Stitch Sampler Afghan for Renee

A couple of years ago, my niece Renee joined the Annie's Attic Crochet Block of the Month Club to make this lovely Stitch Sampler Afghan in the Pearl/Cream colorway.

Renee has been crocheting even longer than I have, but she is in a different life stage than I am, and, a few months into her subscription, she realized that she just didn't have enough time to set aside for herself to enjoy crocheting these blocks.

I'm sure many of us can relate to her dilemma. It becomes an added layer of stress and/or guilt when we're subscribed to something that keeps coming at us, but in the process we end up finding out that we just don't have the time to engage with it.

So after six months, Renee cancelled her subscription and stashed the unused kits in her closet in the hope that she would eventually get around to making them.

Alas, the months kept flying by, and Renee found herself having only finished the first block.

Earlier this summer, she packed all the kits into a tote bag, which included the first six pattern brochures, all of the yarn, and the first block she made, and called me to ask if I would be interested in having them. She wasn't asking me to make the blanket for her; she just wanted the stuff out of her closet, and she assured me that if I took it, I could make whatever I wanted to with the yarn. Of course, I was happy to receive her offering. To me, the yarn and patterns were a gift, yet I also completely understood her need to be rid of them to protect her mental health in this moment. I have been there myself from time to time.

However, I also knew immediately that even if I used some of the yarn to make other things, I would secretly finish making the blanket and gift it back to her. 🩷 I think she will be surprised when I gift it to her but also pleased that she will be able to have this blanket in her home after she thought that would never happen.

In fact, the first thing I did was to crochet an open-mesh cardigan for myself using some of the yarn. 😂 

Then I got busy crocheting the blocks for this blanket. Because each block is different, and because the pattern arranges the blocks in a way that does not follow their numerical order, I printed out little labels (I just printed them on paper and cut them out) to mark the number for each block and attached them with safety pins as I finished each one to help keep things organized as I went along. You can see the pinned-on labels in some of my photos. These were easy to remove once the blanket was fully assembled according to the pattern. Here's a link to download a copy of a PDF for my labels, in case you would like to use them for your blanket project.

I finished making the first 18 blocks from the six pattern brochures in the kits that Renee had purchased. Then I was faced with a decision: Do I find a way to get the rest of the pattern brochures (or a PDF of the pattern) from Annie's, or do I make up my own block designs until I have enough made to finish the blanket?

I did already have an account at Annie's from a pattern purchase I made years and years ago. So I decided to reach out to their customer service and ask if it would be possible for me to purchase the entire Stitch Sampler Blanket pattern as a PDF.

The short answer is no, they don't sell this pattern separately from the kits. (Hint-hint, Annie's; you would probably make a few extra pattern sales if you also sold this pattern separately from the kits!)

I explained my situation and how I was attempting to finish the blanket for my niece, who had purchased half of the kits. The rep who was helping me looked up Renee's account to confirm my story, then she said that she could arrange to have the other half of the kits (including the rest of the yarn and pattern brochures) sent to me all at once if I agreed to purchase them. I mulled this over for a bit and then decided to do it. The rep also added to my account the digital versions of the patterns (all of which include video tutorials) from all the kits Renee had purchased, as well as the digital patterns and videos from all the kits I purchased, which was so nice and very helpful. So I now had the complete pattern, plus all the matching yarn I needed to finish the blanket.

The individual blocks are very quick to make, and most of them were easy for me, but there were a few that I needed to view the videos to understand how to do them. You know how it is; trying to explain the steps in writing can often be waaay more confusing than just to SHOW someone the steps. But even the ones that I needed the video for were fairly easy to crochet once I understood the steps.

I would make a block or three each evening during my break from work. That's how quick and easy most of the blocks were.

I finished crocheting the blocks on Aug. 15, and I finished weaving in the ends on Aug. 27. Even though I used a 5.5 mm hook to crochet all of them, I tend to be a tight crocheter, so even after adding a border that's a little more than 2 inches deep, the finished size of the blanket only measures about 46 inches by 52 inches. I'm pretty sure that the blanket will relax and maybe grow a bit after laundering (and certainly after being used for a while), but if I ever make another one of these later, I would probably use at least a 6 mm hook. (P.S. The blanket did grow about 3 inches in width and 4 inches in length after laundering. Yay!)

