the video with the Spoiler first to ensure that I do like the project as I’m not sure I would have enjoyed the blanket from 2021 half as much as this one. I know some of the people who bought this CAL didn’t enjoy it as they didn’t like the squares and preferred the rows of previous years. Personally, I prefer the squares as, once I got going, I knew I could complete one square per day and it wouldn’t take too long after Christmas to complete.

Now, I am taking my time to finish the border – one ball of leftover yarn per day – and completing my temparature blanket which I put on hold during December. I need to do each row of December and then complete the border on that too. I have a few other projects on the go too but I’ll tell you all about those in another post.

Take care x

Bloganuary Day 3

What is the earliest memory you have?

This is actually a hard question to answer as I’m not sure if it is an actual memory or something that I remember because I’ve seen photos. Anyway, the earliest memory I have is of going to a dirt bike race in Bahrain when I was about 5.

Around the same age I also remember my uncle dropping a carving knife, which he was sharpening, and it landing on my leg. Fortunately, my aunt was a nurse and bandaged me up so I didn’t need to go to the hospital. I have a lovely scar to remember it by.

Bloganuary – Day 2: How are you brave?

How are you brave? Really? I’ve never thought of myself as brave, especially based on the definition in my 40 year old Oxford Paperback Dictionary which states the definition of brave as:

  1. able to face and endure danger or pain
  2. spectacular, a brave show of peonies
  3. n. an American Indian warrior (that shows just how old my dictionary is!)
  4. v. to face and endure with bravery
Oxford Paperback Dictionary, 2nd Edition,1983

So, am I brave? I guess so but I wouldn’t say I am. I can endure pain. Afterall, I didn’t have any pain relief when my son was born. More because labour was so quick rather than because I didn’t want it. I would also face and endure danger if I had to but I’d rather not.

Some people would say my husband and I are brave because we continue to look after our son when he could be placed in a supported living house. However, I don’t think this is brave because I believe that my son is still our responsibility even after he reached the age of 18. You don’t turn your back on your children when they become an adult, they are yours forever.

Finally, I love rollercoasters, the more drops and loops the better, which some would say is brave but that is either something you like or don’t.