Welcome to Week 7 of my ‘Picnic on the Beach‘ crochet along! 🙂 It’s the penultimate week and we’re starting to think about what needs to go back into our picnic baskets, ready to take home with us… but first there might be some leftovers to enjoy!
As promised in last weeks video, this week I’ve recorded a walk along my local stretch of coastline across the cliff tops. It was on Easter Sunday, a beautiful sunny day, and the spring flowers are looking spectacular… enjoy!
And next week I’m planning on sharing a local picnic place with you all for our final instalment! 🙂
This weeks round-up of fabulous blankets being shared over on Instagram and in the Facebook Group took me quite a long time to compile! There was no way I could narrow down all the AMAZING photos being shared to just a couple of grids… so five it is!! 😍😍😍😍😍
The first grid is from Instagram, the second grid from in the Facebook Group, the third is a collection of some fabulous pets striking a pose by your blankets 🐾 and the fourth and fifth are a mixture. I absolutely LOVE them all… thank you for sharing them!
They’re all just fabulous aren’t they! 🙂 Margie who shared the brilliant photo with Stanley the monkey sunbathing in the first grid said “this is almost like going through a photo album with friends!”. I couldn’t agree more… ❤️
This weeks rows are all stitches and techniques that we have done already, earlier in this blanket. We have the bobbles and basketweave from Week 1, we’re joining this panel to the top and bottom in the same way as at the end of Week 2 and we have our delicious strawberries and blackberries from Week 3 too…
Therefore I haven’t recorded any new video tutorials for this week. If you’ve used the tutorials a lot up until now, don’t worry, you can look back at the previous tutorials in Weeks 1, 2 and 3 for reference on how to do the stitches but obviously do remember that we will be doing different stitch quantities. For example we have 10 stitches in-between our bobbles and strawberry stitches this week which is more than when we previously worked them, and our basketweave is in sets of 4 stitches rather than 3. This time the basketweave is worked in long rows, whereas in Week 1 it was done in the round and we were also increasing, so it should be much more straightforward this time round! Pay attention to the written pattern and do use the close up photos below for help too… 🙂
Also this week I’ve had some happy post through the letterbox and our crochet-along is featured in the new issues of both Simply Crochet magazine and Inside Crochet magazine!
It’s a lovely article that I’m proud to have been a part of alongside other fabulous designers and teachers. 🙂
And for those of you who don’t want the picnic fun to end, now’s a good opportunity for me to share more about the blanket I’ve designed for ‘Little Box of Crochet’ called Picnic by the River! Here’s the link to purchase a box if you’re interested in joining… https://www.littleboxofcrochet.co.uk/product/picnic-by-the-river-crochet-along-pre-order/
This will be a crochet – along which starts on 30th April and I wrote a blog post introducing this a couple of months ago… https://coastalcrochet.com/2021/02/05/picnic-by-the-river/
My box arrived earlier in the week and its wonderful! I’m planning on crocheting along myself and making the blanket all over again…
If you want to see what’s inside the box then click on the link below! 🙂
Back to our ‘Picnic on the Beach’ Blankets… let’s get crocheting! 🙂
For those of you who have purchased the pattern on Ravelry it has now been updated to include Week 7:
www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/picnic-on-the-beach-blanket
Pattern in UK Crochet Terminology. US Terms are at the end of this blog post.
See Week 1 for all the abbreviations but here are some specifically for this weeks crochet…
Bobble: Complete all the following in the same stitch: with contrasting colour yarn, *yarn over hook (yoh), insert hook into st, yoh, pull contrasting yarn through to front, yoh, pull through 2 loops, repeat from * 5 times more (you should now have 6 contrasting colour loops and 1 main colour loop on hook), pull main colour yarn through all the loops on the hook (1 bobble made), continue with main colour, push bobble towards front of work, carry contrasting colour yarn along behind work and crochet next stitches around it to carry yarn along invisibly behind the work.
RtrB3tog: Raised treble back three stitches together: *complete a treble st as normal but insert hook around the stem of the st inserting hook from right to left going from the back to the front and then round to the back again, stop at last yoh when there are only 2 loops left, repeat from * around stem of each of next 2 sts, (there should now be 4 loops left on the hook), yoh and pull through all the loops on hook.
