Before I start I wanted to tell you about yarn pegs which always play a big part in my colour combo/placement process..........
.......Last year Wool Warehouse contacted me on Instagram to ask if they could send me something. To be honest I actually thought it was a scam message as yarn companies don't generally contact me, I don't think my face fits in crochet world haha, so I didn't bother replying to start with, I've been gifted yarn from a yarn company twice in 12 years so thought it was far more likely to be a scam message (I get a lot of those!) than a real one. When I did realise it was a genuine message I nearly fell off my chair.....Wool Warehouse wanting to gift me something, wow, that was a first, a nice surprise, thank you very much!
What they sent me was an amazing set of yarn pegs for Yarnsmiths new acrylic range, Create DK. These yarn pegs had all been expertly wound by Emily at Eliza and the Giraffe. Yarn pegs are a fantastic way to come up with your combos, they are a great investment or you could make your own! Emily has several yarn peg sets for various yarn ranges in her Etsy shop here
Back to colour placement!.........I've made a baby sized granny square blanket with 25 five round squares for a 5 x 5 blanket so thought I would share with you my go to method for achieving a 'planned' random placement for this particular type and size of blanket. I thought the best way for me to explain it would be with a video.......
My colour placement method for a baby sized granny square blanket
Here are the colours I have used for my blanket, They are all from the Yarnsmiths Create DK range and I'm really enjoying working with this acrylic yarn. (btw this yarn wasn't gifted, I paid for it myself) It is nice and soft and very much on a par with my favourite acrylic Scheepjes Colour Crafter. I've called this combo Archie :)
I will be using the continuous join as you go method to join my squares and I've included my tutorial for that method with the colour placement video.
If you wanted to make a larger blanket for example a 10 x 10 one still using this method you would make 20 of each of the five square designs
I always enjoy making granny square blankets and it's been lovely to work with these calming colours after so many brights lately! You can find a written pattern for this blanket in my Etsy shop here
Archie Granny Square Baby Blanket Pattern
The pattern is available in UK and US terms and includes the following
There are lots of step by step photos and I've also included a stylecraft Special DK conversion and a colour placement plan for a 10x10 size blanket at the end
All my blog and video content is free of charge however if you would like to support the time involved in producing the blog and the information I share you can do so by 'buying me a coffee' :) I know things are tight for many right now though so alternatively you could share this blog post, one of my social media posts or perhaps one of my You Tube videos instead to help me spread the word. Thank you so much to those who do take the time to do this for me, it doesn't go un-noticed!
Thank you, Faye x
]]>Moss stitch in the round video tutorial
Moss stitch worked in the round is easy peasy lemon squeezy! It is a great way to use yarn cakes, I love how as the blanket gets bigger the stripes get narrower. I first made a moss stitch in the round blanket four years ago, you can read about it here
I've used Yarnsmiths Elvis for my blanket. It is a DK weight yarn and there is a nice selection of colourways to choose from. I'm using the Helix colourway which is lovely and bright in shades of pink, yellow and turquoise. It could just do with being 50g more really so you could crochet a blanket with one cake. 150g is plenty for knitting a blanket but crochet uses more yarn per stitch so 150g doesn’t go far. Just for information I have no affiliation with Yarnsmiths (or any other brand), this yarn was bought and paid for with my own hard earned pennies as is the case with 99.9% of what I make. You’ll always get an honest opinion from me on the subject of yarn!
There are lots of other brands of yarn cake out there that you could use. Sirdar Pattercakes are lovely, softer than Yarnsmiths cakes and Cygnet have just released their own range of cakes too but I haven't tried those yet myself
You will need
chain - ch, double crochet - dc, space - sp
To begin - chain 2
Round 1 -
Work all of the following stitches for this round into the first chain that you made (the one furthest from your hook) This chain will become the centre of your round.
1dc,2ch,1dc,1ch.......repeat this sequence 3 times more and then join with a slip stitch into the top of the first dc. TURN
Round 2 -
Work 1dc into the very first ch1 sp (it's pretty much right below your hook) 1ch, then *(1dc,2ch,1dc) into the next ch sp (corner made), 1ch, 1dc in ch1sp, 1ch* Repeat from * to * twice more, (1dc,2ch,1dc) into the ch2sp (corner), 1ch, join with a slipstitch to the top of the first dc. TURN
Round 3 -
Work 1dc into the very first ch1 sp, 1 ch, *(1dc,2ch,1dc) into the next ch2sp (corner made), 1 ch, 1dc in ch1sp, 1ch, 1dc in ch1sp, 1ch* three times. Then (1dc,2ch,1dc) in ch2sp (corner made) 1ch, 1dc in ch1sp, 1ch, join with a slipstitch to the top of the first dc. TURN
This is what it should look like after round 3
and that's it! So to summarise your corners will always be (1dc,2ch,1dc) and along the sides you'll always be alternating 1dc in ch1sp, 1ch.
Don't forget to TURN before you start each round and don't be tempted to put extra chains in anywhere particularly at the join otherwise you'll get a bumpy seam. Just keep adding rounds until your blanket is as big as you want it, then fasten off and weave your tails in. My blanket came out approx 80cm square.
All my blog content is free of charge however if you would like to support the time involved in producing the blog and the information I share you can do so by 'buying me a coffee' :) I know things are tight for many right now though so alternatively you could share this blog post, one of my social media posts or perhaps one of my You Tube videos instead to help me spread the word.
Thank you, Faye x
]]>I fell in love with Sherry Iris Yarns in particular a couple of years ago. Sherry puts together such beautiful colours and presents them in such a lovely way and I really look forward to seeing her images on socials. I decided at the end of 2022 that I would sign up to one of her yarn clubs, the first time I had collected yarn in this way, and was really drawn to her Botanist Club she had running for 2023. Each instalment would have a bundle of five mystery 20g mini skeins on a botanical theme such as snowdrops, roses, trees etc. I really enjoyed receiving them in the post each month, a little surprise gift to myself!
The club finished at the end of 2023 and by then I had collected 65 mini skeins! Now I needed to decide what to do with them all! I had a vision of making a patchwork style blanket and I considered standard granny squares and solid granny squares before settling on little C2C (corner to corner) squares. Here's my video tutorial showing you how to make a little C2C square......
I dislike sewing squares together immensely so I am joining my C2C squares as I make them, it's very simple once you get the hang of it! Here's my video tutorial showing you how......
