Roses of Ireland

I started this blanket in the summer time and I finished it some months ago but never got around to taking pictures. The blanket was meant to be a lapghan, but ended up going to a 6 year old so it worked out fine. :) Well, lets get started shall we?

I followed this pattern, but left off the scallops and single crochets because I really liked the open look and I didn't really want a "frame" around it. Maybe I might go back and follow the pattern exactly, but maybe not.

To begin with, I made the center "rose". It looks something similar to the following picture....

Then I crocheted the leaves, these were actually the easiest part for me. :)

As you can see, the next step is to add the background. You can tell where I added one petal to many to my first flower (this was the first square made) but as I kept going I got better....

This is the second square I made. I used a light brown, not white, so it would blend nicely with my dark brown. You see what I mean about keeping the flower as the focal point and not "framing" it with all the extra?

So this was the last picture I took while I was working on it. If I can ever find what I did with the final result picture I'll post it on here. :(

As you can see, I joined my squares with the same color as the leaves. #1 I had more of the green left over than any other, #2 I thought it made it look more like a garden and the green wasn't as overwhelming as any of the other colors would have been. I joined them as soon as I finished each block.... I'm not sure if that counts as a join-as-you-go or not, but it made things much simpler.

I wish I could give you my pattern for how I joined these, but I really don't remember. I just made it up as I went. I wanted it to keep that open look it had from the background so I just made up a stitch and when I saw that it worked I kept it. :)

I really should have made a sample pattern of this before I started, but I was so eager to get going that all my mistakes are right there in the blanket for all to see. This really is an easy pattern and it works up great. It's perfect for any season and you can use any color scheme you want or stick with only one. That's what sold me on this project because I have a hard time joining my colors, but this pattern makes it so easy. :)

11/9/2013: Recent photo update....

This picture was sent to me by my ever loyal best friend so that I could show you what the finished project looked like.... :)

Isn't it darling!