Demelza Crochet Blanket

Demelza showed up in the Ravelry patterns some time last week, and it seems to have caught the attention of crocheters everywhere – it certainly did me.  I was struck by the beautiful layout of the blanket as soon as I saw it, and the plethora of comments and adoration of other Ravellers showed that I was hardly the only one.

Demelza Crochet Blanket by Catherine Bligh

The blanket was named after and inspired by a character from the series Poldark, which I had never heard of before seeing the blanket.  So after downloading the free pattern, I looked around online to see if I could find the series.  It only seemed fitting for me to watch the show as I made the afghan.  While I wasn’t able to find a free stream of the series, I bought season 1 off of Amazon Prime Video and settled in with a pretty assortment of colors to start my foray into Poldark and Demelza.

Honestly, I had no idea what to expect from the series.  I admit I may be a little to “Americanized”, as I was expecting a British cinematic masterpiece like Downton Abbey.  Poldark is much less about the fancy settings and much more focused on character development.  And while it’s not something I’m used to, the British shows I’ve seen have always been much better in this regard – I appreciate that while a lot of American shows spell things out in your face so that you’re 100% aware of what everything means, British shows are much more subtle and assume the audience can pick up on subtlety. 

Anyway though – back to the blanket!  Demelza has been fun to make so far.  I’ve made only a few modifications here and there and there has been a little bit of errata found (which has already been corrected in the pattern), but nothing serious enough that a little math couldn’t solve.  I’m using Caron Simply Soft yarn, as the suggested Stylecraft isn’t readily available here in the states.  And as the pattern is becoming more popular on Ravelry, crochet-alongs have begun to pop up, such as this one from Vanna’s Choice Fan Club.  

Demelza Blanket

My version is much less garden theme and more keeping with rich jewel tones, but I think it will turn out lovely nonetheless.  You can download the pattern free on Ravelry by following this link. 

~Mellie