Join as you go for C2C squares
I don't know yet how big my blanket will end up or how many squares there will be. I get asked often questions like 'how many squares do I need for a particular size blanket?' or 'how many squares can I make out of a particular amount of yarn?' and I'm afraid I'm not generally one to do all these analytics, I often just go with the flow and with this blanket I will just keep making and joining squares until I run out of yarn!
If you are a planner and want to work out how many squares to make for a given size then the best thing to do is make one out of your chosen yarn, measure it and weigh it and you'll then know roughly how many to make and how much yarn you'll need.
I'm thoroughly enjoying working on this blanket! Some days I make one square, some days I make more, it's so easy to just pick up and put down and I'm excited to see it develop over the coming months.......I will update the blog as things progress
I hope you have found this blog post and videos useful. All my content is provided FREE however if you would like to support the time involved in producing the blog and videos and appreciate the information I share you can do so by 'buying me a coffee.' Alternatively you could share a post from my socials, or perhaps one of my videos to help me get the word out :)
Happy crocheting!
Faye x
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This blanket has been generating a lot of interest on socials since I started making it around three years ago (another slow burner!) so I thought it was about time I added it to the blog!
First created by well know crochet designer Priscilla Hewitt back in the 90s the Sunburst Granny Square has always been incredibly popular with crocheters. It looks good when made with one colour or many colours and has a lovely texture to it with the puff stitches and clusters........I love it!
You can find my video tutorial for this square here
Sunburst Granny Square video tutorial
Working with my favourite combo of blues and greens again I used the following colours.....
Scheepjes Colour Crafter
Stylecraft Special DK
I've joined my sunbursts using a continuous join as you go method just like the one I've used here.......
Continuous join as you go for granny squares
........however bear in mind that this video shows the method using standard granny squares so the joining stitches are slightly different as a sunburst is squared off differently to a standard granny. The order in which you join the squares is exactly the same though.
You could also use this continuous join as you go method that I used for my Rain-Beau Sunburst blanket
Continuous join as you go with (UK) DCs
This blanket is still very much a work in progress so I can't give you any idea yet of how big it will be or how much yarn I've used. Come and follow me on socials to see how it's going!
Just on a little side note I also wanted to take this opportunity to say thank you to all those who have messaged me personally to thank me for helping them with their crochet journey, I'm so glad you are finding the videos and the blog helpful and more importantly that you know what I'm on about as when I watch the videos back whilst editing I do think to myself 'what are you on about Faye!?' If only you knew how many out takes there were! Of course with the increase in interest there has also been an increase in rudeness lately and to those people I simply say 'manners cost nothing'
I hope you have found this colour combo inspiring and I'd love to see how you use it! If you want you can use the hashtag #littledovecolourcombos on social media to share your creations for me to see
All my blog content is provided free however if you would like to support the time involved in producing the blog and videos and appreciate the information I share you can do so by 'buying me a coffee'
Thank you to all those who have 'bought me a coffee' it is so appreciated!
Happy crocheting
Faye :)
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I made this shell stitch blanket last year and have been meaning to get it written up on the blog ever since!
I've used shell stitch many times in the past, it's one of those easy on the brain stitches that I turn to when I just want something to work on that doesn't require too much thinking. I like how when it's worked with the same colour for two rows it produces a ripple like effect. I've often worked it in just one colour for each row and it produces a totally different effect when done like that! Amazing how just a small change in colour placement can make it look like a whole different pattern!
My favourite colour is green and whenever a yarn brand brings out new green shades I am there! This colour combo was built all around Stylecraft Special DK in Apple, I'd been wanting to use this colour for ages, it's a beautiful bright green, and it's worked lovely with the blues.
It's often assumed that I use Stylecraft Special DK all the time, they definitely still seem to have the monopoly on acrylic yarn but I fell out of love with the brand several years ago and although I still like the yarn I very rarely use it these days and much prefer to use Scheepjes Colour Crafter mostly with some Cygnet DK and Paintbox DK thrown in. I've also recently discovered Yarnsmiths Create which is a lovely acrylic and it has a HUGE colour range!
It's not often I use just one brand in a blanket, no single range seems to have every shade I want so I mix them all the time. This blanket though is unusually for me just Stylecraft Special DK in the following shades.....
I've called this combo Henry because I felt it needed a good, solid name and for me that is Henry!
I made a baby sized blanket with a foundation chain of 103. I don't actually count the whole foundation chain, I just count the stitch multiple, losing count is less likely this way........ you can guarantee if I tried counting hundreds of stitches the husband, child or dog would interrupt at some point so I find it's much easier to just count the multiple! The multiple of shell stitch is 6+1 so I just keep counting to 6 over and over until it's roughly the width I want it then add the extra 1 at the end. If you would like a video tutorial for shell stitch stripes you can find my video on my You Tube channel here
Shell stitch stripes video tutorial
I worked the colours in a completely random order and I did 39 stripes so 78 rows altogether. I like to start and finish with the same colour, it just balances the blanket out nicely for me this way but it's not essential. I then used Hint Of Silver to work four UK double crochet rounds, a nice simple edging just to frame all the colourful stripes!
I hope you have found this colour combo inspiring and I'd love to see how you use it! If you want you can use the hashtag #littledovecolourcombos on social media to share your creations
All my blog content is provided free however if you would like to support the time involved in producing the blog and appreciate the information I share you can do so by 'buying my a coffee'
Thank you and happy crocheting
Faye :)
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I loved working with the colours so much that immediately after finishing it I started making sunburst grannies in the same colour combo. You can find my video tutorial for these granny squares here although keep in mind that when using just one colour there is no need to fasten off after each round!
Sunburst Granny Square Video tutorial
Those who have followed me a while will know I favour bright, bold colours. There is a place for pastels but I always find myself drawn to more vivid shades and this combo is no exception.
You won't find an all singing, all dancing written pattern here. What you will find are some FREE resources put together in my spare time to enable you to have a go at making a similar blanket.