Week 7 – Packing up the Picnic Basket
It’s time to start putting our picnic bits and bobs back into the Picnic Basket. But first, feeling a little peckish and before we pack away, there might be a few leftovers to enjoy…
All the colours are used this week.
Top and Bottom Panels
With RS of blanket facing and held upright (so you’re ready to crochet along the top or bottom edge), join Yarn A to the outer right corner around the post of the first st to side of Row 16 from Week 6.
The first 21 sts of this next row are worked into the sides of the rows, around the posts of the sts at the end of the rows from Week 6.
Row 1 (RS) 3ch (counts as first tr here and throughout), 1tr in same place, 2tr into side of next row, 1tr into side of each of next 2 rows, 2tr into side of next row, 1tr into side of each of next 5 rows, 2tr into side of each of next 2 rows, 1tr into side of each of next 2 rows, 2tr into side of next row, 1tr into corner ch-sp from Round 2 made at end of Week 5, 1tr in each st across to next corner ch-sp, 1tr in corner ch-sp, 2tr into side of next row, 1tr into side of each of next 2 rows, 2tr into side of each of next 2 rows, 1tr into side of each of next 5 rows, 2tr into side of next row, 1tr into side of each of next 2 rows, 2tr into side of each of next 2 rows, turn. [172 sts]
Row 2 (WS) 3ch, 1tr in each st to end, join with Yarn D at end of final st, turn. [172 sts]
Row 3 (RS) 1ch (does not count as st), 1dc in each of next 3 sts, 1 bobble with Yarn E in next st, (1dc in each of next 10 sts, 1 bobble with Yarn E in next st) 15 times, 1dc in each of next 3 sts, turn. [172 sts on each side including 16 bobbles]
Row 4 (WS) 3ch, 1tr in each st to end, join with Yarn C at end of final st, turn. [172 sts]
Row 5 (RS) 3ch, 1tr in each of next 8 sts, 3RdtrF around next st, (1tr in each of next 10 sts, 3RdtrF around next st) 14 times, 1tr in each of next 8 sts, join with Yarn F at end of final st, turn. [202 sts including 15 groups of front raised sts]
Row 6 (WS) 2ch (counts as first htr here and throughout), 1RtrF around each of next 7 sts, RtrB3tog over next 3 sts, (1RtrF around each of next 10 sts, RtrB3tog) 14 times, 1RtrF around each of next 8 sts, 1htr in final st, join with Yarn B at end of final st, turn. [172 sts]
Row 7 (RS) 3ch, 1tr in each st to end, turn. [172 sts]
Row 8 3ch, 1tr in each st to end, join with Yarn G at end of final st, turn. [172 sts]
Basketweave Rows
Row 9 (RS) 2ch (counts as first htr), 1RtrF around each of next 3 sts, 1RtrB around each of next 4 sts, (1RtrF around each of next 4 sts, 1RtrB around each of next 4 sts) 20 times, 1RtrF around each of next 3 sts, 1htr in final st, turn. [172 sts]
Row 10 (WS) 2ch, 1RtrB around each of next 3 sts, 1RtrF around each of next 4 sts, (1RtrB around each of next 4 sts, 1RtrF around each of next 4 sts) 20 times, 1RtrB around each of next 3 sts 1htr in final st, turn. [172 sts]
Row 11 (RS) 2ch, 1RtrB around each of next 3 sts, 1RtrF around each of next 4 sts, (1RtrB around each of next 4 sts, 1RtrF around each of next 4 sts) 20 times, 1RtrB around each of next 3 sts 1htr in final st, turn. [172 sts]
Row 12 (WS) 2ch, 1RtrF around each of next 3 sts, 1RtrB around each of next 4 sts, (1RtrF around each of next 4 sts, 1RtrB around each of next 4 sts) 20 times, 1RtrF around each of next 3 sts, 1htr in final st, turn. [172 sts]
Rows 13 – 16 Repeat Rows 9 – 12, fasten off.
