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Wednesday, January 30, 2013

The End of the Never-ending Blanket

If you were a young child in the early 1990s or the parent of such a child, you may know the TV show "Lamb Chop's Play-Along," which aired on PBS from 1992-1997.  My daughter was three years old in 1992, so she was part of the prime demographic for the audience.  The show starred Lamb Chop, of course, and Shari Lewis along with Hush Puppy and Charlie Horse.  Oh my goodness, the goofy skits, the knock-knock jokes, but mostly the closing theme song!  "The Song That Never Ends."  A preschooler can get a lot of fun out of singing that one over and over and driving her mother mad, mad, mad. Lamb Chop was a lot older than she looked though.  I remember seeing Lewis and Lamb Chop on TV during the 1960s, when I was a kid.  According to Wikipedia, Lamb Chop first appeared in 1957.  The point here is that "The Song That Never Ends" has been on my mind lately as I finished up my crochet sampler blanket, which seemed to become the blanket that never ends.  But it did end.

I started making the blanket before I even knew I was making a blanket.  Back in April, I purchased 200 Crochet Blocks for Blankets, Throws, and Afghans by Jan Eaton.  I thought it would be fun to try a few of the patterns.  Then in June, I showed you my first four squares.  At that point I was thinking about a little lap throw for my daughter.  As things seem to do around here, however, the lap throw got out of hand and turned into this:


Sixty-three squares of crazy.  I think when the daughter saw that I was making a big blanket for her brother, she was determined that hers would be big too.  No sibling rivalry here, folks!  Here's a view from the other side:


Is it perfect?  Goodness no.  Aside from the garish color combinations, let's just say the blanket has character, shall we?  The squares didn't turn out the same size, so there was a fair amount of adding and tweaking.  Still, I had fun doing it and almost each new square became my short-lived favorite.

No two squares are the same pattern.  Here, in alphabetical order, are the patterns I used: Alternate Bobbles, American Beauty, Anemone, Arcadia, Begonia, Big Round, Blocks and Shells, Briar Rose, Bright Flower, Candy Stripe Bobbles, Catherine Wheel, Centered Square, Chocolate Box, Christmas Rose, Coffee and Cream, Colorful Bobbles, Criss Cross, Dahlia, Daisy Chain, Danish Square, Diamond in a Square, Double Stripes, Edwardian Fancy, Four Patch Granny, Four Square, Framed Flower, Fretwork, Fudge, Gothic Square, Granny in the Middle, Granny Stripes, Granny with a Twist, Into the Blue, Italian Cross, Kingcup, Lacy Wheel, Lemon Stripe, Marigold, Nine Patch Granny, Openwork Square, Pastel Delight, Peach Rose, Peony, Primrose Square, Queen Anne's Lace, Saint Petersburg, Seville, Snowflake, Solid Square, Spinner, Square Target, Starflower, Subtle Stripes, Sunray, Sunshine and Showers, Sunshine Lace, Traditional Granny, Tricolor Square, Victorian Lace, Waterlily, Willow, Wisteria, and Zigzag Bobbles.

I think daughter plans to take the blanket back to her apartment next time she visits, but in the meantime, I'm just going to enjoy the color it adds to her room here at home.


40 comments:

  1. I love the patchworky-ness of it! I think it is beautiful :)

    Colletta

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  2. I love things with character. This is a work of art and just beautiful even if you don't think the colors are all that great together.

    I'm also admiring that bed in your daughter's room. Stunningly gorgeous. Every time I see photos of your house, I think, "This is the type of old house I wished I lived in."

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    1. Thanks so much. The bed was mine when I was a teenager. When my parents downsized, we brought the bed home for our daughter. At the time, she was actually kind of sad to relegate her iron bed to the attic.

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  3. It's beautiful and looks so cozy and soft. I imagine it would be fun to make each of the different squares.

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  4. Gorgeous! My 12yo daughter and I joined a crochet along this year in which we'll be creating a new granny square each week for 48 weeks to sew together into a blanket...I'm inspired now to see how ours might turn out when we sew them all together! Blessings, ~Lisa :)

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  5. What great blanket, it looks perfect on that beautiful bed. I particularly like the yellow square with the 9 flowers, very pretty

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  6. I love the blanket! And your daughter's room (especially the bed) is so pretty! :D How long does it take for your to crochet one square?

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  7. I love it! It's so gorgeous; your daughter is lucky.

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  8. Wow, very impressive! I love it when projects take on a life of their own. I'm sure that your daughter will really enjoy it.

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  9. I love the blanket and I think it's perfect. And your daughter's room and the bed..are wonderful!

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  10. What an absolutely beautiful blanket! You can tell that it's a work of love. And I agree with the comments about the bed too! It is amazing! You have the kind of house I would love to live in.
    Blessings,
    Betsy
    Http://www.betsy-thesimplelifeofaqueen.blogspot.com

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  11. So beautiful and so is the bed.