I made 81 squares in total, 9 of each colour so that I could join them in diagonal rainbow stripes. I get asked a lot if I block blankets.........generally no I don't, I don't see the point really as particularly with squares the joining process blocks them for you as you join and a first wash always helps to relax the stitches as well. Less blocking time means more crochet time after all! With these squares though I did manipulate them a bit into a more uniform shape with steam from the iron purely for aesthetic/photographic reasons
I am joining my sunbursts with a continuous join as you go method using (UK) double crochets, it gives a really pretty flat join that has a slight braided style twist to it. You can find my video tutorial for it here
Double crochet continuous join as you go
Once I finished joining all my sunburst squares I continued with the same yarn colour and gave my blanket a nice simple border using the camel stitch technique. You can find my video tutorial for this border here
Rain-beau Sunburst border tutorial
I don't use new, full balls of yarn when starting as I'm often working from my stash so can't tell you the exact quantities of yarn I used for this blanket but for a rough guide I used less than 100g of each colour for the sunbursts and between 300-400g of the joining colour
I hope you have found this colour combo inspiring and I'd love to see how you use it! If you want you can use the hashtag #littledovecolourcombos on social media to share your creations
All my blog and video content is provided FREE of charge and in my spare time however if you would like to support the time involved in producing the blog and videos and appreciate the information I share you can do so by 'buying my a coffee'
Thank you and happy crocheting
Faye :)
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(photo above by Castle View Yarns)
I really enjoyed winding the mini skeins into balls ready to start, seeing all the colours more closely whilst pondering on what sort of blanket I would make. After lots of pondering I decided on circles and hexagons so I'd have a kind of polka dot effect.
I also needed to find a joining yarn and I chose Scheepjes Metropolis which is a really beautiful 4ply with a huge range of colours. I chose the shade Cota which is a lovely light grey colour with a very subtle slightly lilac hue to it. Sadly the Loki mini skein set is no longer available as it was just a limited edition at the time but do check out Castle View Yarns for future beautiful collections and mini skeins.
It took me around a year to make my blanket. I enjoyed every minute of the process and so pleased with how it turned out. It was a great portable project and often accompanied me to Craft and Chat nights :) It's probably the blanket I get asked most about so I've been slowly working on ways to share how I made it with you so you can make your own version.
I fully appreciate that both hand dyed yarn and Metropolis are not cheap. When I first started making my blanket I had no thoughts on sharing a pattern for it nor did I have a You Tube channel as I do now so this blanket was purely made as a little luxury for myself. I'm not a smoker nor much or a drinker, and I'm definitely not a fashion victim haha so when I want to treat myself it usually involves yarn (or cake)! What I've been working on recently is a DK acrylic yarn version of my Loki blanket so that it is more affordable. I've also been working on a series of videos to share with you so that you can make your own Loki blanket
I hope to also in future release an actual written pattern however I find pattern writing really tedious and quite stressful (it feels like homework to me!) so it takes me absolutely ages and I agonise over every word and image. It's not an enjoyable process for me and what I've learnt as I've got older is that I prefer to concentrate on things that bring me joy (doing crochet) not angst (writing crochet)! I’ve been approached by publishers to write books a few times in the last couple of years but it’s not for me! Partly due to knowing it wouldn’t be an enjoyable process for me as explained above and partly because publishers seem to be churning out crochet books left, right and centre recently which has kinda put me off.
I have to approach pattern writing in small doses but I will try my best to get it done as I know some of you prefer a written pattern (I do myself ironically!)
As soon as I've got the videos to a point I'm happy to publish them I'll let you know and if you subscribe to my You Tube channel you'll get a notification as soon as new videos are uploaded
A big thank you to everyone who has shown so much love for this blanket over the last couple of years, it's my most favourite make ever and I'm looking forward to sharing how I made it with you so you can enjoy making it as much as I did!
Faye x
]]>For my blanket I am using the following yarn colours
Scheepjes Colour Crafter for the stars
Stylecraft Special DK for joining
Orion seemed like a fitting name for this one!
The star blocks are made up of a series of solid granny squares joined together, some in just one colour and some in two colours.
Here is my video tutorial for the one colour granny squares.....
One colour solid granny squares
I'd never made two colour solid granny squares before so I followed Therese's very helpful tutorials which she has saved to her Instagram stories. I have to admit that I did find them a little fiddly at first and did adjust the way I do them very slightly to suit me. If you'd like to learn the way I make two colour solid grannies you can watch my You Tube video here....
Two colour solid granny squares
To make the star block you need to make four solid squares in one colour, four solid squares in a contrast colour and then 8 two colour granny squares making a total of 16 squares.
The joining of these squares to form the star block was a real learning curve! The most common way that I came across was mattress stitch but I tried and tried and I just couldn't get it to look neat and I found it slow and oh so tedious! I knew if I carried on with that method I would get fed up and the squares would end up at the bottom of the WIP pile and likely never be picked up again!
Bottom line is that I just don't like sewing squares together! I much prefer to crochet them together so what followed was a lot of trial and error to find a way to do just that that gave an invisible looking join as mattress stitch does and I did this by slip stitching the squares with right sides together. The squares need to be joined in a specific order to form the block, it's a little complicated to explain here so I have put together a video tutorial here.....
Joining your solid granny squares together
This blanket is still a work in progress so I can't give you any size information or how many star blocks to make yet but I will update the blog when I have more to share :)
I hope you have found this colour combo inspiring I'd love to see how you use it! If you want to you can use hashtag #littledovecolourcombo to share your creations on social media.
All my blog content is provided free however if you would like to support the time involved in producing the blog and the information I share you can do so by 'buying me a coffee'
Thank you and happy crocheting!
Faye :)
]]>I can't give you any meaningful reason why I chose these colours! I was just playing around with yarn pegs and these ones just seemed to work.....I really love the pop of the gold colour in amongst the pinks and greeny blues! The dark navy was a bit of an afterthought, it wasn't in my original combo but as I started crocheting the rounds I felt it needed something more and navy is a great all rounder, it goes with almost everything :) I'm glad I added it in.
For this blanket I used
Cygnet DK in
Paintbox DK
Scheepjes Colour Crafter
I made 33 rounds for my granny square which made it a decent baby sized blanket and then I added 2 rounds of double crochets before I started the edging. The edging is made up of two rounds and you can find my video tutorial for it (among others!) on my You Tube channel here….
Please note my Petal edging design is for personal use only and not to profit from. It is protected by my copyright and my intellectual property rights. If you use my edging you must credit Little Dove Crochet. Legal action will be taken against those who steal my copyrighted design work.