I deviated from the pattern in a couple of ways. First, I moved the position of Block 1 (the one Renee had made) from the outer-right column to place it more toward the center, because I wanted to "mark" her block with a little crocheted pink heart applique, and thus I figured it would look nicer if her block was placed closer to the "heart" (or center) of the blanket. So I swapped places with Blocks 1 and 29. To join the blocks, I used a technique where I slip-stitched into one block, then chained one, then slip-stitched into the other block, then chained one, and repeated that going back and forth all along the seam. That gives a nice, solid join that has a small bit of zig-zag texture but is subtle and doesn't detract from the prettiness of the actual blocks. I also deviated in the way I worked the border. I did one round of SC followed by one round of DC, followed by one round of SC, followed by one round of DC, followed by one round of SC, followed by one round of twisted SC.

For the little heart applique, I used a small amount of Hobby Lobby I Love This Yarn in the Rosy Cheeks colorway from my stash and a 4.5 mm hook. I followed this video tutorial by ElyseCrochets on YouTube, which makes a lovely little quick and easy heart.

The blanket was finished in time for me to enter it in our local fair, so I'm planning to do that.

Annie's schematic

 

Virus Blanket for RV free pattern

Well, it took me a little more than a year (only working on it when we were camping in our RV), but I finally finished this afghan. The colors in the afghan coordinate nicely with the color scheme inside our RV, and the finished size makes a nice topper for the queen-size bed to add another layer of warmth on cold nights or to snuggle up with for a nap.

This is the Virus Blanket free pattern by Jonna Martinez. Her free video tutorial is on YouTube. And I like to use the edging from this video by Kiki Crochet on my virus blankets.

Total yarn weight: 1,113 grams, or about 5.59 skeins / 1985.5 yards. Please see my Ravelry project page for details about the yarn colors I used here. 

The Fairy Slippers Blanket free pattern

This free Fairy Slippers Banket pattern is a variation on the Which Way Filet blanket by Fiber Spider that works up quickly and easily from the center outward.

This Lion Brand Mandala yarn is soft and light, and the colorway is reminiscent of soft rainbow colors that would make a precious, cuddly keepsake blanket for a “rainbow baby.”

I had been hearing the term “rainbow baby” getting used a lot around knitting and crocheting circles, but I didn’t know what it meant, so I finally decided to look it up. According to Google, “A rainbow baby is a name coined for a healthy baby born after losing a baby due to miscarriage, infant loss, stillbirth, or neonatal death. The name ‘rainbow baby’ comes from the idea of a rainbow appearing in the sky after a storm, or after a dark and turbulent time.”

Which means that I am a rainbow baby myself, according to the modern parlance, because my mother delivered me after previously enduring seven miscarriages. I had no idea that I was born under this lovely, colorful label. Ha! 🌈

This filet blanket pattern is also ideal for a rainbow baby because the infinite paths winding and spiraling outward from the center symbolize the infinite potential contained within each new life.

This also means that maybe instead of giving away this baby blanket when it’s done I should just keep it for my rainbow-baby self. 😁 I could get another skein of this Honeydukes colorway, whip up another blanket just like this one, and then sew them together to make a nice and light but colorful, funky, and boxy rainbow poncho!

If I finish this as a baby blanket, I’ll edge it with 1 round SC followed by 1 round RSC. But if I keep this to be a poncho, I’ll end with 1 round SC before sewing the panels together.

Granny Squared Into Highlighter Hell Throw free pattern

I found a couple more skeins of the unidentified colorway aka “Highlighter Hell” (what I call it) by Red Heart, so I decided to use it along with some plain white to make an infinite granny square throw for my daughter who loooves these (horrifically) bright colors. 😉

After trying to work this continuous granny square in full rounds of a single color, I discovered that there was not a good way to carry the next color up for the subsequent round without leaving a long loop on the reverse side where I changed colors (see below). I was afraid that the only way to “fix” this would be to add a lightweight flannel backing to cover the reverse side and hide the loops.