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  12. WOW WEEEEEE. Look at your afghan! Amazingly beautiful. Great job! Thanks for visiting me too!
    xoRobin❤

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  13. That afghan is an award winner for sure! You should submit it to your county fair! That will surely be a family heirloom!
    ((hugs)), Teresa :-)

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  14. Oh,my, I cannot TELL you how much I love that blanket! What a fantastic idea... I learned to crochet as a child, and now I am seriously thinking that I'd like to do this...

    Greetings from Minneapolis, where we need all the blankets we can get!

    Pearl

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  15. I just love it. It would definitely ward off the gloomies. My children were too old for the show, but I love lamb chops when I was a child in the 50s.
    Hugs,
    Laura

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  16. That blanket is awesome. So big! Really pretty. I also love lamb chop's play along. I use to watch it all the time when I was kid.

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  17. There's just so much love in that blanket. It's a family keepsake for sure xx

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  18. It's absolutely lovely, and I don't think the colours are garish at all, they are lively! Well done for getting it finished.

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  19. Wow,wow and thrice wow. We are following parallel paths just now with big blankets. I love yours and am full of admiration for your efforts with the Jan Eaton book. Mine copy bounced off the wall a bit when I first started trying to follow the patterns. And that bed is so beautiful.
    Thank you for popping into CHalky's and leaving a lovely comment.
    Regards linda

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  20. wow!!!!!! i love your blanket!!

    its a treasure for your family. :-)


    ..trek..

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  21. Oh that blanket is real gorgeous...
    a lovely thing to have on cold nights.

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  22. That is a beautiful blanket and I'm also rather taken with that bed! What a wonderful piece of furniture. A place for grand dreams under a cosy throw hooked with love :)

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  23. That is one big beautiful afghan. Love all the bright colors!

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  24. That is a gorgeous blanket and I love the headboard.

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  25. What a wonderful crochet sampler! I would love to curl up inside this bright and cheerful blanket. I can't blame your daughter for wanting a big one.

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  26. Wow, wow and more wow! That's the kind of afghan I would like to make -- I get bored with the same stitch over and over and all the different squares would be so fun! That is a beautiful bed too!

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  27. Wow! That certainly is some color! That is something my husband would go nuts over. In his eyes, you can't have too much color.

    And of course I remember Shari Lewis and Lamb Chop!

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  28. You should be so proud of yourself! Finishing something like this is such an accomplishment. It looks perfect on your daughter's bed...too bad she will probably take it away!

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  29. That is the cutest blanket ever!!! I love everything about it. The colors and the patterns are so much fun. Well done you!

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  30. Oh my, it turned out absolutely stunning! How neat to have seen your progress along the way and to finally see it all put together!

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  31. This is a gorgeous blanket... and the colours are wonderful!

    Thanks for the trip down memory lane... I had a few toddlers hooked on PBS in the nineties and I remember that song nearly sending me around the bend a few times :)

    ¤´¨)
    ¸.·´¸.·*´¨) ¸.·*¨)
    (¸.·´ (¸.·`¤... Jennifer
    http://jennsrandomscraps.blogspot.ca

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  32. Before anything else can I say I LIKE (in capitals) that bed. Is it a family heirloom or a find???? Now I'd say that blanket goes very well with that bed as they both have character....the bright colours compliment it!!!
    I also like to devour homemaker's magazines....its pure delight to curl up on the settee with a decent cuppa tea and a homemakers " I wish I had " magazine to drool over.

    keep well

    Amanda :-)

    PS: going back in to have another look at that bed. :-)

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  33. WOW - That is stunningly beautiful!! I just love it!
    Angie

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  34. Oh, your blanket is gorgeous! I love all of the pops of color. I often think the best blankets are the ones that are a bit random in nature. Your daughter will love this for sure. Great work! :-)

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  35. I love your sampler blanket! I just have to teach myself how to crochet! I've been knitting for years, but you just can't knit a granny square pillow!

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  36. Hi. I just popped over from the "Gilly Makes" blog (I found it on the "Grow Your Own Blog" party). I was scrolling through your posts and this one stopped me in my tracks. Your wonderful blanket reminds me of a blanket I started as a child. I had made a big stack of various colored granny squares that I had planned to eventually join together to make a blanket. Somewhere along the road, I decided that I didn't want them anymore because they didn't match. I gave them away or donated them. I've been thinking about them this past year and wishing I still had them. The collection included my first ever granny square from when I was in elementary school. It was bright pink. The squares in your blanket may all be different and the colors not exactly what you would have chosen if you'd planned for it to be a blanket. But, there's a magic in this blanket that can't be described. What a treasure! Oh...and that bed is beautiful! I'm off to look at more of your posts. Have a wonderful weekend!

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