I'm so very happy to report, that I have completed the simple crochet filet starburst patchwork blanket that I started way back in July! Truthfully, the squares have been hanging out in a big garbage bag for months just waiting to be noticed, and just in time for the heart of winter, a fun blanket was born with much greater pleasure than I had anticipated!
And while I honestly never would have chosen this color combination, I just love it! I had ordered a bunch of skeins of yarn to pick up in the US last year this time, to have on hand for various projects, never planning to actually use them all in one blanket, but I'm so glad that I did!
I wove in all the ends over two days, with a goal of doing it over a period of a week, but it went much more quickly than I'd anticipated, so on to joining the squares, another unknown! I spread them out on the floor, as I shared with you here, and then there was a power outage, and so I quickly made little piles of my squares in the dark, lest someone step all over my layout.
Later when the lights were back on, I sat in bed and joined all the rows going across the blanket. In the morning, I then joined the squares going down the length of the blanket, and added a border of one row of grey and one row of black. And that was it! And while I really didn't plan the size, rather I just used up all the yarn that I had, it does work as a bed spread, though one more vertical row would have been preferable. In retrospect, I do have one more skein of black and grey, and a few blue squares, so I really could have made the blanket bigger, better luck next time, silly me!
So my friends, if you'd like to have the option of using your blanket as a bed cover, figure that out after you've crocheted a few squares and measured them!
I'd certainly recommend this as a first blanket project, or for those of you who shudder at the idea of weaving in lots of ends, everyone loves it! And it's also quite a forgiving pattern as I can honestly tell you that I somehow ordered yarn that was not all the same weight, and thus the squares were not all the same size, but you really can't tell, phew! Sure is amazing how many little mistakes got incorporated into this project and yet the end result is still successful!
How To:
- Using worsted weight yarn and a 4.5mm hook, (or any yarn and appropriate hook) make squares according to my simple filet crochet starburst square pattern. I got about 7 or 8 squares from one skein of Red Heart Super Saver acrylic yarn. This blanket was made from 8 colors and 60 squares, but in retrospect I should have added another vertical row, for a total of 70 squares.
- To give the blanket added interest, I chose to join the squares using a raised single crochet method, which is so very simple and looks great. Simply place adjacent squares back to back, and crochet though both loops of both squares. When you reach the end of a row, tie off yarn. Once you have joined all the squares going in one direction, you'll have a blanket that's one piece but with gaps that need to be joined going in the other direction. When joining in the second direction, you will encounter the ridge of the single crochet join made in the first direction, but just skip over it and continue on your merry way, if that makes sense?
- Make a border row all around the blanket in the same color as the joining rows to pull the whole blanket together, and then add another row or more as you like. For the border rows, make six single crochet stitches in each corner.
- Weave in all the ends and enjoy!