I pondered this problem for a while and concluded that the best way to avoid it would be to use a two-color spiral method, so I went searching for a pattern and found The Continuous 2 Color Granny Crochet Tutorial by Fiber Spider on YouTube. Ta-da!! This method is an absolutely brilliant way to work a two-color continuous granny stitch blanket without having to tie off after every single round (and have eleventy-bazillion ends to weave in when you’re done, plus all those ends would equal a lot of wasted inches of yarn), and it eliminates the big-loop-from-carrying-up-the-yarn problem I was having. Like I said: Brilliant!!

Here's a comparison of the obverse view of working the blanket in full rounds of each color (left) vs. the half-rounds used in the Fiber Spider method (right). As you can see, the different methods are undetectable to the eye, but Fiber Spider's method results in a blanket that is fully reversible and looks tidy on both sides:

I just kept working rounds on the throw until I ran out of the Highlighter Hell color. Then I used some highlighter orange yarn from my stash to work a border of one round SC followed by one round RSC or crab stitch. Finished size is about 44 inches square.

Works when they were still in progress ...

Pink Grapefruit Lemonade blanket contemplation

I have a bunch of skeins of vintage acrylic yarn (circa 1960s), and I’m trying to finally use them to make an afghan. And although I’ve tried several different stitch patterns, so far nothing is really jumping up and grabbing me to say, “This is the one!” I’ve tried drunken granny, C2C granny, and circle granny thus far. I’m afraid I may end up defaulting to my favorite afghan pattern -- virus -- which wouldn’t be terrible because the virus afghan is lovely, but I thought I wanted to make something different this time. Ugh!

As you can see in the photos, I tried starting out in all the stitch patterns mentioned above. The furthest I got with any of them was in the “drunken granny” stitch, which I had seen some people talking about online but I hadn’t previously heard of this stitch. The photos they shared looked interesting, so I went looking to see whether the pattern was available on Ravelry but was disappointed not to find it here. However, there are several good video tutorials for this stitch on YouTube. I used this one.

I usually prefer to have written instructions to refer to, however, and I also can never leave well enough alone, so I jotted down the starting instructions from the video and also embellished them to work if using FSC instead of a starting chain.

Drunken Granny easy crochet baby blanket pattern

Setup row: Chain in multiple of 5 to desired width of the finished blanket (or FSC in multiple of 5 plus 1).

For foundation chain setup, row 1: Ch 4. DC in 5th ch from hook 1st FSC. DC 3 more times (total of 4) in same st; ch 2; DC in same st. Skip 4 sts; 4 DC in next st; ch 2; DC in same st repeat until 3 sts remain at end of row. Skip 2 sts and DC in last st. Ch 3; turn.

For FSC setup, row 1: Ch 3. DC in 3rd FSC from hook. DC 3 more times (total of 4) in same st; ch 2; DC in same st. Skip 4 FSC;

Row 2: Working into ch 2 spaces from previous row, 4 DC in next ch 2 space; ch 2; DC in same space. Skip to next ch 2 space. 4 DC in ch 2 space; ch 2; DC in same space repeat to end of row. DC in top of ch 3 from previous row. Ch 3; turn.

Repeat row 2 until blanket reaches the desired length.

Work a SC border around all 4 edges to finish.

For different looks this blanket can be worked in a solid color, in stripes alternating colors every 3 rows (or more), in an ombre gradient yarn, etc.

To me part of the appeal of the drunken granny stitch is that it reminds me of falling ginkgo leaves even more than an alternate version of a granny cluster. But I still wasn’t inspired enough by it to keep going with it in a full-sized blanket.

So … virus it is, I guess. LOL. Virus is turning into my go-to blanket pattern. Le sigh!! 😏

And thus the Pink Grapefruit Lemonade afghan came to be.

Weathered Glory Patriotic Afghan free pattern

It shouldn’t have taken me five months to crochet this afghan (the virus pattern is usually quick and easy to make) , but I suffered a terrible tendon flare in the elbow of my dominant arm when I was about 80 percent done with the blanket and it took me several months to get back to working on it. Sigh! Anyway, at least it’s done now. Made this in colors to coordinate with the decor in our guest room.

Linked below is a great free video tutorial by Jonna Martinez that details how to make the virus blanket.

My blankie

♫ It's my blankie so I'll lounge if I want to, lounge if I want to ... ♫ You would lounge, too, if you had a blankie, too! 😁

This shot captures ALL the colors corner to corner.