By Erin Fox

It’s a Friday night and you’re settling down to watch the first episode of the eagerly awaited new season of Game of Thrones. For us crocheters, we’re lining up our hooks and organising our yarn packs to start the next part of the pattern for the moorlands blanket.

Designed by Lucy, founder of crochet blog, Attic24, the moorlands blanket is inspired by the colourful landscape of the Yorkshire moors in the late summer.

But rather than releasing the entire pattern all at once, Lucy has opted for an 8-week Crochet-Along (CAL) —a group of people all working on a project at the same time and pace— guiding her followers through the steps to make the blanket.

By releasing the pattern in weekly instalments, Lucy has invited her followers to be a part of her personal project. In doing so, she’s created a community of crocheters on social media sharing their progress, and their own excitement about the release of the pattern.

The CAL finished last week but it gathered a massive following on social media. The hashtag #moorlandsblanket is trending on Instagram; and an “Attic24 Moorland CAL” Facebook group, set up by Lucy’s followers, grew bigger each week as more people from around the world joined to share their own work, see what progress others made, and together countdown to Fridays when the next part of the pattern is released.

It’s just like waiting for the next Thrones episode to broadcast!

Just like every season has a trailer to build up momentum with fans, the moorlands blanket had its own fair share of teasers leading up to the release of the pattern.

The CAL may have started in January but the moorlands blanket story started back in the summer of 2016, when Lucy started working on the design and colour palette of the blanket.

Since then she’s been sharing this journey with her audience, offering them sneak peaks of the colours to give them something to look forward to, including releasing a yarn pack last November with all the colours needed to make the blanket.

The pattern’s release in early January couldn’t have been timed better with people looking for new projects to take on after the festive season had ended.

And Lucy’s work on the project hasn’t stopped there, as she frequently responds to questions about the pattern, and shares photos of her followers’ work on her blog.

By involving her fans in a project with her, Lucy has connected her audience around the world and secured a strong loyal following —much more meaningful than 5000 likes on one blog post!

Featured image of the moorlands blanket by Attic24.