Hellooo! After a two week absence I have returned. That might be the longest I’ve been away, which is pretty good going. Phew! And I’ve finished my latest crochet project! For a relatively small blanket, this one seemed to take forever. I’ve made crochet chevron blankets before but not for a long time. I now know why. Every stitch is so small that the build up is mega slow (yet very much worth it).
Crochet Chevron Blanket
It took a good week to get into the flow. Once I could see that the colours were making me happy, I sped up and started to enjoy the rhythm of it. It’s a classic chevron pattern, with stitches worked in the back loops only. I used this chevron pattern from Meet me at Mike’s which has step by step photos.
I think I worked 11 multiples of the stitches needed, maybe 12. I thought that would create plenty of width but it’s actually a lot smaller than I was aiming for. The nature of the stitch meant that there was a concertina effect and it squished in on itself dramatically. If I stretch it out, it does look bigger and I think that if I give it a wash, it should settle down more.
Adding a Crochet Border to Zizag Blankets
The border was a bit of a pain. I knew I wanted the blanket to have a crochet border and I also knew that many zigzag blankets don’t have them. Probably for a good reason! The valleys and peaks created by stitch means that you have to fill those spaces in.
When I blogged about my progress, Mrs Craft got in touch with me to suggest a tutorial of hers. I dutifully went to investigate, eager for the answer. It was the spark I needed. So, thanks very much Mrs “(crocheted) Caped Crusader” Craft!!
I haven’t followed the tutorial exactly because my chevrons were much smaller but I did use part of the idea. I only needed to add two rows to straighten the edge. The first row was modelled on the tutorial (all the yellow bits in the above pic are worked separately!) but the second row (cloud blue) was filling in with the method I use for ripples (a bit like this one from Little Tin Bird but with longer stitches crocheted together to prevent too much buckling).
Hmm, I wish I hadn’t added a second row of the cloud blue dc stitches (US single crochets) over the top. It looks a bit messy and it really doesn’t need to be there. By that time I’d got to this section though, I’d already unpicked a first, super ugly border attempt. I was fed up. I just could not be bothered to do it all again (I’d already gone round with the grey at this point too, as I had done the first time too). So if anyone out there fancies having a go, perhaps don’t add a second row of blue!
Crochet Bobble Edging
I thought the grey was going to be the final colour but the blanket’s recipient (Youngest boy) came over and told me that he wanted the neon pink. He knew what he was talking about, it looks fabulous. I seriously love it. You know, I think grey would have been nice on its own but now it really pops! (and I don’t use that word lightly- I never ever say “pops”).
There isn’t really a pattern for the full border in its entirety, it’s just 2 UK tr (each in their own st, not together like a granny) and ch1, miss a stitch, 2tr, ch1 etc, twice round. It would look something like this in a pattern:
UK terms – Round 1: *2tr, miss 1 st, ch1; rep from * around.
US terms – Round 1: *2dc, sk 1 st, ch1; rep from * around.
The bobbles/pompoms are a little stitch pattern I came up with when I crocheted a Touch of Spice blanket nearly a year ago. This time I chained 6 not 7, made my tr4tgr in the 4th ch from hook and chained 2 rather than 3. Pop over to that blog post and take a closer look.
Colour Pattern
Essentially, this was a crochet stashbuster of a blanket. I had so much Stylecraft Special dk acrylic that it needed to be made into something lovely and not stuck alone in the dark cupboard under the stairs.
I’m going to say that it was mostly random colour choices but there is a pattern repeat:
- Six rows of one colour,
- 3x two rows of different colours,
- 4 rows of another colour,
- 2x two rows of different colours,
- finishing with six rows again.
I’ll also tell you the colours because I’m super proud that I remember them all off the top of my head: Fiesta, Grey, Citron, Wisteria, Aspen, Shrimp, Sherbet, Cloud, Kelly, Apricot, Lobelia, Fuschia, Plum, Pistachio.
And I’ve still got enough to make another sort of blanket…because there’s a chance I might have gone out and bought some more… you know, to make up the colours….Soooo…. what next? Granny squares or treble chevrons, maybe a sunburst? I’m torn.
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Hey! Welcome to Episode 5 where I talk about crochet. It’s a crochet podcast or vlog, I still haven’t decided what to call it. Technically it’s a vlog but podcast is the word that has caught on… The pedant in me is finding the situation very hard to deal with.
I think this blanket deserves its own blog post! I’ll get on to that next week.
All my sewing projects are in full use, I’ve got a couple of other things on the go and yep, that’s it really! Let me know what you think! Have a fab weekend. X