Repeat Rows 1 – 16 on opposite side of blanket.
Unit next week for the final part… Happy Crocheting everyone! 🙂
Pattern in US Crochet Terminology
See Week 1 for all the abbreviations but here are some specifically for this weeks crochet…
Bobble: Complete all the following in the same stitch: with contrasting colour yarn, *yarn over hook (yoh), insert hook into st, yoh, pull contrasting yarn through to front, yoh, pull through 2 loops, repeat from * 5 times more (you should now have 6 contrasting colour loops and 1 main colour loop on hook), pull main colour yarn through all the loops on the hook (1 bobble made), continue with main colour, push bobble towards front of work, carry contrasting colour yarn along behind work and crochet next stitches around it to carry yarn along invisibly behind the work.
BPdc3tog: Back Post double crochet three stitches together: *complete a double crochet st as normal but insert hook around the stem of the st inserting hook from right to left going from the back to the front and then round to the back again, stop at last yoh when there are only 2 loops left, repeat from * around stem of each of next 2 sts, (there should now be 4 loops left on the hook), yoh and pull through all the loops on hook.
Top and Bottom Panels
With RS of blanket facing and held upright (so you’re ready to crochet along the top or bottom edge), join Yarn A to the outer right corner around the post of the first st to side of Row 16 from Week 6.
The first 21 sts of this next row are worked into the sides of the rows, around the posts of the sts at the end of the rows from Week 6.
Row 1 (RS) 3ch (counts as first dc here and throughout), 1dc in same place, 2dc into side of next row, 1dc into side of each of next 2 rows, 2dc into side of next row, 1dc into side of each of next 5 rows, 2dc into side of each of next 2 rows, 1dc into side of each of next 2 rows, 2dc into side of next row, 1dc into corner ch-sp from Round 2 made at end of Week 5, 1dc in each st across to next corner ch-sp, 1dc in corner ch-sp, 2dc into side of next row, 1dc into side of each of next 2 rows, 2dc into side of each of next 2 rows, 1dc into side of each of next 5 rows, 2dc into side of next row, 1dc into side of each of next 2 rows, 2dc into side of each of next 2 rows, turn. [172 sts]
Row 2 (WS) 3ch, 1dc in each st to end, join with Yarn D at end of final st, turn. [172 sts]
Row 3 (RS) 1ch (does not count as st), 1sc in each of next 3 sts, 1 bobble with Yarn E in next st, (1sc in each of next 10 sts, 1 bobble with Yarn E in next st) 15 times, 1sc in each of next 3 sts, turn. [172 sts on each side including 16 bobbles]
Row 4 (WS) 3ch, 1dc in each st to end, join with Yarn C at end of final st, turn. [172 sts]
Row 5 (RS) 3ch, 1dc in each of next 8 sts, 3FPtr around next st, (1dc in each of next 10 sts, 3FPtr around next st) 14 times, 1dc in each of next 8 sts, join with Yarn F at end of final st, turn. [202 sts including 15 groups of raised sts]
Row 6 (WS) 2ch (counts as first hdc here and throughout), 1FPdc around each of next 7 sts, BPdc3tog over next 3 sts, (1FPdc around each of next 10 sts, BPdc3tog) 14 times, 1FPdc around each of next 8 sts, 1hdc in final st, join with Yarn B at end of final st, turn. [172 sts]
Row 7 (RS) 3ch, 1dc in each st to end, turn. [172 sts]
Row 8 3ch, 1dc in each st to end, join with Yarn G at end of final st, turn. [172 sts]
Basketweave Rows
Row 9 (RS) 2ch (counts as first hdc), 1FPdc around each of next 3 sts, 1BPdc around each of next 4 sts, (1FPdc around each of next 4 sts, 1BPdc around each of next 4 sts) 20 times, 1FPdc around each of next 3 sts, 1hdc in final st, turn. [172 sts]
Row 10 (WS) 2ch, 1BPdc around each of next 3 sts, 1FPdc around each of next 4 sts, (1BPdc around each of next 4 sts, 1FPdc around each of next 4 sts) 20 times, 1BPdc around each of next 3 sts 1hdc in final st, turn. [172 sts]
Row 11 (RS) 2ch, 1Bpdc around each of next 3 sts, 1FPdc around each of next 4 sts, (1BPdc around each of next 4 sts, 1FPdc around each of next 4 sts) 20 times, 1BPdc around each of next 3 sts 1hdc in final st, turn. [172 sts]
Row 12 (WS) 2ch, 1FPdc around each of next 3 sts, 1BPdc around each of next 4 sts, (1FPdc around each of next 4 sts, 1BPdc around each of next 4 sts) 20 times, 1FPdc around each of next 3 sts, 1hdc in final st, turn. [172 sts]
Rows 13 – 16 Repeat Rows 9 – 12, fasten off.
