Just finished this blanket!

That's so pretty!. Clever girl.

Lovely. Do you have to pierce holes in the fleece and how do you it?

Great idea - that looks really pretty.

How lovely, and so neat and even. I think I would run out of patience pretty quickly. I have seen these patterns too, but have never attempted one. Good for you Indinana.

That is so pretty Indinana.

I am plodding on with a crochet blanket at the moment. Actually plodding sounds as if I am not enjoying it which isn't true. The problem I have is that it keeps me warm while I crochet so I keep adding another round!

Did you make even holes to crochet into or did you just make them as you went round?

Gracesgran you can always just finish the blanket and drape it over you - you don't have to keep adding to it .
I made all the holes first - it's pretty difficult poking a crochet hook through otherwise. I used one of those 18" x 6" perspex rules to mark off every quarter inch (about half an inch in from the edge) using a disappearing marker. That's how the crochet is so even. Then I made all the holes with a stitch ripper.
But the funny thing is that when I started doing the crochet I kept coming across 'holes' that had closed up . I think it must be because inevitably I'm handling the fabric and the friction causes the fibres to knit together again! So I had to have the stitch ripper handy.

Self-healing fleece - you may have made a discovery Indinana

I thought I would just work out how to do some granny squares with flowers in the middle. The squares are worked out from the flowers rather than the flowers stitched on. It was a challenge and now I have to make enough to do another border on the blanket. It's all an excuse not to do the dreaded h....w... (whisper it softly) of course

Oh it is always about h/w avoidance, isn't it? I am constantly busy doing / making all sorts of things just for that very reason .

When you've finished that blanket Gracesgran you must post a picture for us on here - I'll be interested to see your flower squares

That's very pretty - I wish I could crochet.

grey you can teach yourself to crochet via YouTube - really! I did.

indi that is lovely, I'm gonna try it.

Oh good, glad I've inspired someone else Gk . Another way you can do this, instead of the palaver of making all the holes, is to blanket stitch all round first, then you crochet into that. I think it's probably still worth marking with a ruler and disappearing marker, to make sure it's even. I've seen that method used to put a crochet edging onto finer fabric, like quilting cotton for example. That's on my list of things to try!

It's lovely! I really like that idea. All I need now is a baby...

janer

My grandmother used to have a hole puncher that she would use to make holes in fabric covered belts and then she'd put the stud thingies in to finish it. I wonder whether you can still buy them? Gonna look.

Something like this:
www.amazon.co.uk/Draper-63637-Expert-Revolving-Punch/dp/B0001K9YL0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1441989361&sr=8-1&keywords=fabric+hole+punch

Apparently a skip blade is the fastest method - there's one in this set which you use with a rotary cutter. I've actually got this set of blades but can I find them? All I can find is the empty packet (worrying in itself ).

I have an eyelet hole maker somewhere, I wonder if that would work?

I thought that two janerowena as I have a cropadile* and wondered about that but I can see why the skip blade would work as it would save you measuring and it will need to be even. It's such a lovely way to personalise the blanket.

*My crafty stash will definitely outlive me

I run a knitting and crochet club, this caught my eye because we have been asked to make small hand-crafted items to sell for charity at our local hospital shop. I have to keep my eye out for just this sort of thing.

My thumbs and aching arm muscles are giving me an awful lot of pain at present and I had to stop doing a test run of a pattern for a throw last June when it all flared up. I am very glad I did not buy the yarn. I am feeling very pissed off with this and jealous of you knitters. Enjoy your efforts though.

janer this would be perfect for the hospital shop, as once the holes are made it is very quick to do. I used cotton yarn, because I think it gives a very neat finish, but you can use any yarn to hand. A metre of fleece will make two baby blankets (you can't buy half a metre because it's 150cm wide so you'd have a long narrow piece!). I bought this at Hobbycraft for £8 a metre and I know they're not the cheapest around - but they were the handiest and I always want things now

In fact, you could cut a metre of fleece into four to make small pram blankets, each measuring roughly 20" x 30" before edging.

Ooh, thanks for that! It sounds ideal, I shall write it all down now before I forget!

I have never heard of a cropodille before and had to look it up. I thought I had every crafty gadget under the sun. Janerowena it's sewing month evidently and Coats have some very useful things in their monthly email here

I meant useful for hospital shops. The bag made with jelly roll strips I have already made in c*****++s fabrics to send for the fair in that month.