Harry Potter Inspiration

 

After watching the 20th reunion celebration, my husband and I have been inspired to re-watch all the HP movies.  We are up to Goblet of Fire which we watched last night, so only 4 more to go.  I also decided to reread the books.  I am on Chamber of Secrets.  And, I have always wanted to recreate Ron's blanket and finally feel like I understand crochet enough to go that route, though the original is knitted.  My blanket will not be identical- only inspired by...I won't be bothering with creating diagonal lines, but will look at colors and thickness of lines for inspiration.  I will also be using my stash so not all the colors will be exact.  

I started yesterday and have 4.5 blocks completed.  I am sewing in ends and putting the blocks together as I go along.  I created my own pattern but there is a book on Kindle Unlimited with patterns for a crochet version.  

Here is my first block.  I chained 25 which made the block exactly 8 inches.  I am using half double crochet (US terms) and each row has 23 stitches.  The chain 2 at the beginning of a row does not count as a stitch.  I thought I would do 20 rows but, as it turned out, 19 rows made it exactly 8 inches square.  

I am using mostly "I Love this Yarn" from Hobby Lobby- in a number 4 weight.  I am using a 5.5 MM/I-9 hook.  

Here is one way to test for squareness in addition to measurement.  I am not one to block my crochet unless it is just really out of whack...

For block number two, I did 6 rows of red, 7 rows of white, and 6 of blue.  

In the reproduction and reference materials I found online, there are 80 blocks in this blanket so that is what I will be aiming for.  That will make my blanket 64 by 80 inches.  That is if I decide it does not need any sort of border when finished.  

If you have made this blanket, or decide to try your own, I would love to see pictures and have updates on your process!

I used the gold from the first block to do a single crochet to put them together.  I like the ridge that is left on one side of the blanket and will make sure all the joins are on the same side.  If you look at the one in the movie, it appears to be joined with black and it does have a slight ridge as well.  

My husband said he thought, when I was printing out all the pictures for reference, that I was going to reproduce it as a quilt-not a bad idea so...

I only have two more days before I return to work after the Winter Holiday.  So many ideas and unfinished projects and NEVER enough time!!!