Hey guys!
Sorry it’s been a little while again since I last posted – I’ve been working a lot both on some new pattern designs and a short story for here which will be posted soon (hopefully tomorrow) about anxiety and stuff (lmao plus a feature of my dog because I love her)
But anyway! I made some more progress on the SMP blanket – I’m going to be posting every four squares I knit. This time I actually did the squares for the Dream Team (and Karl) and they definitely came out better than the Sleepy Bois squares (probably helped by the fact that I wasn’t knitting them in the car)
However I’m really, really not happy with Dream’s design – I thought it was okay but the more that I look at it the more I literally want to throw it into the sea. But it’s a starting point and that’s important. But any suggestions that you guys have for how to improve on it are so, so very appreciated because wow it is the most cursed thing I have ever created
So naturally, that’s where we should start!
Dream
Okay, as I said, it is quite literally the most cursed-looking thing in the world, and I accept that so the rest of you just have to accept that, too
Also, I very much don’t like the shade of green I used here – I wanted to use a light green for the background colour, but the only light green that I had was the one I used in Karl’s square, and while I do really like that softer shade of green, I don’t think that it would work as a background colour for any of the squares
Though perhaps I would feel better about the green I used here if I actually liked how the design came out, but (and his is going to sound really, really weird considering that this is based off of a Minecraft character) it’s far too blocky and the mouth is just wrong
So yeah, it needs a lot of work doing to it, but as I said it’s a starting point and I do see where to go from here to try to make it better. However, it’s also good that it did come out so scuffed because it means that I can use it to practice ironing the squares flat as I haven’t had a lot of experience with that so I’d much, much rather practise with the squares that I’m not pleased with
While my instinct was, naturally, to go for the Dream Smile for his blanket square, I kind of don’t know if I want to commit to that design? While I know how I’d alter this to try to improve it, I’m not sure that I want to settle completely on the smile design, I kind of want to do something different, though I don’t know what. So any ideas for different Dream designs are more than welcome!
Georgenotfound
Okay I actually should have said this at the beginning – all four of these designs came to me right away. Similar to how Techno’s crown and Phil’s heart were obvious to me as a result of them being iconic links to both their characters on the SMP and personalities in general, George’s goggles were I think one of the very first designs I pictured when I was still in the early planning stages of the blanket
And I think that it shows, as well – I think this was the first square that I completed that I was genuinely very, very pleased with – I know that realistically it’s quite a simple design but I think that it comes across very effectively as a blanket square, I especially love the contrast of it’s more simple design with the utter chaos that was Sapnap’s when I was making it (see below)
I also adore the colours – I know that’s not something to congratulate myself on, like “well done me, I picked out some good colours!!!!!!” but it made Norbert so, so quiet when I was making George’s square because not only was it very aesthetically pleasing to look at but also because all the wool I used (shout out Snuggly DK my main suppliers whooo) was so soft to touch. I think out of all four of these squares I made this time around, George’s was the one that quieted Norbert the most, because I was so pleased with the design and also because the wool was so soft and the colours were so calming to look at
So yeah, in general, I was really, really pleased with how this came out – I don’t know if it’s something that I’ll look back on in, like, a month or so and decide that, no I actually want to redo it (as I’m sure will be the case for many of these early blanket squares) but present day me who’s writing this is really pleased with this square and wouldn’t be surprised if it did actually make it onto the blanket
Though, saying that, I did actually want to do a mushroom square for George, but because I’m still debating if I should do squares for all the different countries as well if I did do that then Kinoko Kingdom would 100% require the mushroom brand so… goggles it was!
Sapnap
So yeah, when I mentioned above that Sapnap’s square was chaotic, I was not exaggerating
To people who don’t know how to knit, you may not get what I’m saying here, but using this many colours in as many random spots as I did was genuinely the most stressful thing ever, but in the best way because I think it came out really well!
(also want to mention my mum who walked in as I was taking the photos this morning and said that this square was her favourite – she has no idea who Sapnap is but… his brand got Mother Frog’s approval so good for him!)
Other than Dream’s, the design for Sapnap’s square took me the longest. At first it looked so, so much like a multi-coloured teardrop and it almost made me cry, too, and the layers of colours were far too regular and so I spent literal hours tweaking it and tweaking it and adding flames to the side and removing them again and then adding them again, but I think it was time well spent, because my bother told me that he could instantly tell me what it was – so that was a win!
I did debate a couple of different designs for Sapnap’s square – at first I considered doing a panda, just because I thought it would be funny, then I thought of a bandana or a sword but then the bandana wouldn’t have been anywhere near as effective and a sword would have just been far too generic in my head, it’s something that could have belonged to anyone. I want people to look at the blanket and be able to identify who each square represents
But I do think that, more than any of the other squares, the time I spent on Sapnap’s design payed off – I probably will tweak it more, make it even more irregular, perhaps add in some different shades, add more flames to the side etc. but as it stands, I am really, really proud of it because it was so difficult to manage all the colours (check the work-in-progress slideshow below to see my pain) but I really do love how it turned out, especially when put next to George’s
Karl Jacobs
Alright, so I know that this square is just a little on the nose, but bear with me
Karl’s square (and this might sound rude but hear me out) I was actually not all that worried about how it would turn out
And I know that sounds so harsh and rude and don’t get me wrong, I adore Karl with all my heart, but the thing is is that I have plans for a load of Tales-inspired squares as well, which will probably be used as the border of the blanket
And because of that, Karl-based things are probably going to be featured a lot in a load of squares and so getting his initial individual square right first try was not a worry for me
That’s also the reason why Karl’s square does seem kind of obvious – like of course the first idea I had for him was the spiral on his hoodie and more than any of the others you guys have seen, it’s very clear that I took my initial idea and ran with it without considering other designs. But I am glad that I did, because it is a simple design which meant that I managed to complete it quite quickly and it does look kind of really cool (also I might start knitting a proper full-sized Karl-inspired sweater because… I have no self-control)
And then the time that I saved by doing this rather simple design meant that I’ve been able to put more time into thinking about the squares I’m going to make in reference to Tales! I think the first four Tales squares are probably what I’ll be posting next for the blanket so… also send me your ideas for what designs I can do for them!
But yeah! These are the next four completed squares for my SMP-inspired blanket! I have a lot of ideas for squares for other people as well, though not all of them have been properly designed yet but as I said I’m going to knit them in blocks of four
As I also said, I think the next ones I’ll probably be posting will be the first four or so Tales-inspired ones, but I also have some Las Nevadas-themed squares that would be quite quick to design too so if you’d prefer that just let me know and I’ll see what you guys wanna see next!
If you do have any ideas for designs for the blanket squares or ideas of how to improve the ones I have already completed then please don’t hesitate to let me know! You can either leave a comment on here, or leave feedback with the feedback button I’ve just figured out how to put in, or if you’d prefer you can contact me on any of my socials! Send me a DM on Instagram, Twitter or Tumblr (all socials linked below) and I’ll be sure to get back to you and I’d really, really love to hear your thoughts on how the blanket is coming along!
Also (and I’ll make this quick because I don’t want to take up too much more of your time) I have recently set up a Ko-Fi page for myself (linked below!) – there’s a lot of information on there about what the donation money would go towards, but there’s really no pressure at all to donate to me, though they are really appreciated.
I hope that you’re all staying well!
Freddie 🐸
Knitting With Norbert 