All my blog content is free of charge however if you would like to support the time involved in producing the blog you can do so by 'buying me a coffee' :)
To keep up to date with what I'm making follow @littledovecrochet on Facebook and Instagram. For You video tutorials subscribe to my You Tube channel
Thank you, Faye x
(Please do not copy, sell or claim my edging as your own pattern. It is for personal use only and is covered by my copyright ©Little Dove Designs 2015 and intellectual property rights and legal action will be taken against anyone claiming it as their own design or using it to profit from. If you use my edging you must credit Little Dove Crochet)
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Well I’m pleased to announce to you that at long last I have finally set a channel up!
As you and I both know You Tube is bursting at the seams with crochet tutorials and this is one of the (many) reasons I hadn’t taken the plunge before……I didn’t think I could really bring much more to it that wasn’t already there.
Another reason has been time. With a young daughter and my needlecraft design business I haven’t really had the spare hours to devote to the time needed to film, edit, and upload consistent content.
……and probably the main reason that has held me back is confidence! I’m not fond of being filmed, photographed, or listening to my own voice etc so the idea of video tutorials was always a bit terrifying!
So why have I changed my mind?
My daughter is well into high school and is a lot more independent now so that has given me a bit more time to dabble in new things. I’d be lying if I said that confidence wasn’t still an issue. Sometimes though we just have to take a leap of faith and challenge ourselves and now just feels the right time to branch out and use You Tube to accompany my already popular blog posts.
There is a lot of crochet tutorials out there but I hope with 30+ year’s experience I can pass on a few little hints and tips to you here and there that you can take forward into your own creations.
Please note that I am ENGLISH and crochet using UK TERMS. You can find lots of conversion charts online if you are in a country using different terms to me.
I really hope you can join me over on my channel and I’ll be sure to keep you updated with any new content
Faye x
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The Weekender blanket is a great project if you need something to easily pick up and put down. I didn't use scraps this time but it is also perfect for a scrappy project. These are the colours I used
Scheepjes Colour Crafter
Stylecraft Special DK
The pattern includes instructions for making the edges of the blanket straight however I only used the pattern to make the full and half hexies. I then used my own method of straightening the bottom and top edges by using different height stitches as I wanted to use the same colour (Goes) as my border rather than make and join lots of different colour pieces to fill in the gaps as written in the pattern.
The pattern also includes a border but I chose not to use it and instead worked a few rounds of DC and a couple of rows of moss stitch (one in barneveld followed by Goes) followed by a final round of DC
I hope you have found this colour combo inspiring and I'd love to see how you use it! If you want you can use the hashtag #littledovecolourcombos on social media to share your creations
All my blog content is provided free however if you would like to support the time involved in producing the blog and appreciate the information I share you can do so by 'buying my a coffee'
Thank you and happy crocheting
Faye :)
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A rainbow inspired blanket has been long overdue so I've really enjoyed making this one. I do agonise quite a lot over rainbow combos, there are lots of different routes to go down.....bright, pastel, muted, vintage etc, and I can spend ages with yarn pegs working it all out. I wanted a bright, summery rainbow and was very keen not to use lots and lots of different shades and also not include purples this time.
Next thing to agonise over was the stitch/pattern! I definitely wanted stripes but what sort of stripes? Sooooo many options! Moss stitch has always been one of my faves, I've working it in horizontal stripes, diagonal stripes and in the round in the past. It's a great stitch, so easy to do and looks really modern. I decided on diagonal stripes as the great thing about C2C crochet (corner to corner) is there is no foundation chain so no counting stitches! You can find my video tutorial here...
Corner to Corner Moss stitch - You Tube
I love to break bolder colours up with a neutral so for this blanket I alternated 7 rows of each rainbow colour with 3 rows of the neutral colour. It made it look nice and bright and crisp!
These are the colours I used, I'm afraid one of them is discontinued now:
Hayfield Bonus DK
Cygnet DK
Paintbox DK
Scheepjes Colour Crafter
I used the neutral colour for the border, didn't want to overdo the rainbow, I do love lots of colour but I also often like to frame a blanket and for me that's done by using less colour.
I often like to work texture into borders so will change the loops I work into to give raised lines. This blanket has then been finished off with Attic24s bobble shell edging, one of my favourites and I use it a LOT! This blanket measured approx 80cm x 95cm
I hope you have found this combo inspiring and I'd love to see how you use it! If you want you can use the hashtag #littledovecolourcombos on social media to share your creations
All my blog content is provided free however if you would like to support the time involved in producing the blog and appreciate the information I share you can do so by 'buying my a coffee'
Thank you and happy crocheting
Faye :)
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I used 10 colours for my four round granny squares making 90 squares in total to achieve a 9 x 10 blanket. This gives a good lap blanket size and once the border was added it measured approx 100cm x 110cm
Here are the colours I used
Stylecraft Special DK
I wanted the blanket to look as though the colour placement was random however I did plan the placement rather than adopt a 'lucky dip' approach so that I could make sure all the colours were used as equally as possible across the 90 squares. I do this by making 9 'round ones' from each of the 10 colours and for each subsequent rounds I share the squares out equally across the other colours to choose the next round. This way I mostly manage to get a nice equal dispersion of colours across the grannies.
Usually I have already chosen a joining colour at the start but I was in a real quandary with this one right up until I'd made all the squares. Once I'd made them all I'd narrowed the joining colour down to a couple of light, neutral shades, I didn't want anything dark for this one as there was already a few dark shades in the squares and I wanted the overall effect to be nice and light. I also don't join with any colour already used in the last round of the squares otherwise those squares get lost in the background and I personally don't like that look. I found laying all the squares out on the table in the planned placement helped me to finally decide on the joining colour!
I decided on Hint of Silver for joining which is a very light versatile grey and I use the continuous join as you go method to join squares wherever I can! It's quick and produces barely any ends, it really is worth learning this technique!
Once all my squares were joined I needed to decide on a border. I've kept it fairly simple with just a few rounds of granny stitch using hint of silver then granny stitch rounds using fuchsia purple and midnight and half trebles using teal and sage. With ten colours to choose from the border possibilities are endless! Anything goes really, and it has once again been a very enjoyable make!
I received such a hugely supportive response to my recent Avril baby blanket pattern, thank you to everyone who bought the pattern and all who have messaged me to express their positive words about it, it has really helped my confidence with pattern writing and so I have once again put together a written pattern for this blanket so that if you would like to make one the same you can follow my exact colour placement and border. I know many of you love the idea of creating a granny square blanket with a vintage inspired random placement but feel overwhelmed by deciding on the actual randomness of it so I hope my pattern can help by doing that colour thinking bit for you!
