My great-grandmother, Alice, was a huge crochet fan and I am grateful that she passed on the crafting gene to me. I remember my aunt saying that Nanna simply had a love of yarn and colour and I vividly recall her sat with a lap full of granny squares working out the order in which she would put them together.

Alice’s blankets now reside with family members across the globe, and I hope that one day my projects will also be heirlooms, alongside hers, handed down to family members that I have no hope of ever meeting. I love the fact that my great-grandmother’s hands made every stitch in our beloved inherited pieces and that they act as a reminder of the lives of previous generations and connect me and my family to the heritage of our pasts.

Whenever I post an image of a group of blankets in a pile or hung up at shows, I get lots of likes and comments on Instagram. It seems everyone just loves a stack of blankets. So, in the same way that a group of animals can be referred to as flocks, herds or packs, my assistant Emma and I felt there should be a name for a blanket collection.

We love the more charming terms for animal groups, such as a fluffle of rabbits or a flamboyance of flamingos, so we went through lots of words before deciding that a collection of blankets should be referred to as a ‘comfort’. A comfort of blankets, because we believe that handmade blankets are a true gift of love, aren’t they? We make them for new babies and for children throughout their childhoods. We gift them to young adults heading off to university, or moving into their first home and maybe getting married. They can be created simply to cheer someone up or keep them warm during convalescence or old age. Whatever the reason for gifting a blanket, they embody the idea of warmth and affection, and I love that so many people make them for others to enjoy.

I have a large collection of blankets now and see each one of them as a personal reminder of the time during which they were made. My first few crochet club projects, from over a decade ago, remind me of when my children were teenagers and I would sit at their sports events sewing in ends or getting some of the less complicated or repeated pieces made. My kids were both keen swimmers, so I often took small items to the pool as bigger projects made me far too warm! My later blankets remind me of their design inspiration, such as holidays and trips abroad, visits to art galleries, museums and historic buildings. Again, all interwoven with memories of what was going on in my personal life at the time.

* Read the full article in issue 187, available in print or digital