Knitting Friday

Somehow I wound up asleep last night under my crocheted leftover yarn blanket which I had mentioned in my 10/31 blog as being so warm. Well, that’s the truth. 2 a.m. when I awoke, I was toasty warm.

The question as I see it: do I make more of the same. I have about four, two large and two small. They are such "go to" blankets but they are no works of arts. I guess I could make them such by using expensive yarn and coordinating colors. But this is supposed to be a leftover project. Like, after Thanksgiving, you throw all the leftovers together and make a meal that no one likes or eats but that’s leftovers.

I have never heard anyone say: Oh, look at all the lovely yarn I bought for my leftover project. There is some lovely yarn in these blankets and I do try to color coordinate but these blankets are pieces of my knitting history and that very seldom matched.

So, I really can't consider them in any way in league with all the beautiful quilts out there; many of which began their lives as leftovers from other projects. But there is a gift of artistry in them. Just their names alone: Double Wedding Ring, Windmills, Flower Basket, Jacob's Ladder, or Eight Hands Round make you want to learn their history.

My blankets, scraps of yarn, even color coordinated just don't cut it. But on a cold winter night……...

WEB - Warmest Ever Blanket (Pattern from memory so it may need some tweaking)

It’s such a simple pattern: First arrange your yarns and join your scraps especially if weaving in ends doesn't appeal to you. Even with joining, there are going to be two yarn tails for every square only one of which you can work in as you go.

Use a hook to match the thickness of the yarn. You don’t want a large hook on thin yarn. You’re going to crocheting in the round but make squares. You’ll be using single crochets, not double crochets, which makes for the warmth.

Set-Up: Chain (ch) 4, join. Ch 1. Make 12 single crochets (sc) in loop.(You can hide your beginning yarn tail as you go in the 12 sc.)

Slip stitch (sl st) the 12th sc to the first. Mark this join with yarn and move the yarn up to the next round each time you come back to what is your first three-sc corner.

Round 1: Chain 1 then work the following 4xs: * three sc in the same sc for corner, one sc in each of the next 2 sc.* You are now back at your first three-sc corner and the marker yarn. Join with sl st in the first sc (where the marker yarn is) of the first three-sc corner.

Round 2: Chain 1 (replace marker yarn in this st) then work the following 4xs: * three sc in the middle sc of three-3 corner, one sc in each of the next 4 sc.* You are now back at your first three-sc corner and the marker yarn. Join with sl st in the first sc of the first three-sc corner.

Continue working as Round 2 but this time making 6 sc in the single crochets between the three-sc corners. Each time you reach a three-sc corner, work 3 sc in the middle sc.

Your number of sc between the three-sc corners will go from 2 to 4 to 6 to 8. See the pattern; it’s an increase of 2 sc between the three-sc corners each round.

(I found the only tricky part is the last group of sc between the third three-sc corner and the first. My count would go off here. I think because I got to using the slip stitch joining the round as a stitch to be crocheted into.

So I would have 8 sc on three sides and 9 sc on the last side. But crocheting is forgiving. You can fudge a fix easily in crochet. Just be sure every side has the same number of sc before the three-sc corners.)

Continue increasing the square and cut the yarn when it’s big enough.

The cumbersome part of this project is joining the squares. Make large squares and there will be less joining, but there will be joining.

I usually assemble the squares on a bed and arrange the colors as I want them. Then from the wrong side and using the slip stitch I join them in a long stripe. Once the vertical stripes are done, I start the long horizontal joins. Note: if you join with a single crochet, you can “bury” the yarn tails as you go.

Tedious it is, but you get the warmest blanket you could wish for.