The pattern is broken down into four parts......how I make a granny square, the Rosa colour placement, continuous join as you go method and finally the border and edging. It has lots of pictures and images to guide you through and there is a UK and US crochet terms version. It is suitable for a novice crocheter (NOT a complete beginner) ie someone who already knows the basics of crochet as stitch instructions are not detailed. Here is the link
Rosa Granny Square Lap Blanket Crochet PDF Pattern/tutorial - Etsy UK
You can also find video tutorials for making a granny square and continuous join as you go on my You Tube channel here
If you do decide to buy my pattern please can I ask that if you have any trouble downloading your files through Etsy or if you have any questions about the pattern or need more guidance that you contact me PRIOR to leaving a review to give me a chance to help you first. It's difficult to help or rectify an issue if I'm not aware there is one. Thank you.
I hope you enjoy this colour combo......and to those of you who choose to buy my pattern thank you very much for your support and I look forward to seeing your Rosa creations on socials!
Faye :)
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Fast forward to 2022 and I finally decided to make a start on my long awaited scrappy project. It had to be granny squares......just three rounds each in totally random colours, it wasn't going to be a quick project but one that I could easily pick and put down in between other things and not have to really think on too much. I'm not going to list all the colours I used for this one, it's not a Little Dove Combo as such as the whole point of a scrappy blanket is it's randomness but I used around 50 different colours and they were all DK weight 100% acrylic yarn.
I made many of my scrappy grannies at the Craft and Chat evening I go to twice a month. I love going to Craft and Chat! Working from home means I'm on my own a lot in the daytime and although I consider myself introverted and I like my own company it is really nice to spend a few hours with like minded people crafting the evening away :) My basket of scraps was a nice portable project, perfect for taking along with me and many a scrappy granny was made over the last year whilst sipping tea, eating cake and chatting! I highly recommend joining a craft group if you have one locally...or if not why not start your own!
I didn't really know at the start how big I wanted to make it but I knew I wanted it to be a really nice sofa throw size so I just kept adding squares until it looked about right. I ended up making 266 squares (14 x 19) and once the border was added it's come out at almost single bed size!
If you'd like to know how to make a granny square the Little Dove way you can find my video tutorial on my You Tube channel here
Little Dove Crochet - You Tube
Don't forget to SUBSCRIBE to keep up to date with new tutorials!
I joined my squares with Scheepjes Colour Crafter in Barneveld using the continuous join as you go method and in true Little Dove style I made no record of how much I used but at a rough guess it was probably around 4 - 5 balls. You can find a video tutorial for this joining method on my You Tube channel.
Just a simple border as is my usual preference, I often use just DC and HDC on my borders and like to change things up a bit by working in back loops on some rounds to add a little interest. The edging is bobble shell by Attic24.
I can't tell you how much I have enjoyed making this blanket and I've called this one Dolly as it reminds me a bit of Dolly Mixtures! I'm kinda sad it is finished but fear not as I do still have lots and lots of scraps left and I have also got a scrappy sunburst blanket on the go too so I will turning my attention to that one now this one is done.
If you are thinking of making a scrappy granny square blanket here are my top tips.....
If you would like to know how to make a granny square the Little Dove way and learn the continuous join as you go method you can find my Avril Baby Blanket pattern in my Etsy shop here
All my blog content is provided free however if you would like to support the time involved in producing the blog and appreciate the information I share you can do so by 'buying my a coffee'
Thank you and happy crocheting
Faye :)
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I have been asked so many times about the colour combo for this African flower blanket! Trouble is I was stashbusting at the time and didn't think I'd written the colours down anywhere so couldn't remember exactly what I'd used. The good news is that I happened to be scrolling through my social media posts recently looking for something else when I found a post about this blanket from 24th April 2021 detailing all the colours! Yay!
It's quite a mix because as I said I was stashbusting and was using small bits of leftover or part balls of yarn. Here's the list.....
Scheepjes Colour Crafter
Paintbox DK
Hayfield Bonus DK
Stylecraft Special DK
I did warn you it was a big mixture! For a baby sized blanket like I made you only need a little of each colour, hence this is a great motif for stash busting. I can't remember if I managed to get the joining and border out of one 100g ball of Weert, I think I may have used a little over 100g.
I paired the 12 flower colours up to include a darker and lighter version of each shade. I used the lighter yarn for the centre of the flower and the darker yarn for the petals.
Here are my pairs
So there were 6 flower combinations in total. I can't remember how many African flowers I made and I no longer have the blanket so can't check unfortunately. I use the join as you go method to join my flowers.
I've added a video tutorial for African flowers to my You Tube channel here
I squared my blanket edges off but I know some people make their blanket hexagon shaped so they don't need to do this. I'm afraid I can't tell you how to straighten the edges as I'm terrible for not writing it down and every time I make one of these blankets I go through a headache inducing trial and error process until I get it right whilst cursing myself for not writing it down last time....then I repeat the cycle! Maybe next time I'll be more organised and write it down as I do it although knowing me probably not!
I finished my blanket off with Attic24's bobble shell edging. I've called this combo Florence as it meaning flowering or blooming so fits perfectly with these flowers
I hope you have found this combo inspiring and I'd love to see how you use it! If you want you can use the hashtag #littledovecolourcombos on social media to share your creations
All my blog content is provided free however if you would like to support the time involved in producing the blog and appreciate the information I share you can do so by 'buying my a coffee'
Thank you and happy crocheting
Faye :)
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Avril seemed a fitting name for this combo. It's the french word for April so I thought it might be a nice choice given the time of year. It's not a name you hear of much these days too so I though why not give it an airing!
This blanket is a bit of a different one for me as I've finally taken the plunge and written an actual pattern/tutorial for it. I probably receive at least a couple of messages every week asking for patterns. It's something that I never totally ruled out but have admittedly shied away from for years mainly due to self doubt. I've probably talked myself out of writing this pattern at least twenty times this month!
