Well, that’s half of December gone and never to return. I’m sure you too will all be pleased to see the end of 2020. Much hope is being put on the new vaccine. No idea when it will be offered to us – we will just wait patiently. The next few squares for our ongoing project are below, but first ….

I’ve been giving some thought to next year. I don’t want to commit to scheduling a square a day for 2021 in the same manner as this year, but I do want to continue the daily discipline, and, from various responses, I gather others do too – so, I now have a plan. This is to announce the birth of the Friendship Blanket(s) and you can make it with a little (or a lot) of help from your friends.

2020 would not have been bearable without friends. I wanted to ‘commemorate’ this in some way, so I have come up with an idea. It’s VERY flexible, and will adapt to knitting or even fabric. As it will be modular – once again squares will be the way forward for me – but no reason why stripes or strips wouldn’t be an alternative.

YARN

It’s always good to start with what you have. At this stage I would say:

• Be open minded
• Look around for inspiration
• Be bold
• Try something new!

Your joining colour, if you use one, will possibly be the only constant, so choose something that is either already plentiful in your stash, or, is easily available. I tend to steer clear of newly introduced yarns – if they are unpopular they will definitely be discontinued. Nothing is certain in the yarn industry!

If you are on Instagram you will probably have seen the first announcement. I will be posting more information over there too.

The hashtag is all ready to follow – and, of course, to use.

#instafriendshipblanket and

#friendshipblanket2021

Let me know what you think.

So, on to the next schedule for the current blanket in the 2020 series. It’s so close to the end now that I’m going to present it in a slightly different way. Today’s square will finish Strip number 5, then you will see ALL of Strip 6, leaving just one full strip for the next schedule. I thought this would help you to fit them in around your busy Christmas time.

December 16: 1 round Cream/ 5 rounds Galium/ 1 round Cream

STRIP SIX

1. 1 round Cream/ 5 rounds Titanium/ 1 round Cream
2. 1 round Cream/ 5 rounds Magnesium/ 1 round Cream
3. 1 round Cream/ 5 rounds Mercury/ 1 round Cream
4. 1 round Cream/ 5 rounds Phosphorus/ 1 round Cream
5. 1 round Cream/ 5 rounds Bismuth/ 1 round Cream
6. 1 round Cream/ 5 rounds Iron/ 1 round Cream
7. 1 round Cream/ 5 rounds Copper/ 1 round Cream
8. 1 round Cream/ 5 rounds Sulphur/ 1 round Cream

And that completes STRIP SIX

The final strip will be posted before Christmas.

• The story of May!
• Five and May progress
• Five and some revisits.
• Simply five more!
• January Catch-up