Crochet blanket: the jewel sea - Brambles and Bindweed

I’ve been bogged down in knitting projects for a while, and though I like this, there is something about the speed and simplicity of crocheting a blanket. It grows so fast and the gentle repetitive hooking action is very soothing in front of the TV. So I decided to make some more blankets. Enough for all the family. After all, a set of crochet blankets is going to look much better draped over the back of the sofa, rather than the current old quilt right? It’s mandatory, we all need one!

There is only one place to go for crochet blanket goodness – cue browsing on Attic24. I wanted this blanket to evoke an under-the-sea feel and so opted for the Neat Wave pattern and Moorland Blanket edging. As this would be a cheap and cheerful family blanket, the obvious yarn choice was Stylecraft Special DK. Another go-to favourite of mine that works well for blankets. I’ve used this in the past for my Space Adventures blanket.

This crochet blanket is inspired by the many varied colours of the sea: blues, greens, turquoises and purples. If I’m honest, it’s probably more a reflection of what I feel a tropical sea is rather than the grey and menacing North Sea of my childhood. The blanket will gradually transition from the deep water darks, to the surface water lights. Under strict instructions from the husband not to go too pink, the final selection of colours can be seen in the picture below.
Top row: bottle, empire, royal, emperor, boysenberry.
Middle row: teal, petrol, lobelia, violet, plum.
Bottom row: sage, storm blue, lapis, lavender, grape.

I’m pretty happy with the finished crochet blanket. The jewel tones of the darks are my favourite part, but the gradual transition to the lights I think works quite well. There are a few tweaks that could be made to the colour choices. Below I talk about some that I would like to experiment with.

Playing with purple

There is a large jump in colour between the Emperor used for the dark tone purple and Violet used for the mid tone. There is nothing really in between these two shades in the Stylecraft Special DK range. However, an alternative yarn at a similar price point – Paintbox Yarns Simply DK – does have the perfect shade for the mid tone: Pansy Purple. The Paintbox range is also an acrylic yarn with a similar weight and feel to Stylecraft Special DK. I have combined the two yarns successfully in the past (Friendship Cowl, Triquetra Bunting) and would be happy to do so for this crochet blanket too. There is another advantage in using Pansy Purple. This would free up Violet to be used as the light tone, which I think would give a better overall balance to the blanket.

Optional colour pop

Turquoise substituted for Storm Blue could bring a pop of brightness to the light tones.

The final choice for a second go? Perhaps.

Berry, berry pink

As I was operating under the edict of NOT BEING PINK I avoided some colours. This decision led me to using Grape as the light tone berry shade. Now that I have seen the finished blanket, I’m not sure that this was the best decision. The colours that sit next to the grape fight with it somewhat, leaving it looking quite brown. A better choice I think would be to replace the grape with either Magenta or Fuchsia Purple.

The grass is always greener

I think the colour progression from Bottle, through Teal to Sage is quite pleasing, but there are a few things to mention here. Firstly, Teal and Petrol are very similar in shade and should often sit side by side in the stripe sequence. Secondly, the Sage is quite bright compared to the other light tones. This is balanced in the original colour scheme by Lavender, which is also lighter than the other light tones. Yet, if Lavender is swapped out for Violet, it might be worth considering different options for Sage too. One option would be to embrace the true greens (rather than the blue-greens in the original) and go for Bottle, Green, and Kelly Green. If these are too bright, Cypress is also worth considering for the light tone.

Pattern for the Jewel Sea Crochet Blanket

You will need 15 balls of Stylecraft Special DK, or other 100g balls of your choice.

The blanket is sized for a single bed. A full photo tutorial for the blanket can be found on the Attic24 blog. Relevant posts are the Neat Wave pattern, the Moorland Stripe Blanket and the Moorland Blanket Edging.

My tension was a bit tight for the blanket, and so I added some extra rows as I was working the blanket. My finished stripe pattern is given below.

The colours I used for the edging (in the order of the rows worked) are Petrol, Lapis, Boysenberry, Empire.

1		Emperor	46	Bottle	91	Plum
2		Bottle	47	Petrol	92	Teal
3		Royal	48	Plum	93	Violet
4		Boysenberry	49	Royal	94	Lobelia
5		Empire	50	Empire	95	Storm Blue
6		Royal	51	Boysenberry	96	Grape
7		Emperor	52	Emperor	97	Lapis
8		Boysenberry	53	Bottle	98	Violet
9		Bottle	54	Petrol	99	Grape
10		Empire	55	Empire	100	Sage
11		Royal	56	Emperor	101	Teal
12		Emperor	57	Plum	102	Lavender
13		Violet	58	Lobelia	103	Lapis
14		Empire	59	Teal	104	Storm blue
15		Emperor	60	Boysenberry	105	Grape
16		Bottle	61	Royal	106	Plum
17		Teal	62	Violet	107	Sage
18		Lobelia	63	Bottle	108	Violet
19		Emperor	64	Lobelia	109	Lavender
20		Boysenberry	65	Boysenberry	110	Grape
21		Royal	66	Royal	111	Lapis
22		Empire	67	Petrol	112	Sage
23		Bottle	68	Teal	113	Storm Blue
24		Emperor	69	Plum	114	Plum
25		Boysenberry	70	Violet	115	Lavender
26		Empire	71	Petrol	116	Sage
27		Lobelia	72	Lobelia	117	Petrol
28		Bottle	73	Violet	118	Lavender
29		Boysenberry	74	Teal	119	Grape
30		Emperor	75	Plum	120	Sage
31		Royal	76	Petrol	121	Storm Blue
32		Bottle	77	Lapis	122	Lavender
33		Violet	78	Lobelia	123	Grape
34		Petrol	79	Teal	124	Storm Blue
35		Royal	80	Violet	125	Sage
36		Boysenberry	81	Petrol	126	Lapis
37		Lobelia	82	Lapis	127	Grape
38		Bottle	83	Plum	128	Storm Blue
39		Plum	84	Teal	129	Lavender
40		Empire	85	Lobelia	130	Grape
41	Emperor		86	Storm Blue	131	Storm Blue
42	Boysenberry		87	Violet	132	Lapis
43	Empire		88	Lapis	133	Sage
44	Teal		89	Sage	134	Lavender
45	Royal		90	Petrol