I'll still share the colours I've used for it here on the blog but for those who would like a full detailed tutorial of how to make this blanket exactly as I have done you can buy the digital download PDF pattern in my Etsy shop here
The pattern is broken down into four parts - How I make a granny square, the Avril colour placement process, continuous join as you go method and finally the border and edging. It has lots of pictures and images to guide you through and there is a UK and a US crochet terms version. It is suitable for a novice crocheter....ie someone who already knows the basics of crochet as basic stitch instructions are not detailed
If you do decide to buy my pattern please can I ask that if you have any trouble downloading the files through Etsy or if you have any questions about the pattern or need more guidance that you have the courtesy to contact me PRIOR to leaving a review to give me a chance to help you first. It’s difficult to help with or rectify an issue if I’m not aware there is one. Thank you.
It might be the only pattern I ever write......I might write another....I don't know. I will see how it goes!
Anyway back to the Avril colour combo! These are the colours I used
Scheepjes Colour Crafter in
I made 25 granny squares of 5 rounds each to make a 5 x 5 square sized blanket. I joined the squares using the continuous join as you go method and finished it all off with a pretty shell edging!
25 granny squares of this size will give you a perfect size baby blanket.....perfect for the pram or car seat.
I hope you enjoy this colour combo.....and to those of you who choose to buy my pattern, thank you very much for your support and I look forward to seeing your Avril creations on socials!
Faye :)
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I don't very often use brown shades though! I don't know why, I think I always worry that they will dull a combo down but I think in this case with the oranges and greens they really work and of course a nice neutral always help to 'lift' a colour scheme!
I had quite a few more labour intensive blankets on the go when I started this one. I needed something quite mindless to work on to give me a little break from them and the ripple really fits the bill for me.......easy on the brain and grows quickly.
I used Attic24's neat ripple pattern as the basis for the blanket however I have worked into the back loops on each row. This method gives a lovely texture to the ripples, try it! The stripe order is completely random.
These are the colours I used
Scheepjes Colour Crafter
Cygnet DK
Hayfield Bonus DK
**Unfortunately I think Hayfield are discontinuing Sandstorm which is a real shame, it gave the perfect rustic feel to this blanket as it is a lovely flecked neutral. I will never understand why yarn companies discontinue their best shades!
Just a simple DC edging for this one, nothing too fussy!
I hope you have found this combo inspiring and I'd love to see how you use it! If you want you can use the hashtag #littledovecolourcombos on social media to share your creations
All my blog content is provided free however if you would like to suppprt the time involved in producing the blog and appreciate the information I share you can do so by 'buying my a coffee' Alternatively you could share this blog post, one of my social media posts or perhaps one of my You Tube videos……a share is hugely helpful to me!
Thank you and happy crocheting
Faye :)
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Fast forward to February 2023 and whilst emptying my workroom ready for it to be insulated and re-decorated (it's in the garden so a tad cold in Winter!) I came across the squares I'd made over a year before and decided to get them turned into a blanket at last
You won’t find an all singing, all dancing written pattern here, you’ll find some FREE resources and info so that you can make something with this colour combo. If you would like a written pattern you can buy a similar one in my Etsy shop here……
For my blanket I made 25 squares of 5 rounds each
If you'd like to know how to make a granny square the Little Dove way you can find my video tutorial on my You Tube channel here
Little Dove Crochet - You Tube
Don't forget to SUBSCRIBE to keep up to date with new tutorials!
These are the colours I used
Stylecraft Special DK
Scheepjes Colour Crafter
The 25 grannies were joined into a 5 x 5 blanket using the continuous join as you go method. You can find my video tutorial for this on my You Tube channel.
Continuous join as you go video tutorial
It’s well worth learning and once you learn this method you’ll rarely use another!
For me this traditional style granny square blanket could only have a scalloped edging! It just suits the style perfectly and this blanket came out a great size for a newborn baby. Obviously the more grannies you make the bigger your finished blanket will be!
A word about hook size.......I'm asked a lot about which hook size I use but everybody's tension is different so the hook size I use might not work for you. I'm a naturally tight crocheter so often go up a hook size. Hook size also depends on your yarn weight and even your stitch as some stitches work up tighter than others. My advice is to try two or three hook sizes with your stitch/pattern to see what feels comfortable and what you like the look of best.
I hope you have found this combo inspiring and I'd love to see how you use it! If you want to you can use the hashtag #littledovecolourcombos to share your creations on social media.
All my blog content and video tutorials are provided free however if you would like to support the time involved in producing them and appreciate the information I share you can do so by 'buying me a coffee'
Thank you and happy crocheting
]]>This combo is inspired by the bold prints of the seventies, I wanted it to have a retro feel, bright and maybe a bit clashing! It had to be granny squares too! This time though I only used two colours in each of the grannies, one round in one colour and two rounds in a contrast colour, it gives the effect of little crosses.
I made 144 little squares for my blanket (12 x 12) which resulted in 576 ends to sew in!.....if you don't like sewing in ends then this one isn't for you!
These are the colours I used
Scheepjes Colour Crafter
Stylecraft Special DK
Hayfield Bonus DK
I'm always getting asked how I join. I used the join as you go method here, it's quick and it's easy and there are loads of tutorials online if you need one.
I didn't want a fussy or wide border on this one so did just four rounds of DC with Spa. This border has framed the little squares nicely without taking away from all the colour within them.
I hope you have found this combo inspiring and I'd love to see how you use it! I think it would make a great ripple! If you want to you can use hashtag #littledovecolourcombo to share your creations on social media
All my blog content is provided free however if you would like to support the time involved in producing the blog and the information I share you can do so by 'buying me a coffee'
Thank you and happy crocheting!
Faye :)
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I wanted this blanket to have a christmassy feel but not made with the traditional Christmas colours so inspired by some images of Christmas candy canes and peppermint swirls I came up with this combo which with the addition of pink and teals takes it away slightly from the obvious reds and greens that we usually associate with Christmas......I've called this combo Candy because well you know it seemed to fit!
I made 25 grannies of five rounds.
If you'd like to know how to make a granny square the Little Dove way you can find my video tutorial on my You Tube channel here
Little Dove Crochet - You Tube
Don't forget to SUBSCRIBE to keep up to date with new tutorials!
These are the colours I used
Cygnet DK
Stylecraft Special DK
Hint of Silver is a lovely light grey, it's a great neutral colour for joining. I used continuous join as you go method to join my squares and you can find my video tutorial for this method on my You Tube channel
As you may know I'm not a fussy, fancy border lover, I like to keep things quite simple as there's usually enough going on with the granny squares! I tend to save the fancy, frilly borders for the plainer styles. I finished this blanket with the wonderful bobble shell edging by Attic24, one of my favourite edgings.......I think it gives enough interest without being overbearing.
