The Blair Atholl Blanket

Hello again! Let me introduce you to my new crochet design – the Blair Atholl Blanket!

So, Blair Atholl is a small village situated in one of the most stunning areas of Scotland, Highland Perthshire.

It’s less than an hour and half’s drive from where we live and we’ve been popping up there several times a year, for a long time now.

The village lies between two fast flowing rivers, the Tilt and the Garry. It is surrounded by the hills and mountains which form the southern part of the Cairngorm National Park. These hills are not like the empty barren mountains of the remote highlands of Scotland. They are densely tree covered in parts, heather clad in others and full of colour at all times of the year, but especially in Autumn.

So you get the idea. When I’m up there, the colours of the countryside seep into my soul and stay with me when I’m back home. I’ve got hundreds of photos of the area, and for a long time now I’ve wanted to make a blanket inspired by these rich tones.

It took a while though, not because of the colours. They were easy. It was the design which eluded me. Not granny squares – too busy. Not squares at all in fact, nor hexagons nor any other geometric shape. I felt it needed to have an organic feel with colours blending through each other, and finally I came back to the stitch I’d used for my Copenhagen blanket a few years ago, the interlocking block stitch.

It makes a thick cosy blanket with a real tweedy effect, perfect for my Highland theme, and I was able to blend all my Blair Atholl colours with ease.

I’ve now finished the blanket and will be taking it back to Blair for it’s final photo shoot before I write up and publish the pattern. (Update – it’s now published! You will find the links to my shops below).

But before I go, a lot of people have been asking about the yarn and colours I used, and so I’ve put together a Yarn List for you ahead of the pattern, to let you get organised.

As usual there are a lot of colours, but you may already have some of them in your stash, so I’ve listed the actual amount of each colour I used. That way you can gauge if you have enough of each colour, but bear in mind I have an even tension in my work. If your tension tends to be looser, you might use a little more yarn.

The size of my blanket is approx 39 ins x 60ins (I think), but don’t quote me on that as I don’t have the measurements to hand, so I’m going by memory. It’s easily adaptable to be bigger or smaller if you want, but of course that means you’d need to adjust the yarn amounts.

Anyway, here is the Yarn List –

The yarn is available from http://www.woolwarehouse.co.uk. It’s a UK website, but they do have a good reputation for fast overseas shipping at a reasonable rate (and with the pound so weak internationally at the moment, it’s even better!).

Meantime you will find me soaking up these beautiful colours in the countryside around Blair Atholl in the next few days!

My bags are packed……xx

UPDATE: And I’m delighted to announce that the pattern is now, finished, checked and PUBLISHED!

You can find it here in my Etsy Shop and also here in my Ravelry Shop

I’ve had a lot of fun constructing this pattern, and the reader is taken on a wonderful virtual walk with me around the Scottish Highlands, while I tell the story behind the colours of each section of the blanket.

As well as the written pattern, there are LOTS of photos, colour charts, and info on the yarn. Plus special links to THREE very detailed video tutorials, only available via the pattern.

You will maybe learn a little about my favourite part of my home country too!

Bye for now xx