My Patterns

Monday, January 5, 2015

Grandma's Knickknacks Crochet Blanket


Welcome!  I am so happy to share with you a photo pattern tutorial for my "Grandma's Knickknacks" blanket. 
This is my very first blog post and tutorial. I have so many more things I want to share with you here in Laurel's Place, but I wanted to get this pattern out to you all asap.  I welcome your questions and comments about my blanket and the pattern tutorial. 
The inspiration for this blanket really did come from my Grandma's knickknacks.  Particularly her little antique music box.  I was quite fond of visits to Grandma's house and I love all things that remind me of her and her pretty home.  More about Grandma later though....  
Lets jump right in and start making a square.  For my blanket I used various brands of worsted weight yarn...13 colors in all (some from my stash) and a 4mm (G) hook.

Round 1:  Start with ch 3 and 11 dc in a magic ring

  
Slip stitch into first ch-3 to join and fasten off.  You should now have 12 stitches.

Round 2:  On this round you will be working in the spaces  Between the dc's of round 1 (instead of in the top of the stitch) as shown above. This makes the cute little spikes in the pattern.

With a new color...sc between any two dc from round one, ch 1, sc in next space

Continue around.  

Join in first sc of round and fasten off (12 sts, 12 ch-1 sps.)

Round 3:  You will be working dc-three-together (dc3tog) clusters.  
(I start with a standing stitch but if you prefer, you can start the first stitch with a ch-2)
(dc3tog is made thus:  Yarn over, insert hook into space and pull up a loop, yarn over, pull through 2 loops on hook, (yarn over, insert hook into same sp and pull up a loop, yarn over and pull through 2 loops) two times, yarn over and pull through all 4 loops on hook.)




With new color, make 3dctog in any ch-1 space, ch 2 and repeat around.

Join in top of first 3dctog and fasten off. 

You should have 12 -3dctog clusters and 12 spaces.

This is where I like to tie in those pesky ends.  That way, if you join your motifs as you go, those ends don't get in your way.  Plus, it's a nice way to break up the monotony and have many of your ends tied in before you get to the end of your project and have to sit for days with the tedious task.  Of course this is optional.  

Just a side note:  When tying in ends on any project, I like to slip under one direction, split a yarn and come back the same way.  Then you have less likelihood of that yarn jiggling out over time.

Now it's time for the final round that makes the square motif.  And if you prefer, the round where you will join-as-you-go.

Round 4:  In any ch-2 space of round 3, work 3 dc (here again I start with a standing dc, you may prefer to start with ch 3). 

Now you will work the corner: (3tr, ch2, 3tr) in next ch-2 space) 

Corner made!

Now work 3 dc in in each of the next two spaces.

Then work another corner (3tr, ch 2, 3tr) in next space.

Repeat around, finishing with 3dc in last space.

slip stitch in first dc (or ch3) and tie off

Voila! Square done! 
Now you can make as many squares as you like and either stitch them together when finished or do what I like to do and join the rest of the motifs as you make them.  Check out my blog post with a photo tutorial on the JAYGO (Join-As-You-Go) method and how I chose color placement.

Now for the border. It's a very simple block stitch. 
  Round 1:  Start with a single crochet in any space between 3dc clusters of the edge, ch3, then sc in next space between clusters. You will also make a sc in the space just between squares as indicated by the blue arrows above.  Continue all around the blanket.  Corners of round 1 are made by (sc, ch2, sc) in the corner ch-2 spaces of edge. 
Round 2:  Join a new color and work 3 dc in each ch-3 space of round 1 all around.  Corners of round 2 are made by (3dc, ch2, 3dc) in the corner ch-2 space of round one. Repeat rounds 1 and 2 until you have the desired width.

My blanket is 14 squares wide and 18 squares long. Each square is approx. 3"x 3"
 (I am a fairly tight crocheter)
 The finished blanket without border measures approx.  45"x 57". 
With the border it measures approx. 51" x 63".
I sincerely hope you found this tutorial helpful. Happy Hooking!

51 comments:

  1. A beautiful blanket! I love your colour choices. It looks beautifully 'granny'!

    Have a wonderful day!

    Vanessa

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  2. Such a beautiful blanket, thanks for sharing this pattern with us!!! And, welcome to the blogger's community, Martina

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  3. Love this Laurel! Thanks for tutorial! Colors are wonderful.

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  4. This blanket is absolutely beautiful. Thanks for sharing:)

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  5. Glad you have started a blog!! LOVE your blanket!! blessings ~ tanna

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  6. I love it! So very granny and a fabulous colour scheme!
    Rachel

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  7. Love the afghan! It's beautiful! Like a work of art. Makes me want to start one right now.
    xx Beca

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  8. Hermosa!!!!!! El tutorial muy bien explicado!!! Gracias!!!

