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).

Resources

• Add the Free Pattern to your Ravelry Library
• My color chart for Last Dance on the Beach

• Written pattern in English (UK Terms)
• All RIGHT HANDED English video tutorials in one YouTube playlist
• All LEFT HANDED English video tutorials in one YouTube playlist

• Written pattern in Dutch
• Garenpakketten bij Caro’s Atelier
• Alle RECHTSHANDIGE Nederlandse video tutorials in één YouTube playlist
• Alle LINKSHANDIGE Nederlandse video tutorials in één YouTube playlist

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 Caro’s Atelier (NL/EU), Wool Warehouse (UK/International), or your local Scheepjes stockist.

• Color Crafter – Dancing in the Rain
• Color Crafter – Dancing in the Sea
• Color Crafter – Dancing under the Stars
• Merino Soft – Dancing in the Rain
• Merino Soft – Dancing in the Sea
• Merino Soft – Dancing under the Stars

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.

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!

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.

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.

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 my blog or my YouTube Channel.

• All RIGHT HANDED English video tutorials in one YouTube playlist
• All LEFT HANDED English video tutorials in one YouTube playlist

• Alle RECHTSHANDIGE Nederlandse video tutorials in één YouTube playlist
• Alle LINKSHANDIGE Nederlandse video tutorials in één YouTube playlist

Joining your squares

You will be using my favorite method to join your squares, the so-called zipper join or flat joining method. The great thing about this join is that it is totally flat which gives a very professional and aesthetically pleasing finish. The main thing you need to pay attention to is making sure that all your stitches are of the same size.

The two most important things for joining a blanket are consistency and tension. Make sure your stitches are all the same size because this will make your blanket look its best and check carefully that your tension is loose enough so that your squares do not pull inward. If you are struggling with tension, go up an extra hook size if needed. I worked my Color Crafter join with a 4.5mm hook and my Merino Soft join with a 5.0mm hook. For the rest, joining an afghan is always a lot of work. So take it slow, two squares and one join at a time.

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.

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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