The Sirdar Coronation Keepsake Blanket Crochet Along

I am absolutely delighted to finally be able to share this blanket with you.

When Sirdar commissioned me to design a blanket to celebrate the Coronation of King Charles, I have to admit I was slightly terrified. It felt like a huge responsibility, meeting everyone’s expectations for what a Royal celebration blanket should look like, but also creating a design that would be suitable for beginners and experienced crocheters alike. Here I am going to talk a little bit about my inspiration for the design and what you can expect as we work through the CAL.

I’ve always been interested in History, particularly the ups and downs of the British Monarchy. I enjoy the pomp and pageantry of Royal occasions. As a 70s child, the Queen’s Silver Jubilee in 1977 holds so many memories for me. I think my respect and admiration for our late Queen stems from there.

When approaching the design for the blanket, I thought it was important to recognise that, before becoming King, Charles has already had a long life of service, achievements and interests. The central panel of the blanket represents this.

Tudor Rose

At the heart of the blanket, we have the Tudor rose. This is the symbol of British Monarchy and is recognised worldwide as the national flower of England.

Charles’ Military Career

I wanted to acknowledge Charles’ military service. He served in both the Royal Air Force and Royal Navy and spent most of his military career at sea. This is represented by the blue band of sea and sky. Also, as King, Charles becomes Commander in Chief of the British Military.

Charles and the Land

Charles has been an active campaigner for climate change for over 5 decades. He first warned us about the problem of plastics in the ocean in 1971 and is passionate about protecting marine ecosystems. He has championed organic food production on his Duchy of Cornwall estate and is a keen organic gardener on his personal estate at Highgrove.

Charles the Artist

Charles is a keen watercolour painter, first taking up his brush over 50 years ago. He is now one of the United Kingdom’s most successful living artists. His favourite subjects to paint are the countryside and the sea. I’ve chosen graduating yarn shades to try to replicate the soft effect of watercolours.

Royal Regalia

The outer panels of the blanket were huge fun to design and are inspired by the Crown Jewels and the Coronation Robe. The trailing leaf border represents the embroidery used to decorate coronation robes. It looks complicated, but it’s actually really simple and satisfying to work. In this section we also have mini bobbles to represent ermine around the base of the crown and little grannies to represent jewels

What to expect from the CAL

The CAL will run for 6 weeks, starting on 8th March. Every week, Sirdar will release a new pattern part. If you sign up at Sirdar.com here they will email you with a link to the pattern and to the accompanying videos we have made. It’s free.

I’ve taken care when designing the pattern to make it suitable for all abilities. All of the stitches and techniques are explained in the videos, but I’ve also made picture tutorials to go in the patterns. These will be useful as quick reference for any tricky bits.

Week one starts with a granny square and covers the basics such as working in rounds, changing colours and how to work all of the stitches. You don’t need any crochet experience to join in, but if you want to prepare, then being comfortable with holding the hook, making a slip knot, chains, double crochet and treble crochet stitches would be really useful.

Weeks two and three are also worked in rounds, but we will be adding new stitch patterns for variety and interest. They are all simple and intuitive stitch patterns and in the videos I explain how to read the pattern and work all of the stitches.

Weeks four and five are worked in rows to make four panels, one on each side of the blanket. These form the deep jewel and leaf border. They are crocheted directly onto the centre square so absolutely no sewing together is required. We will be using continuous join and join as you go in these weeks which are fantastic techniques to have up your sleeve for other projects.

Week six is a final border to finish off the blanket and then it’s time for the appliqué motifs. As well as the St. Edwards Crown, Orb and Sceptre and Tudor Rose, I have also made patterns of the Thistle of Scotland, Daffodil of Wales and Shamrock of Ireland, so all nations are represented. You can personalise your blanket with whichever ones you choose.

The final touch is the keepsake label. I wanted to include the King’s cypher on the blanket. I tried lots of different ways to add it, but it’s very difficult to add that level of detail in crochet. The inspiration for the woven label came from traditional British blankets. I remember having Witney blankets as a child and their woven labels seem so traditional and appropriate. Luckily Sirdar agreed and designed the amazing label. The Cypher is embroidered in gold thread and it really sparkles.

If you would like to take part, this is what you will need:

Sirdar Hayfield Bonus Dk 100g balls

4 x Cream

2 x Frost Blue

1 x Blue Marl

1 x Cornflower

1 x Grass (or Fern)

1 x Lime

1 x Ladybird

1 x Purple (or Neon Purple)

1 x Gilt

You can buy the yarn as a pack here. This will include the special Coronation Keepsake woven label:

Buy Yarn Pack from Sirdar

3.5mm and 4mm hooks.

Scissors

Yarn needle

A couple of stitch markers.

I would love you to join the Sirdar Make a long group on Facebook. It’s a great place for help and advice if you need it and a great place to share your progress pictures. I will be dropping in to say hello and see how you are all getting on.

Join the Sirdar Facebook Make-a-long group here.

I really hope that’s given you a taste of what the CAL will be like and would love you to join in and create your own keepsake blanket for this momentous occasion.

Anita x