Changing Blankets to make a better design

Back in May I posted about a baby blanket I had made.  Its been up for sale in my etsy shop since May and I haven't been able to sell it.  So I decided it needed to be changed to make it more appealing.  So I frogged all of the double crochet joining the granny squares.  I decided I would try the join as you go method from Attic 24.  This blanket is made from traditional granny squares and is made from Stylecraft Special DK wool in Grass Green, Spring Green, Citron, Shrimp and Parchment.  I had initially joined the squares together using Grass Green but for joining together I used Parchment.  It has made the blanket look really pretty.

As well as using the join as you go method and changing the joining colour to parchment I've also added some more squares to the blanket making it toddler/pushchair size of 30 x 40 inches.  So altogether the blanket is made up of 48 squares.  I've attempted to photograph it today as I've finished it and today was sunny.  My house was as grey and and dark as its been for many days now so I went to the park just 2 minutes around the corner from my house to take photos in the sunlight.  Whilst it was bright and sunny it was a tad blowy and so it was hard to get the blanket to keep still. 

I've still got some way to go to improve the photographs I take, I may have to sign up for one of the online photography courses run by Makelight to ensure I take much better photos.  I hope that with these changes my blanket is more appealing to the Etsy shopper.

Crochet blanket for my Grandma

Last year I started on making a blanket for my Grandma.  I had been to visit my Grandma for a few days between Christmas and New Year and she talked about being cold and so needed the heating on.  My sister and I commented on the fact that she doesn't have blanket to wrap around her if she was cold.  So I started on a blanket for my Grandma.

My Grandmas favourite colour is burnt orange and the colour of her lounge was green.  I therefor set out to create a blanket in orange and green colour way.  I looked through pinterest to find inspiration for colours for the blanket so I explored pinterest and decided I liked the colour interests on this picture of poppies.  I ordered some Stylecraft Special DK in Meadow, Lime, Khaki, Spice, Jaffa and Black from Wool Warehouse.  I already knew I was going to make a ripple blanket using the ripple from Attic 24.  You can find the tutorial for how to do this here.  I decided I didn't like the black and so changed black to cream instead.

I started this blanket in the hope I would be able to give it my Grandma for her 90th Birthday, but I didn't get it finished in time for her birthday.  I then hoped to finish it in time for last Christmas but didn't quite manage to get it finished in time.  I did get it finished over the Christmas holidays.  Since I had bought the wool and finished the blanket my Grandma's health had deteriorated and she was living in a care home.  I gave my parents the blanket to give to her but they didn't give it to her as they were worried it would go missing in the home.  Unfortunately my Grandma never got to see the blanket whilst she was alive.  I couldn't cope with the though of someone else having this blanket other than my Grandma so it went into her coffin with her keeping her warm (it was February and a tad cold).  So whilst my Grandma never saw the finished blanket it did help to keep her warm.

I purchased 2 balls of each colour of stylecraft yarn for the blanket and only needed to use one ball of each colour and so had some spare yarn.  I then decided I would make another blanket in these colours.  It wasn't going to be a ripple, I was going to make my first corner to corner blanket.  So I looked up online how to make a C2C blanket and with help from a number of different sources including The Patchwork Heart and the Crochet Crowd I completed my first C2C blanket.  It was quick to make.

This is my corner to corner blanket, which is my first attempt.  It is Lapghan sized  and so is 36 inches by 48 inches.  Although it is the same colour way as my Grandma's blanket it looks quite different.  What do you think?  Is this a good colour scheme? Do you think it works as a C2C blanket?  I can't help but think it looks better as a neat ripple also the Jaffa colour is shinning out very brightly in the photos which it doesn't do in reality.