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  9. Wow what a beautiful blanket, love the edging.
    Grtz,
    Chris

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  10. What an amazing first time blog post! I am in love with this blanket, and it's getting bumped to the top of my stashbuster projects list for the coming months! Thank you!

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  11. I love it! It's so beautiful. Thank you for sharing.
    What type of yarn? How many colors? How much did you use? And what size crochet hook?
    Is there a printed pattern? thanks so much for the help!

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    Replies
    1. Hi, Thank you so much. I used a combination of yarns (14 colors): Hobby Lobby I Love This Yarn, Vanna's Choice, and Loops and Threads Impecable solids. Crochet hook was a size G 4mm. I'm not sure exactly how much yarn I used as I had some partial skeins in my stash that I used up first. Hope this helps.

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  12. Welcome to the blogging world! Love the colors of the blanket.

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  13. Thank you for sharing! You've done a wonderful job on the tutorial.

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  14. I love this blanket--- great work! The colors and how you laid them out goes so well together

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  15. What an amazing start to blogging. Can we follow you? (not in a creepy way, I mean can you put up an bloglovin' google connect kind of way. I will call back soon. Jo
    http://joeveryday19@blogspot.co.uk

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  16. Beautiful- I am a new fan of yours.

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  17. Thank you all for the kind comments! I feel so encouraged! I still have a lot of work to do including setting up several links. smiles!

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  18. Oh My Goodness! Your blanket is stunning. Thank you so much for taking the time to share the pictures with instructions for this pattern. I have been searching for a year now for an afghan like this. I will definitely be picking up yarn this week to get started.
    You did a beautiful presentation and I know your Grandma is very proud of you.
    I will definitely be following you and checking in regularly.
    Happy Day To You !

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  19. What a fabulous blanket. You have done so well in starting your journey through the world of blogging by sharing this blanket. I was wondering if you could take a close up picture of your blanket so that I can follow the colors you used in each square. I cannot put colors together in a pleasing manner and rely solely on the magic of others who have this talent. I hope you won't mind.

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  20. wow, that´s a great idea NOT to join the squares with one color !!! It looks so cheery :)

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  21. looking forward to following your ideas

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  22. LOVE IT!!!! I love the colors and pattern, but especially the colors. I'm a"bright and cheery" fan.

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  23. Love it! This kind of blanket is why I taught myself to crochet, beautiful! I love the border too. Glad I found you.

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  24. WHERE IS THE PRINT BUTTON........
    SO I CAN REMIND MYSELF OF YOUR GREAT IDEAS...

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  25. Beautiful and stunning! Love the colors!!!

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  26. Gorgeous, colorful blanket and great tutorial!!

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  27. Are you using US terms. Looking at your pattern i think you are doing trebles which I think is the UK equivalent of dc in US terms?

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    Replies
    1. The instructions are in US terms and I do use trebles in the corners of the last round as stated in the instructions. :-)

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  28. That really is a beautiful blanket, the colours are gorgeous!

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  29. i have linked you here https://www.facebook.com/jennekevm on my free found pattern FB site jenneke

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  30. I LOVE YOUR PATTERN, COLOR CHOICES AND ALL HERE.... I WOULD LIKE A "PRINT" BUTTON FOR CONVENIENCE...I'M A VISUAL LEARNER AND THE A COPY.. IS THERE A PATTERN FOR THE LITTLE STOCKINGS TOO?? THANKS SO MUCH .... B

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    Replies
    1. stocking pattern is here: http://www.lemondedesucrette.com/2011/11/16/little-christmas-socks-the-pattern/#comment-6328

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  31. Very pretty. I love the border you did as well. Thank you for sharing!

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  32. Very pretty. I love the border you did as well. Thank you for sharing!

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  33. Hi, I´m from Germany, found you on Pinterest and all I can say is: WOW! Thanks a lot for sharing.
    I think I will make a blanket like yours, but in different colours.
    Hope you will share more of your gorgeous work with us .... (sorry for my terrible english, it isn´t as good as it should be. Hope you understand what I mean...)

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  34. Maravilhoso, maravilhoso! Obrigada pelo tutorial!

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  35. Maravilhoso, maravilhoso! Obrigada pelo tutorial!

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  36. Love this block!! and your color choices make it Beautiful...This is my next project..
    Thank you for sharing..

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  37. Very clear tutorial, nicely done. Thanks Laurel :)

    I wonder if you'd write the round by round instructions, just for a quick reference at the end?

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  38. Color choices I never considered! I saw a couple of squares that popped at me so I zoomed in and.. Wow! I literally have skeins of arn in the exact shades you had used.. but I hadnt been able to figure out whatvwent with them. They've sat unused for 2 years. I grabbed the colors, followed your tutorial, and beautiful! The formerly unloved skeins of green thank you! 😉 i love the look of your blocks joined in their last round, instead of a neutral color being used to join all the blocks. Very unique and pretty! I love your block, colors, style. Beautiful blanket & a great name. Entire site is wonderful! TY for sharing and for the tutorial.

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