Catherine's Crochet Corner

I’m very excited about this blog post, because I have some brilliant news to share, and in connection with that, I am also finally going to be sharing pictures of my latest design.

The pattern is going to be posted on Thursday 1st February (giving me time to finish tidying it up!), but since you can now buy yarn packs for it, I present to you ‘The Secret Garden’ blanket:

Isn’t it so beautiful?

It’s so gorgeous. I love it so, so much.

It’s big, and soft, and it’s absolutely perfect for snuggling under.

Honestly, I think this is one of the best blankets I’ve designed. ‘Demelza’ will always have a special place in my heart, but this…this is just a showstopper, though I say it myself!

So why ‘The Secret Garden’?

Let me tell you a story about a little girl who loved to read. And read, and read, and read. Dick King-Smith, Roald Dahl, Enid Blyton, CS Lewis, Colin Dann, on and on, everything and anything she could get her hands on. The little girl who, when the family went to the library, would use up all twelve slots on her library card and then use up most of the slots on her brother’s card, too. And her mother’s. And then read everything with plenty of time to return it without late fees.

I don’t remember when I first read The Secret Garden, by Frances Hodgson Burnett. I just don’t remember. My mother thinks I was about five, which sounds about right to me. I do remember the 1993 film coming out, and I was about six then and knew the book well. I remember the film coming out because I vividly remember my grandmother taking me to see it. She enjoyed the book, and she was a gardener. She loved flowers.

Fast-forward twenty-something years to early 2017. My grandmother had died in the autumn of 2016, and I was still struggling to come to terms with my life without her in it. I had finished ‘Eve’s Sunflowers’ and wanted a new project to get my teeth into. I wanted to do another ‘story’ design, like ‘Demelza’ and ‘Ross Poldark’ – something to convey narrative themes from a book in crochet form.

Enter The Secret Garden.

It was perfect. A way to combine my love of literature, my love of nature, and also a very personal way to honour my memories of my beloved grandma.

As I said above, you can buy colour packs for this blanket already, exclusively at Deramores. (Reminder: I get a tiny percentage of each purchase you make when you click through from here, all of which gets ploughed back into my crochet work). It’s a big pack because it’s a big blanket! It’s a generous double-bed size, at 66″ square (roughly 168cm).

Over the next couple of days I’m going to take you on my design journey. How I began, how I designed each square, and how it all came together. The problems, the triumphs, and the doubts! I’m looking forward to sharing the blanket with you all. I hope you’re looking forward to making it!

Edit: the pack appears to have disappeared from my seller profile. You can still find it at this direct link.