Crocheted Granny Stripe Blanket

Granny Stripe Blanket Dashboard

I’ve decided I really need to knuckle down on the granny stripe blanket I’m crocheting for my eldest child. Our budget should allow for me to get the wool I need for now – bearing in mind this thing is (had better be) a genuine heirloom to last the kiddo a lifetime. But several of the colours I’m using are already discontinued, meaning if I leave it much longer I’m going to be in real trouble.

So, I’m taking my granny stripe blanket properly in hand and am going to Get On With It.

I’m a person who needs to fully grasp the boundaries of a situation in order to feel comfortable tackling the details (classic INTJ) so I realised part of the problem with this project was not being able to visualise my progress. I’d do several rows and the thing wouldn’t look any longer, and I hadn’t calculated exactly how many rows I’d need – I was just going to continue with the pattern until I reached the required measurement. But this level of vagueness is not ‘me’ so…

Enter the Granny Stripe Blanket Dashboard!

A happy evening spent with Excel and my Mac’s Automator, and now I just enter how many rows I’ve done on a given day, and it works out my progress to date and what I still need to do. Every week I’ll be prompted to post a blog update too, and to publish the dashboard on my social media. (Did I mention INTJ!)

click to enlarge

As you can see, to finish by 1st September, I need to complete 1.3 rows every day. If I manage more rows per day, the rate needed for completion will drop, if I don’t do any for a few days, the rate will increase.

These calculations are for the main part of the blanket – the back-and-forth rows. This should allow me time before Christmas to complete the border, but I know I won’t need much incentive to do that, it will be great to know I’m finishing it.

Granny Stripe Blanket Progress

The finished blanket will be around 155 x 260 cm – a little narrow for a bedspread, perhaps. I might add some rows on to the sides, before working the 15cm border, to make it wider, but I don’t need to decide that until I’ve completed the length. Because of the discontinuation of some of the colours I’m having to do extra juggling with my pattern – but with better data now available to me (how many rows I can get from a ball, etc) it should be easier for me to balance the design.

I’ll admit to being in awe of all the people in my social media feed who seem to be making blankets all the time. I mean, even without financial constrains on yarn, and even through I’m not a slow crocheter, I don’t know how I could ever make them so quickly. I mean, people are making, like, more than one a year! How? This is why I have never joined in a crochet-along (CAL) – there is no way I could keep up!

But look out for regular future Granny Stripe Blanket Updates here on my blog, as well as on Ravelry, Twitter and Facebook, and we’ll see if my new dashboard really makes the difference to this project.