If you follow me on Facebook, you would have seen that 31 December 2011 was a HUGE day for me: I finished crocheting the (what felt like millions of) rows of the Identity Crisis blanket!!!! No more shells. No more rows. No more colour changes. Done – blanky reached double bed proportions.

This meant that on the first day of 2012 I was weaving in ends. Loads of ends. Luckily Hubby lent a hand in his own, ever so practical, way:

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we really could leave loose ends nicely tied into bows? Unfortunately no 😦

2 January 2012 was all about edging along Edie Eckman’s book Around The Corner Crochet (get it, edging along, crocheting an edge :-)). Tou can find a link to the book on the right of this page. I chose border #112. It’s a nice and simple pattern that wouldn’t draw attention away from the rows and grannies, but still finishes off the blanket nicely. A border is so important for blankets I think.  Strangely enough, Lionbrand doesn’t say you should add a border to the Spicy Delights Afghan pattern. I can’t imagine leaving the blanket edge like this: Can you?

First thing I had to do was create a base row of sc all round. Edie suggests three sc for every two dc on your vertical edges. Horizontal rows are easy, you just do a sc in each stitch of the row.  For the corners, use three sc and put a stitch marker in the second/middle sc of the group of three.

The second row of my edging, which is in fact the first row of the pattern, I initially had in maroon, but had to undo it all because the maroon was just too dark to stand out between the navy rows.  See what I mean?

This is the white row that replaced the maroon.

Then, the last row of the pattern is dc’s in the sc of your previous row, and three dc’s in each space between.

This is the result. Border #112 done and dusted. However….. I felt it needed something extra. Just something to finish off properly.

So this is what I did. A simple sc row of maroon. It just pulls everything together and I get to use the maroon that I had to undo earlier. Result!

That’s it. With the border on, I was done!!!!

If you want to see the finished product you can have a look at the Facebook page. It’s not the best photo (it’s a bit yellow due to the electric bedroom light) but I was so excited I just had to take a picture. This weekend I will make blanky pose for its photoshoot in lovely natural light and take loads of pictures of all angles. I will also recap the pattern and yarn that I used.

I never thought I’d see the day when I can blog about woven ends and border for this bad boy. I’m so happy it’s done, proud of myself for seeing it through, and I love to see the blanket being used.

I definitely want to make another blanket – smaller!!!! – because I like the idea of crochet blankets to keep friends and family warm and cozy. There are such a lot of patterns and yarn to choose from…..

What am I saying?! Another blanket?! This one isn’t even 24 hours old! I think I just got a shot of the hormone that mothers release straight after childbirth. You know, the one that makes you forget all the pain and agony of childbirth so that you only focus on your beautiful baby? I think it applies to huge crochet projects as well.

I must be….

on the edge of crochet madness.