I hope you have found this combo inspiring and I'd love to see how you use it! If you want to you can use hashtag #littledovecolourcombo to share your creations on social media.
All my blog content is provided free however if you would like to support the time involved in producing the blog and the information I share you can do so by 'buying me a coffee'
Thank you and happy crocheting!
Faye :)
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I pulled it out of my WIP box one afternoon though and once I'd finished making the squares and starting joining them I really started to love it! Sometimes joining is the magic ingredient that can really pull a combo together so it's worth thinking carefully about your joining colour.
There was no method in my colour placement this time, the squares are completely random and there is clashing galore! But I think it works :) Colour clashing is good sometimes!
If you'd like to know how to make a granny square the Little Dove way you can find my video tutorial on my You Tube channel here
Little Dove Crochet - You Tube
Don't forget to SUBSCRIBE to keep up to date with new tutorials!
These are the colours I used for this blanket
Scheepjes Colour Crafter
Stylecraft Special DK
Cygnet DK
Paintbox DK
**Unfortunately Paintbox have discontinued Melon sorbet which is a real shame as it's a beautiful soft orange and I use it a lot. I haven't yet been able to find a match for it but if I do I will let you know.
Here's an image that I put together with the Crochet Studio App showing the shades I used. Crochet Studio App is now available to download to your device and it's free! It's a brilliant tool!
While I was making this blanket I was asked a lot about how I sew in my ends. I think sometimes people overthink this process and assume there are some technical methods of doing it but for me it really is as simple as just threading a yarn needle and weaving the yarn tail under and over the stitches on the reverse side until you feel they are secure. I don't crochet over the ends as in my experience it's not the most secure way of dealing with them and if you've spent the time making a beautiful blanket why wouldn't you want to spend the time ensuring it lasts.
For me sewing in ends is all part of the blanket making process........put your feet up, get yourself a cuppa and some snacks, put the telly on and get those ends dealt with!
I joined this blanket using continuous join as you go method, you can find my video tutorial for this method on my You Tube channel. I then finished it off with a scalloped edging
I've called this blanket Elizabeth for no other reason than it was finished in the month we lost our beautiful Queen
I hope you have found this combo inspiring and I'd love to see how you use it! If you want to you can use hashtag #littledovecolourcombo to share your creations on social media.
All my blog content is provided free however if you would like to support the time involved in producing the blog and the information I share you can do so by 'buying me a coffee'
Thank you and happy crocheting!
Faye :)
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Autumn also seems to be the time I feel most inspired and I pick up my knitting and crochet again after a bit of a summer crafting drought.
I really wanted to make Autumn in a blanket, I wanted it to be striped but wasn't sure on stitch so I took to Pinterest and looked through all my pins and found a few stitches to try. After making swatches in V stitch and sedge stitch which I've used many times before I settled on the stitch used in the Twilight Shells blanket by Yarnspirations which is a stitch new to me. It's a beautiful shell stitch variation which has a vintage vibe to it and lovely texture. I've crocheted for almost 30 years now so it's lovely to find a new stitch to try!
There was nothing in particular other than Autumn that inspired this colour combo. I wanted traditional gold, brown and green tones but also wanted to experiment with including blue shades which you wouldn't usually associate with Autumn but with the right combo I hoped they would work! You'll notice that I actually dropped one of the blue shades used in the swatches the finished blanket.
I used Scheepjes Colour Crafter in
and Cygnet DK in
I've really enjoyed testing out the new Crochet Studio app which is going to be released soon, it really helps with putting together colour combos and using the app with my Eliza and The Giraffe yarn pegs I can visualise the end result better. The app also enables you to make these nice little collages!
I worked the rows in a random colour order, I prefer this to a repeated pattern unless I'm creating a rainbow or an ombre. I used Zandvoort for the simple border and edged the blanket with Mustard but any of those bold autumnal shades would have made a great edging.
I hope you have found this combo inspiring and I'd love to see how you use it! If you want to you can use hashtag #littledovecolourcombo to share your creations on social media.
All my blog content is provided free however if you would like to support the time involved in producing the blog and the information I share you can do so by 'buying me a coffee'
Thank you and happy crocheting!
Faye :)
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This baby sized blanket was made up of five round granny squares using five colours. I used the colours in the exact same order for every square but just used a different one of the five to start. You end up with five grannies all different but it's a great way to make them without having to stress over which colour to use next because it is always the same order.
If you'd like to know how to make a granny square the Little Dove way you can find my video tutorial on my You Tube channel here
Little Dove Crochet - You Tube
Don't forget to SUBSCRIBE to keep up to date with new tutorials!
I used Scheepjes Colour Crafter in
Once I had made those five grannies I made four more carbon copies of each of them so I ended up with 25 squares.
The next thing to do is arrange them so that each row of five grannies contains a different last round colour. It's a bit like a crochet sudoku! I decided to make an extra row to make 30 grannies altogether so once again just made 5 more grannies in the same colour order and then placed them in the same spots as the first row. I'm not the best at explaining things so here's my layout so that you can hopefully see what I mean!
The squares are joined together with Sint Niklaus using the join as you go method on the sixth round. You can find a video tutorial for this joining method on my You Tube channel. I then did a few rows of DC and finished the blanket off with Attic 24's bobble shell edging using Tynaarlo
I hope you have found this combo inspiring and I'd love to see how you use it! If you want to you can use hashtag #littledovecolourcombo to share your creations on social media.
All my blog content is provided free however if you would like to support the time involved in producing the blog and the information I share you can do so by 'buying me a coffee'
Thank you and happy crocheting!
Faye :)
]]>I’ve been really obsessed with little granny squares lately, they are so versatile and there are so many placement variations when it comes to colour combos. I also love patchwork and one colour little grannies all joined together are great for creating a patchwork effect. Edward is a bold colour scheme, if you’ve followed me for a while you’ll know I favour bold and bright over pastels!
If you'd like to know how to make a granny square the Little Dove way you can find my video tutorial on my You Tube channel here
Little Dove Crochet - You Tube
Don't forget to SUBSCRIBE to keep up to date with new tutorials!
