Bobbly Flowers Crochet Blanket (and Discontinued Yarn)

Thank you for all the messages, comments and emails over the past month!  I have a lot to go through.  I’m sorry I missed everyone who came by for the Nuts About Squares 2017 Crochet-Along, but I’m so happy to have you here!  I am working on a future photo tutorial post for the border of the Tropical Delight square, and if you are waiting on a message from me, I’m slowly working my way through them!  Thanks for your patience and support. 

~*~

I have a lot of unfinished crochet projects.  Don’t get me wrong, I have a lot of finished projects too, but for one reason or another, and with blankets especially, I take my time and work on them when I’m inspired to do so, in between other projects.

But.

The one problem with this is that over the course of a year or two (or three or four), some of the yarn colors that I started out using were discontinued.  I know that you’re supposed to purchase all the yarn color up front for dye lot continuity, but for acrylic projects that use no real dye lots like Red Heart or Vanna’s Choice, I’ve never really considered that necessary.  There’s a craft store right down the street from me, and it’s no big deal to run out for ten minutes and grab a few more skeins of the color that I’m running low on. 

Big mistake, though.  Because back in 2012, I participated in an awesome swap with the VCFC gals called “Pink Lemonade”, featuring a great color scheme of pinks and yellows.  And when the swap was over, I decided to use up my leftover yarn on the gorgeous Bobbly Flower crochet blanket.  I worked on it for a while, and it got put away during a move, placed in a basket on a shelf, and took a bit of a break in my project rotations.

Fast forward to a few years later, I’ve pulled it out again and have found that not one; not two, but SIX out of the eleven colors I used in it have been discontinued!  Yikes!  Of the colors:

• Olive Green
• Pink
• Kelly Green
• Fern Green
• Antique Rose – ?
• Duckie – discontinued
• Lamb – discontinued
• Pink Poodle – discontinued
• Pea Green – discontinued
• Soft Pink – discontinued
• Wild Berry – discontinued

Has Antique Rose been discontinued?  I’m only able to find regular Rose online, but I’m so out of the loop these days I don’t even know!

Now fortunately, I do have an admittedly small stash of most of these colors; others just a skein or two, so I’m planning on continuing the project for now, but I’m fully aware this may end up to be more a lapghan than an actual blanket.  It’s just such a bummer to have such great colors disappear seemingly overnight.  I especially miss Soft Pink – there were so many projects I wanted to use that color in, and all of the substitute yarns I’ve tried so far have been close in color- but not quiet there. 

So now I’m debating whether to include some new colors in this, or make do with what I have?  Or maybe I’ll hit up the eBay circuit and see what I can collect.  I’m not sure.  This pattern, with all its bobbles, certainly does use up a good deal of yarn.  And at the very least, I’ll enjoy making what I can with what I have left.

~Mellie