Lighthouse Blanket
In my previous blog post, “Whatever Floats Your Boat” I promised to share the process of making the “Lonely Lighthouse Blanket” designed by Little Green Feather. Well, here you go…
One night my friend and I were scrolling through Etsy looking at knit and crochet patterns instead of doing our homework. She showed me a beautiful crochet blanket pattern of a lighthouse with a sailboat in the background. Immediately I thought it would make the perfect raffle prize for the sailing team’s next raffle fundraiser!
Colorwork crochet was not something I had done before, but I didn’t think it could be more difficult than colorwork knitting. The words “overlay mosaic” were in the pattern title, but I didn’t really pay attention to that until after I purchased the pattern and was trying to figure out what I had gotten myself into. Next I had to pick what yarn to use. This might surprise you, but although I have a hoard of yarn in my basement, I did not have enough blue yarn to crochet the entire blanket and had to buy more. I decided to use Premier Basix Worsted in Cream and Storm .
The pattern consists of a chart and line by line written instructions. I wasn’t sure which format would be easier to work from, so I printed both of them since the high tuition I pay allows me to have the luxury of printing copious amounts of colored pages for free! I was delighted to find a paper trimmer near the printer which made cutting out the chart pieces easy. I cut out each piece, leaving extra room to overlap the pieces and tape them, not realizing that the pattern already accounted for overlap. Then I had to cut the pieces again, but I did not mind because paper cutters are so much fun to use! Carrying the massive pattern from the printing room back to my dorm room was quite the feat due to the hot sun that made the tape less sticky, but it made it back in one piece.
I was not sure what to do with the pattern chart, so moving it around became part of my daily routine. Before I went to bed, I put it on the floor. Each morning after I got up, I put the chart back on my bed. This continued until I began crocheting the blanket and realized I found the written pattern easier to understand than the chart, so I taped it to my wall.
This project has seen many places! Back in August when I was working at the Wharf, I brought the project with me to get a few rows done each morning before work. I enjoyed listening to the sounds around me: the people and dogs walking by, the warm summer breeze, the boats leaving the dock. What I did not appreciate so much were the smells, specifically the seafood delivery truck and the trash truck.
One Sunday I worked on the blanket on the Basilica lawn as I listened to the peaceful sound of bells ringing all afternoon.
When people compliment my work, that gives me the motivation I need to keep going. But I did not want to bombard the sailing group chat with progress photos. So to get the validation I needed to continue what would end up being about 80 hours of work, I sat in public places hoping that passers by would be amazed by my work and complement it. This strategy worked very well during family weekend when I sat outside the dinning hall and mothers and grandmothers complimented my work as they passed by. Some even stopped for a few minutes to admire my work and ask about the process.
Once at a “homework party” at the library I worked on the blanket instead of doing my homework. Why do research for my senior thesis paper when I can crochet the day away!!
The most frustrating part of the process was not actually any part of constructing the blanket. Last semester, I took General Chemistry I and I was practically failing! (A slight exaggeration.) What frustrated me was that I had absolutely no problem reading the series of letters and numbers that made up the written portion of the pattern, but I had so much difficulty figuring out what to do with chemical equations, which are also numbers and letters.
My favorite place to work on the blanket was outside between the architecture building and the nursing school. There are trees to provide shade, tables to work on, and the beautiful fountain to look at. On top of all that, the pebbles and fall foliage made for some aesthetic photos!
The goal was to finish the blanket by Thanksgiving so that the team could advertise the raffle when they went home over break. As Thanksgiving approached, I was a bit overwhelmed by the amount of work I had taken on that semester: senior thesis, chemistry (which I was taking “for fun”), and the blanket were all weighing on me. But those were the things I had to do and I knew I would get everything done…at least I hoped I would…would I? Hanging the chart on my wall was a blessing and a curse: seeing what the project was supposed to look like was a helpful visual, a reminder to keep going. But sometimes I looked at it as I was falling asleep and the fact that I was still so far from finishing it weighed on me.
After I got the very elite job of Hall Security Assistant (HSA) I spent the late nights crocheting away! Each four hour shift I made significant progress. Finally one night I held it up and jumped for joy because it was almost finished!
A few nights later when I was working I told myself, “This is going to be the night I finish the blanket!” My hands hurt after several hours of crocheting, but I was determined to finish that night. And I did! I finished the blanket a little after 2 A.M. Since I was not at home I could not parade around with my finished project like I usually do, shoving it in everyone's face saying, “Admire it!” So I had to content myself with sending a picture of it to the family group chat.
The next step was selling raffle tickets. I created a flyer and sent it to the team and told them to shamelessly send it to their entire contact list because I had spent so much time on the blanket! We sold some tickets to students on campus with the tagline “$10 and this blanket could be yours!” coined by one of my teammates. I carried the blanket around campus with me for a week showing it off and trying to sell raffle tickets.
After a few weeks of ticket sales it was time to draw the winner. I was sad to part with the beautiful blanket that I had been working on for the past few months, but I was glad to see the winner–a sailing team alum–was so excited to receive the blanket. I know that she will take good care of it!