Repeat Rows 1 – 16 on opposite side of blanket.
Thank you for a wonderful video and of course this week’s instalment. x
You’re very welcome Donna… thank you! 🙂💙
I love seeing your crochet blankets come to fruition. One day I will join in – just have to finish my gazillion other projects first! Meanwhile, because of the title of your post – I shall dream of ‘a picnic on the beach’ when we are free to travel further and the beaches aren’t so overcrowded. When I see some photos in the media I am slightly put off some beaches with the number of visitors right now in Covid times.
Thank you so much Tinaor! Happy you’re following along… I hope you get to visit a quiet beach soon… some of our local beaches have been crowded but there are also quieter ones which we’re fortunate to have nearby…. 😄💙
Wow, now this video I really enjoyed. I’ve seen the white cliffs of Dover a couple of times from the ferries, but never from up top. I love the flowers and the clear blue waters and I found the Greenwich marker fascinating. I will have to put this area of Great Britain at this time of year on my visit list as soon as Covid scare is over. Thank you for a lovely walk about.
Betty USA
You’re very welcome Betty! Happy you enjoyed it… 🥰💙
I so enjoyed week six., I loved the sun and waves and sunset colors. I smiled through the video and felt a much needed lift in my mood. Myhusband is home and improving, I got my first covid shot and am feeling quite hopeful. This CAL has been a blessing. Love and joy to all.
That’s wonderful to hear Bonnie… 💙🥰🥰
Gwynne from Southern Louisiana: Have loved your work since the beginning, with your very first blanket. This one is over the top. My sweetie is even commenting on how it is looking and wondering what comes next. Love the new “Picnic by the River” blanket that you designed. Is this one coming out as a CAL or are we going to be able to purchase pattern only? Yarn from the UK is just too expensive and is still not being shipped to US. Again, thanks for all you do.
How lovely that you’re enjoying my designs Gwynne… particularly our Picnic on the Beach! The Picnic by the River is only available through Little Box of Crochet. 💙💙😃
Hi Eleonora. I finished week 6 yesterday (Monday) and I managed to do all the basket weave stitch on both panels but do not have a large amount of the stone left. Can you tell me please is stone included in the edging? I have zoomed in on the summer blanket preview and can’t see it. I am also a bit concerned that I will have enough lipstick too. It looks like one round which includes the lipstick and I wondered roughly how much that took to go all the way round the edge in that round with lipstick, as I do not have much left and there was only one ball of that in the kit. Thanks very much, in advance. I would imagine that the edging will take some time. I am very pleased with this beautiful blanket and I hope our friends who will be receiving it as a gift will be just as thrilled with it as I am.
Hi Marilyn… so happy you’re pleased with the blanket… that’s it for stone now, we don’t use it in the border. We do use lipstick but not very much is needed. It’s only one round in a small simple stitch… so you might be ok with this too! 😃💙
Sorry we are late! Friday turned out to be a challenging day so we saved your video for when we could relax and enjoy it! Thank you so much again. It is always lovely to see you, and we so enjoyed the walk along the cliffs. The flowers, the cliffs, the sea and the sky were beautiful, and of course, Salty and you and your smiley face. These videos give us such joy as we rarely get to visit the seaside. Love the blanket of course, and the new Picnic by the River one too. Love the bright colours of the River one.
You are a star, and very much appreciated!
Thank you so very much Pamela! Hope the rest of your week has been less challenging… 🥰💙💙