Sweven Throw Crochet Pattern Reveal

Although I've never been very good at drawing, I've certainly been a doodler--while talking on the phone, while listening to the radio, while sitting in a class, on the paper placemats at a restaurant while waiting for my food to arrive. It turns out that doodling is a form a fidgeting and I'm a master fidgeter! Sitting still is almost painful for me. I think crochet is a supreme method of fidgeting, but you get something purposeful and beautiful at the end of all that "wiggling"!

I'm here today to share my newest blanket pattern that was inspired by my doodling. I'm calling it the Sweven Throw. Sweven, an archaic word, means dream or vision. See, my childhood doodles were often these little "flowers" that consisted of a swirl with a little leaf on the corner. I still doodle them today. So my doodle has come to life in a big way!!

Sweven Throw crochet pattern by Susan Carlson of Felted Button

It all started when I got my hooks into the Scheepjes Our Tribe yarn*. I shared a bit about them here. I've also designed a few things with it, one of which is my free Find Your Tribe Scarf which you can find here.

These are the fifteen colors I used in my blanket--one ball of each color, with a solid called Silver Birch for the main color and Pistachio Branch for the leaves. Would you look at these pics below of the blanket corners?

Sweven Throw by Susan Carlson of Felted Button

The subtle variations make my heart happy. And the "random" leaves are pretty fun, too. With 7 other colors to choose from that I didn't use, a serious color explosion is possible. If you find it cost prohibitive to buy all of the colors of Our Tribe that I used, you can always reduce the number of balls to your favorite colors that sing to your heart. I did the math and calculated that at my gauge you can get 20 swirls from each ball. That means that even with a blanket my size--195 motifs total--that you can get away with only 10 balls. And if you make it smaller, even fewer, because my Sweven Throw is huge with dimensions of 66“ x 73“ (169cm x 185cm).

My testers worked up some samples that were pretty fantastic, too. Kris, who used Scheepjes Catona, made this sample which I love! (I'm thinking a Catona Colour Pack would be splendid for this pattern with each swirl being made from one of 109 colors.)

Photo by Kris Price used with permission.

Are you getting some fun ideas of how to use the colors here? This one was done by Sandra. I love the natural, earthy feel of her colors.

Photo by Sandra Veneman of Beautiful Boardwalk used by permission.

So then I had to work up a sample with a mix between these two tester samples for myself.

This is in Scheepjes Catona and it makes me super happy with the white flowers against colored backgrounds. Again it would be super fun using a Catona Colour Pack* with each cutie pie making the background. At my gauge and worked with a 3.5mm hook, there is just enough yarn to make a full swirl and a background that squares it off. All you would need is a bit of extra for the border and leaves.

Then I decided to work up some swirls in a very affordable yarn with lots of colors to choose from--Scheepjes Wanderlust. Because of the long color-runs, each swirl ends up with a different "personality" and could be arranged similarly to the Our Tribe. You can see all of the color choices here*. Remember, you can get all of these yarns from my favorite places to shop for yarn:
Deramores*
Wool Warehouse*
Knotty House*
Black Sheep Wools*
Local Retailers

Speaking of arranging colors, when I made this design, I used my bed to lay out all of the motifs.

But I was going to need my bed before I had time to square and join-as-you-go the swirls, so this is what I did.

I skewered them! By numbering the skewers with a piece of masking tape I was able to keep them all organized by rows during joining. Pretty neat and tidy, huh?

So how do you get the pattern? You can find it all of my shops: Etsy and LoveCrafts. If you want more details about the pattern itself, skill level, stitches used and what the pattern contains, the listings there will help you.

Thanks for letting me go on about this design--you can probably tell I'm excited about it.

So, does the fact that I am a doodler mean I'm inattentive? Or could it be a means of focusing more effectively? Here's an article from Harvard about the effects/benefits of doodling on stress relief and ability to focus that makes me feel better about my daydreaming.

I'm off to do some dreaming about new crochet projects that are in my head and on my hook. Be at peace and keep dreaming and hooking.

| On the Board | -- There are hidden blessings in every struggle.