It is done! A long-term project I started last April, and the first really big crochet project I decided to tackle after learning how to crochet just a couple of months before.
Pattern is by Marion Mitchell of Wool.Thread.Paint. I highly recommend her patterns. They come with extensive instructions with steps illustrated with photos (the pattern is something like 17 pages), as well as some YouTube videos which I took advantage of while I was struggling to figure out the join-as-you-go method.
Yarn: I used Stylecraft Signature DK, which you can get for a very reasonable price here in the States. I got mine from LoveCrafts via their American website. They didn’t have all of the called-for colors, so I wound up substituting in a rose for a peach, and replaced one of the grays with a dark blue-gray but I honestly think with all the colors in this one, it really almost doesn’t matter what you use as long as you’ve got a few neutrals in there to anchor the other colors. There are a couple of other yarns mixed in there (Scheepjes for the neutral cream you see in the photo below and a few Stylecraft Batiks – but the pattern gives you all the yarn info you need.)
There’s nothing too technically difficult about this pattern. It’s a mix of 4-round granny squares, 1 round granny minis, and some granny stripes plus the JAYG technique. It’s mostly a study in perserverance in weaving in the gazillion ends and I would HIGHLY recommend keeping up with those as you go because I think the prospect of having to do all of those at the end would have sunk me. It does use a lot of yardage – mine clocked in just under 4500 yards, which is a lot of yarn but if you choose to make it with the Stylecraft, that’s a very reasonable yarn base and I think it could just as easily be full-on scrappy with different DK leftovers and a few skeins of the neutrals to pull it together.
This has already been nap-tested by several of us in the house (myself, DH, and Hannah the cat), and it is the perfect generous size to wrap up in.
Very happy to have this one finished up! Expect to see more crochet blankets in the future as I really enjoyed this experience and now have a huge queue of those to choose from!
Knit One, Spin Too 
That is a very beautiful blanket! Kudos to you for sticking to it and gaining all the new skills!! Hannah looks like she’s really enjoying the fruits of your labor 🙂
Thank you! I really enjoyed the process and it has already been put to the test with several napping episodes and voted a winner 🙂
This is absolutely stunning! I love the way it turned out. And welcome to the addicted-to-crochet-blankets club! They can be so rewarding to make. (And I love them as summer projects, since you don’t have to hold the entire blanket in your lap for long, just as you’re joining up the motifs.)
Thank you! I’m really happy with it and already have plans for several more/different blankets in the future!
I bet! Blankets are addicting. 😉
Wow! Just amazing! Nothing like a long-term project to nail down a new skill.
Thank you and yes! Practicing all of those components over such a big project really helped figure everything out!
It’s lovely! The colors are so peaceful.
Thank you! They are some of my favorites!
That’s beautiful! And it’s so satisfying to have a project that is actually useful so you can use it and appreciate it often!
Thank you! It’ll definitely be in the standard rotation for my chair and the couch for cool mornings!
Wow that’s beautiful. Well done on finishing it.
Thank you! It was a big undertaking but I’m delighted I stuck with it.
What a beautiful blanket. I would never guess you haven’t been crocheting for a long time.
Thank you so much! I really enjoyed this project.