The PEI Blanket

I asked a lot of people for their opinions before I started crocheting this blanket. Some people took the theme too literally, advising me to make a more concrete pattern in the design. I tried writing my own hexagon pattern, I tried a few I found online, I tried a corner-to-corner pattern, I considered doing some form of striped blanket... The list goes on. I tried options until I was certain that hexagons were the best choice. In a sense, I had already decided this, but I needed to convince myself that my instinct was right.

I decided to use the hexagon pattern that Instagrammer Irene_LTD uses. I really liked the effect of the little bobbles. I guesstimated the amount of yarn I should set aside for joining and the border, and calculated how many hexagons I could make. Then, it became a simple math problem: what size did I want the blanket, knowing that it should be proportional, and knowing the maximum number of hexagons I could have.

I settled on 170 hexagons total, which should result in a blanket having dimensions of 40" by 54". It is less than I was expecting, but not every blanket needs to be massive.

The second challenge I have with this blanket is the yarn. It's wound up like fancy yarn is, which means that I have to wind it before I can use it! A friend of mine suggested putting the loop around my neck and pulling more as I need it. This is what he does, and it  works for him because he doesn't have a bunch of long hair for the yarn to get tangled in! Chocking on yarn and hair isn't fun.

So now I'm sticking to prewinding the yarn. It's a slow process, but I'm not rushed to finish the blanket.