For this blanket I used my favourite Scheepjes Colour Crafter in
I found planning the colour placement before I started really helped and who doesn’t love a bit of colouring!
Here’s my colour placement plan for this blanket
The squares are joined together using the join as you go method on the third round. JAYG is a lot easier than it sounds and I’m not exaggerating when I say it is life changing! I finished the blanket off with a simple few rounds of dc using Tynaarlo
I hope you have found this combo inspiring and I'd love to see how you use it! If you want to you can use hashtag #littledovecolourcombo to share your creations on social media.
All my blog content is provided free however if you would like to support the time involved in producing the blog and the information I share you can do so by 'buying me a coffee'
Thank you and happy crocheting!
]]>The thing I love about corner to corner (C2C) blankets is that they don’t require a foundation chain…..And I particularly love C2C moss stitch! You can find my video tutorial here....
Corner to corner moss stitch - You Tube
I think if I remember right this combo was inspired by some fabric I’d seen somewhere. I often take inspiration from fabrics or even clothing, particularly retro style prints.
I’ve decided to call this combo Eliza because I was very kindly sent a gorgeous set of Scheepjes Colour Crafter yarn pegs by Emily at Eliza and The Giraffe. They are so beautifully presented and will be so useful in giving you another type of visual for my combos. Emily has sets for all sorts of brands, check out her Etsy shop
For my C2C moss stitch blanket I used Scheepjes Colour Crafter in
I just did a random stripe order of 5 rows each stripe and finished off with a crisp white border. The edging is Attic24’s bobble stripe, one of my favourites!
I hope you have found this combo inspiring and I'd love to see how you use it! If you want to you can use hashtag #littledovecolourcombo to share your creations on social media.
All my blog and video content is provided FREE however if you would like to support the time involved in producing the blog and the information I share you can do so by 'buying me a coffee’. Alternatively you could share one of my videos or socials posts to help spread the word
Thank you and happy crocheting!
Faye :)
]]>Rosie is a lovely rainbow combo that I have used many times. I’ve made granny circles, squares, chevrons and ripples with this combo…..It is very versatile!
It’s also a really good example of why I mix yarn brands because sometimes you just can’t get the flow of colours you want just using one. Don’t be afraid to mix brands, so long as the yarn is the same weight and composition there’s no reason not too!
Rosie is a combo of
Cygnet DK
Paintbox DK
Scheepjes Colour Crafter
Here are some other ways I have used this combo
I hope you have found this combo inspiring and I'd love to see how you use it! If you want to you can use hashtag #littledovecolourcombo to share your creations on social media.
All my blog content is provided free however if you would like to support the time involved in producing the blog and the information I share you can do so by 'buying me a coffee'
Thank you and happy crocheting!
Faye :)
]]>I love Attic 24’s neat ripple pattern, it’s the perfect easy on the brain crochet for me and rippling is just so relaxing! This colour combo was accidental really and a bit of an experiment, I was very close to frogging the yellow out as I just couldn’t decide if I liked it but I’m glad I stuck with it now. Frankie is a combo of…….
Stylecraft Special DK
Paintbox DK
Scheepjes Colour Crafter
It’s often assumed that I use Stylecraft for my blankets but I try to avoid their yarn if I can. I like the yarn but they don’t support independent online yarn shops in my experience so I prefer to spend my money with brands that do champion independents. There are many others offering excellent acrylic ranges such as Paintbox DK, Scheepjes Colour Crafter, Hayfield Bonus Dk and Cygnet DK, it’s good to open your mind to alternatives sometimes. I still use Stylecraft very occassionally as I have done here but if I can get a similar shade elsewhere I will!
I hope you have found this combo inspiring and I'd love to see how you use it! If you want to you can use hashtag #littledovecolourcombo to share your creations on social media.
All my blog content is provided free however if you would like to support the time involved in producing the blog and the information I share you can do so by 'buying me a coffee'
Thank you and happy crocheting!
Faye :)
]]>I’ve called this combo Chloe because to me it’s an ultra pretty palette and Chloe is a very pretty name so it suits it perfectly :)
I used the following shades……
Stylecraft Special DK
I made granny circles, squared them off and joined them as I went along giving the blanket a patchwork look. I finished it off with a scalloped edging in cream
I made lots of matching soft toys too! You can find a similar giraffe pattern here - https://web.archive.org/web/20180523144305/http://ilovebuttonsbyemma.blogspot.com.au/2013/01/crochet-giraffe-pattern.html
I hope you have found this combo inspiring and I'd love to see how you use it! If you want to you can use hashtag #littledovecolourcombo to share your creations on social media.
All my blog content is provided free however if you would like to support the time involved in producing the blog and the information I share you can do so by 'buying me a coffee'
Thank you and happy crocheting!
Faye :)
]]>I made this blanket quite some time ago. I'm always really drawn to blues and greens, particularly greens as green is my favourite colour! To be honest I've had a bit of a job remembering which colours I used as it was so long ago I made this one! After lots of playing with yarn pegs and shade cards and studying my photos I'm 99% sure I used........
Cygnet DK
Paintbox DK
Scheepjes Colour Crafter
Once again I used Attic24s Dune pattern for this blanket. I love this seashell inspired pattern and with the blues and greens it has a ocean feel for me so I have called this combo Marinus!
I hope you have found this combo inspiring and I'd love to see how you use it! If you want to you can use hashtag #littledovecolourcombo to share your creations on social media.
All my blog content is provided free however if you would like to support the time involved in producing the blog and the information I share you can do so by 'buying me a coffee'
Thank you and happy crocheting!
Faye :)
]]>This colour combo was put together by my daughter Connie hence the name! She wanted to come up with a muted pastel style rainbow and I think she succeeded :) These are the colours she chose….
Hayfield Bonus DK
Stylecraft Special DK
Paintbox DK
Scheepjes Colour Crafter
I’m not sure what the yellow is, it was an odd ball I had with no ball band but I think it is Paintbox DK in Daffodil
I used Attic24’s Dune pattern for my blanket, it works really well with these rainbow colours.
I finished my blanket off with a simple shell edging in Weert
I hope you have found this combo inspiring and I'd love to see how you use it! If you want to you can use hashtag #littledovecolourcombo to share your creations on social media.
All my blog content is provided free however if you would like to support the time involved in producing the blog and the information I share you can do so by 'buying me a coffee'
Thank you and happy crocheting!
Faye :)
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