Mermaid!

Last summer my niece asked me for a mermaid blanket. They're not that cheap to make in adult sizes but I considered it. I don't make a lot for her, and now that she's 18, she's kind of out of the regular gift giving stage. Plus, we just don't see that family much. Even though it was more than I would usually spend, I didn't have much else going on so I figured I might as well. She asked for purple and red. Ummm. Okay. I shopped around and really couldn't find much in a purple and red, and I was not going to do stripes (she did ask for thick and cozy). I did find this yarn, it's "Loops & Thread" Country Loom, in, I think "Kiss Me" which is red with hints of pink and purple, "Tapestry" (the purple) and Solarium (the green).

 The pictures are SO bad. It's not maroon at ALL. Take a look on Ravelry. I'm not really happy how I blended from red to purple. I don't think I spread it out long enough. But after many attempts at getting a nice gauge and fabric and size....I was ready for this to be over.

How can the green and purple be right, but not the red? Again, a smaller tail. I know I should do them bigger, but they just get heavy and weigh down the blanket, and eat yarn like crazy.

Rumour has it my niece loves it. I've yet to hear it from her, or anyone in her family (I did put on the card that they are to share it!). It didn't make it for Christmas, but that's okay, right? For the sake of my yarn totals, it would have been nice to have it count last year (716gr), but it puts my totals in a good balance for now :)

Yarn In:  1542gr
Yarn Out: 716gr + 548gr = 1264gr
Balance: 278gr more bought than used
Costs:  $37.91/52 days = $0.73 per day

Yes, Another Mermaid Blanket!

It's crazy how popular these still are this Christmas! And how everyone wants pink and purple just like the pictures of the ones I've already done. I don't mind too much, but I would love to see this pattern done in other colours now!

After I took this photo, I did steam it, so it grew just a little and relaxed. I love the tail on this one. I wrote it all down, so I think I can stop experimenting now. Which means....I probably wont' get more requests for this blanket LOL. It came in a big lighter than the last one, I think because I didn't add the extra rows at the top--I didn't know just how big the child was, just that they ordered a "small".

Yarn In:    8023gr

Yarn Out:  378gr + 7750gr = 8128gr
Balance:  105gr more USED than bought
Costs:   $351.86 /341 days = $1.03/day

Mermaids!

Mermaid blankets are still popular this winter! And why not?! Warm, cozy, they won't fall off your feet, and you can have fun at the same time. I don't mind making them, but I really wish someone would order different colours. I just finished these two, and have another pink/purple one on the go. I do a little to change it up, but there's not a whole lot I can do when the customer says "I like the one in the picture just the way it is".

 Once I had finished, I wasn't sure if it was long enough, so when I went back to the starting chain to crochet over it, I continued upwards a few rows of pattern.

 I wanted the tail to be a bit bigger this time. I starter with more stitches, but it really didn't end up significantly bigger. I don't like the huge tails. They look cool, but they take a lot more yarn, so they weigh quite a bit which isn't the most practical with little kids. And more yarn=more cost and more time. 399gr

For this one, I did some colour blending instead of just going AA, AB, BB, BC, CC in rows. You can see how I did patches of AB. I like it. It was partly to stretch the AA yarn out more, but in the end, I think I had enough. I was working away on the couch, and I couldn't remember how tall the recipient was, so I kept working cause I didn't want to get up and look up the message. Turns out she's not as tall as I was thinking, LOL, so this is going to be super cozy. 1049gr

Again, I tried to enlarge the tail but it still wasn't much bigger. The shape before they get sewn on is rather bizarre, LOL. I'm always freaked out by it. But it looks great once sewn on.

Yarn In:    8023gr

Yarn Out:  1448gr + 6302gr = 7750gr
Balance:  273gr more BROUGHT IN than used
Costs:   $351.86 /331 days = $1.06/day