After having such a wonderful time creating the 2025 Book Blanket, I knew I wanted to make another for 2026’s reading. But I wanted to try something different, and I had a vague idea in my head. With 32 books completed in the first 5 months of the year, I’ve now got a decent enough “sample size” to show you a glimpse of my vision.
Instead of trying to match my crochet to book covers, I wanted a broader view of my year’s reading. After debating whether I should track by month-read versus genre versus source, I decided to go with month-read. Then came the decision about color and “coding”, and believe me, I had quite a few options in mind. What I landed on was assigning each month a color of yarn, then crocheting rectangles of varying widths to represent book spines, one per book read each month.
To keep up with what color represents what month {and a quick way to help pick colors}, I’ve made a bookmark/card to keep with my crocheted pieces. After accidentally going very pastel for the first part of the year, I’m trying to work in more saturated colors, and the May color is a lot more purple than appears in these photographs. At the end of the year, I will mix them all up and join them together, similar to the example below.
My hope is that as they are attached, they will look like books on a shelf. To further expand the “bookshelf” concept {and add much-needed size to the blanket}, I will also crochet rows between the spine blocks to create the illusion of the interior bookcase and the actual shelves. I might attempt to crochet some shelf decorations too, but that might be a bit beyond my skill set.
It will be interesting to see how this project comes together, but I am pleased that so far the rough layout is matching the picture in my head. With more spines {and more colors!}, I think it will really take shape. The hardest part will be adjusting and adding rounds to make it a usable blanket size. Although I guess I could always turn it into a border sampler of sorts, to create a very elaborate frame for the book case … Hmm … Many things to think about, but still many more books to read and create until decisions must be made!
Have you ever tried something like this?
What’s your tried-and-true method for getting a blanket bigger?
Interesting
LikeLike
What a clever idea! I’m looking forward to see your progress and you continue with this project.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you! I hope it turns out the way I see it in my head 😀
LikeLike
This is such a fabulous idea! I cannot wait to see it take shape!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you! 😀 I also can’t wait to see how it turns out, hehe
LikeLike
This is such a cute idea!!! I can’t wait to see it when it is all finished!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Me too 😀 lol
LikeLike
I have never tried anything like this, and I am in awe of you for doing so! I can totally see how it’ll look like books on shelves. How wonderful!
LikeLiked by 1 person
When I first cooked up the idea, I wasn’t sure if it would work or not – but once I started collecting months, I could see it better 🙂 I’m very intrigued with this process, hehe
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ooh I cant wait to see what the finished project looks like. I love the sound of it being like books on a shelf and cant wait to see how it all comes together. I want to do something similar cross stitch wise next year but probably by genre. Of course being me it’ll probably end up being a shelf of mostly whatever colour I assign to fantasy 🙈
LikeLiked by 1 person
I have seen some of the coolest cross-stitch shelves like that! If you know fantasy will be the overwhelming majority, you could get more color in by making subgenres or etc, like “standalone” versus “series” or something? I toyed with genre, but was not sure how much variation I’d get either, lol
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yeah I thought I’d try to break it down within the fantasy bracket further. I hadn’t thought of the series/standalone thing though and I love the thought of finding a way to group those together.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Your new idea for this year’s book blanket is awesome, I always love seeing what crafts you come up with, and making book spines is such a cute idea 🙂 ! I see that the spines seem to be different sizes, are you making each spine thinner or thicker depending on the book it’s meant to represent or going more by vibe? It’s all coming together so nicely, and I look forward to seeing how to choose to finish it all together. I love the shelves idea as well. Sadly I don’t have a method for getting a bigger blanket because the only one I’ve ever crochet is a small lap-sized one. lol
LikeLiked by 1 person
The spine variation is wholly based on vibes/how carried away I get, LOL! I’m trying to mix some different stitches in at times, for a little variation, while still maintaining enough consistency for them to go together nicely at the end. We’ll see how that works out 😉
Depending on my totals and how they lay out, this may end up being more lap-size too. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ahaha extremely valid! 😀 That makes sense, just to add a little bit of visual interest but still be cohesive, makes sense to me. I’m sure it’ll come out great!
Nothing wrong with a lapghan they’re super cozy too!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh, this is going to be stunning!!! I can’t wait to see what it looks like at the end!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you! 😀 I am feeling really hopeful about it, now that I can get a decent idea how it will look.
LikeLiked by 1 person
[…] the books I want to read, I should be able to add more books to the shelves in this year’s bookish crochet blanket! With so much going on, it’s extra important to stop and savor the beautiful moments, which […]
LikeLike
[…] Rebecca shared her plans for her 2026 book blanket project and I love the sound of the design she has in mind. […]
LikeLike