The music is fading into the sunset as our Last Dance on the Beach comes to an end. It has been 14 beautiful weeks and the time has come to be proud of what we have made. It is with joy that I show you my two blankets; Last Dance in the Sea in Color Crafter (left) and Last Dance in the Sea in Merino Soft (right).
Looking back on 14 beautiful weeks
We started this special project by making 12 squares designed by 12 talented designers in loving memory of Wink; a young designer who could not find the light she was looking for and decided to leave this world for a better place.
Esther from Happy in Red started week 1 with a kelp square, Kirsten from Haak maar Raak continued in week 2 with a star stitch design, week 3 was designed by Tatsiana from Lilla Bjorn Crochet and had the sun setting in the waves, after which Atty from Atty’s Blog made even higher waves in week 4. Nerissa from Miss Neriss had the cutest seagull walking over our squares in week 5 and in week 6 we learned C2C from Carmen from Crafty Queens. Week 7 was all about drawing big hearts in the sand with Maria from 50 shades of 4-ply and week 8 we broke the water with big boulders designed by Jellina from Jellina’s Creations. We had more animals walking over our squares with Dedri from Look at What I Made as she had crabs walking in the sand in week 9 who we happily walking through the ripples from the faux knit stitch in week 10 designed by Sarah from Crafts from the Cwtch. The end was coming near with the squares from week 11 as Annelies from Vicarno designed stones stacked up high on the beach and week 12 designed by Tammy from CanaDutch were the waves washed up against the shore. We joined the squares in week 13 and in this final part we are making a border around our blanket.
Each week I collected images that reminded me of the squares. Looking at my mood board for Last Dance I see the sea in every aspect of this blanket. We will never look at the ocean in the same way again.
One more time, how it all began….
Last Dance on the Beach is a special project for many people for many reasons. Some see the blanket as a tribute to someone they have lost, others see it as a recognition for those struggling with mental health difficulties. Personally, I look at Last Dance on the Beach as coming full circle; I would not have started making crochet videos if it were not for Wink.
Almost two years ago I impulsively joined my very first CAL. I had only been crocheting for a few months and I saw lovely autumn colored Scheepjes ROMA yarn to accompany the Scheepjes CAL 2014. I bought it because I fell in love with the warm colors; I had never used Scheepjes yarn before so I had no idea that it would be such a delight to work with. With great excitement I looked forward to the release of a new square each week. I enjoyed making every square and I posted my completed squares in the Facebook group weekly. I noticed that there were women who were struggling with the squares and some were even giving up. Some blamed themselves for not being competent enough, others blamed Marinke for writing bad patterns. I thought to myself: “If only they could see how to do it, where to put the stitches, what to watch out for…”. The idea grew in my head to make video tutorials that would show how to actually make the squares and because the idea did not want to go away, I decided to act on it!
Scheepjes CAL 2014 worked with ROMA in autumn colors
I contacted Marinke and asked her permission to make videos that would support her designs and illustrate how to make them. To my amazement she said “yes”. Remember, at this point I was a total stranger to her, I had nothing on my crochet-CV and I had no references whatsoever. She trusted me with her designs and let me create my very first set of videos. And the rest as they say, is history. Looking back, Marinke started me on my journey of video tutorials. If she had said “no” I would not be here writing this to you now, not be a Scheepjes Blogger and I would not have made the videos for Sophie’s Universe, Flight of Fancy or Last Dance on the Beach.
I met Marinke only once, during a meet-and-greet of the CAL she designed for Scheepjes in 2014. Here are some photos from Marinke’s blog at the meet-and-greet sessions. If you look very closely, you will find me in one of them.
Photos: Marinke Slump – A Creative Being
Video tutorials
Each week I made 4 video tutorials to show you how to work the squares, join them and make the border. The videos are available in English and Dutch and left and right handed. All videos are to be found on the dedicated Dutch and English video pages on my blog or my YouTube Channel.
Color list
I have made two blankets; a Dance in the Sea in Color Crafter and a Dance in the Sea in Merino Soft. Each week I played with color in my Merino Soft afghan, resulting in a lovely mix of 48 unique squares; no two squares are the same. Also my border I made using two colors for that finishing touch. All information regarding my colorway for each square as well as the hook size I used is given in my color distribution.
With my Dance in the Sea in Color Crafter blanket I followed the colors listed in the pattern. Also this blanket is just beautiful.
Yarn kits
We are at the end of this project, but maybe you are still at the beginning. If you have fallen in love with this blanket there are kits available in two yarns and in three color ways. You can choose a base kit with Color Crafter yarn or a luxury kit with Merino Soft yarn. The three color ways are Dance in the Sea, Dance in the Rain and Dancing under the stars. Both kits have yarn and a special edition label to add to your afghan. If you choose for the luxury kit you will also get lots of other goodies. Kits are available from Paradise Fibers (USA/CA), Wool Warehouse (UK/International), Deramores (UK/International), or your local Scheepjes stockist.
Finished but not the end
We have come to the end of this project, but I sincerely hope that this will not be the last project that we do together. I hope to see you again for a new project soon. And in the mean time, dance like no one is watching!
With love,
Esther
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