My Swedish Scrappy Happy V-stitch Blanket

My Swedish Scrappy Happy V-stitch Blanket oozes Home Sweet Home.

Inspired by this rag rug and others, I choose a very light palette from my stash.

This project has traveled far, here in Mustique, Caribbean before Christmas.

Using scraps of wool, acrylic and mix yarn. Odds and ends - the best kind of crocheting I think.

The Swedish Scrappy Happy V-stitch Blanket in progress on the balcony in Gstaad.
She made a bit of a storm in my Instagram feed showing her beautiful self like this.

I finished my second Scrappy Happy V-stitch Blanket and I'm so pleased with it. It is so Swedish and oozes comfort and softness. I was inspired by a Swedish rag rug I have at home and I wanted to make a Scrappy Happy V-stitch Blanket in the same color theme and style. So, I collected my scraps of wool, acrylic and mix yarn and sorted out the light pastels, lots of white, cream, grey and blue... When making patchwork you call these type of colors low volume colors. They aren't bright. They are pastels and soft colors from the color wheel. I only added a dark navy, berry red, okra, bright dark pink and a couple of teal for contrast.

It helped to study the color order in my rag rug to understand the trick behind a smooth color order without disruptions. I planned in lots of white, cream, grey and light blue following each other in wider patches instead between contrast colors. This way it breaths calm. It is all about the balance. A few times I ripped a row or two back to start over, following my gut feeling on how to get the effect I wanted.

I'm so pleased with this version. I adore the grey and white woven stitch border. It blends in perfectly with the light feel of this blanket. I used mostly acrylic scraps from my stash but also wool, merino wool and wool/synthetic blends. Everything from Sports weight/4ply to light worsted weight/10ply. This project is a GREAT stash buster. I still have lots of scraps to get rid of but I'll find another project for that.

What I love the most is the story in this blanket. It has taken a long time to make as it has been a side project but there is a little bit of Mustique, Christmas, Gstaad, cold winter days, airplane journeys, airport launching, café time, lots of cuppas and TV watching and much more in every other stitch. And cat snuggles, and sick kids snuggles. Can't forget those moments. I find that to be the most fabulous thing when making a slow paced crochet blanket.

THE SCRAPPY HAPPY V-STITCH BLANKET PATTERN

Available for purchase here:

ETSY

RAVELRY

Now the question is: Shall I bring the Swedish Scrappy Happy V-stitch Blanket to the Swedish summer house or shall I keep it here? I think it might be hard for me to part from it... I would love to use it here on a daily basis. It is one of my favorites and my best. It sings Home Sweet Home to me.

This project is listed on my project page on RAVELRY.

Kärlek
Annette

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NEW PATTERN: The Vintage Crochet Potholder Pattern

I'm so delighted to share this new pattern with you today. It has a lot of love and heart in it and is inspired by my Grandma Eivor in Sweden, a woman who has influenced me more than I can imagine with her traditional Scandinavian artisan craft skills and lifestyle. Read more about the story behind my new Vintage Potholder Pattern here.

THE VINTAGE POTHOLDER PATTERN 

For more information about material and techniques, please read the pattern listing in shop.

Buy Now!

Vintage Potholder Pattern on ETSY
Vintage Potholder Pattern on RAVELRY

Please share your creations with me on Instagram:
#vintagepotholder

The pattern holds 3 different front piece designs on a base. It is available in UK, US and Swedish terms, includes written pattern as well as Step-by-step instructions with pictures, tips and advice.

I think I've made a dozen potholders so far, it is such a neat and fun pattern to make. It is quick and has a high rated satisfaction grade. It doesn't take lots of yarn yardage and I'm sure you will be able to use up some cotton yarn scraps from your stash and turn them into delightful and colorful potholder creations. And the good thing is that potholders can happily be used as dish and wash cloths, as doilies and pot coasters as well. Who would have thought that a potholder could be so versatile. I hope you will enjoy this lovely and fun pattern as much as I do. Happy hooking!

Kärlek
Annette

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Inspiration from Grandma's attic

Grandma Eivor was a crafty and hands on woman. Her life was never easy, working as a maid in a house hold when she was young. Later she married a man who wasn't the best man on the planet, but she stuck by his side (and his drinks and temper but hardly ever had a schnaps herself...) until he one day dropped dead. She raised a boy to her best abilities - my stepfather. She was a working hard woman, but I can only remember her as a Grandma - retired but busy from early morning until late night always on the go and accomplishing things.

She went fishing, cleaned her fish and cooked it. She picked blueberries, cooked jam and served it with our pancakes. And every now and then we could find a plastic bowl filled with fresh wild raspberries on our door step when coming home from school. We ate them with heavy cream and sugar.

Love and adore rag rugs of all sorts!

She ripped our old bed sheets into strips and weaved rag rugs that told a story on our wooden floors. She made needle point cushion covers and wall hangings with traditional flower motives.

One of Eivor's crochet blankets.

Eivor's blanket in Tilda yarn colors: 071-Denim, 005-Cream, 033-Yellow, 048-Fuschia, 046-Dark red.
Available in my Yarn Shop.

She crocheted the most lovely bed spreads and table runners in every color and seasonal theme imaginable. She knitted socks and hats and cardigans and full on ugly slip overs... 70's style... She wasn't very talkative, more of a hands on maker. Baking cookies every week, giving it us who lived in a new built villa next door on her large property. Every Monday we knew the cookie cupboard was stocked up to its brim with delights...

In fall she picked baskets of mushrooms, in spring she picked elderberry flowers to make syrup. She made rowan berry jelly to serve with Sunday roasts. She solved cross words on a rainy day, always served coffee in delicate coffee cups with flowers on. She had a single bed with a knitted patchwork blanket in the room next to the kitchen where she took a nap to recharge after lunch.

She loved cats and had a number of them running in and out through her kitchen window, ringing their window bell for attention if she was not in the room. Her flower beds were colorful with amix of perennials and wild flowers. She chopped and stacked her own wood and lit a fire every day no matter what weather.

One of my stepfather's properties.

I would love to have a kitchen like this in my stepfather's property.

Vintage wall papers - oh my how pretty!

I didn't really know her that well to be honest. But when asked to see if "there is anything you want" of the remainders from her household at one of my stepfather's properties attic, I somehow felt like I got to know her for the first time. Maybe because I now share the love of hand crafts and home makes just like she did.

Eivor's crocheted rug.

I found a bag of crochet samples and yarn balls, doilies and pretty embroidery. A crocheted rug in a typical Scandinavian design. The old child sized harmonica I used to play on as a kid and much much more. I would have brought so many things with me back home if it wasn't impossible to fit it into a travel bag... And when writing this blog post I realize that Eivor has influenced my life quite a lot. She is definitely representing a lot of my Swedish roots, style and interest in artisan crafts.

Eivor's crocheted potholders.

But what I squeezed into my luggage was these. Grandma Eivor's potholders in different shapes and sizes. They inspired me to reconstruct the pattern for one of them (the middle one) and once I got that done more design ideas based on the same idea came along and the Vintage Potholder Pattern was born. It will be released this weekend. I hope you will enjoy it.

Kärlek
Annette

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