Babyblanket — CrochetAlong

The babyblanket is coming along nicely. Another 10 rows, finally the edging and we’ll be done.

Crazy to think about it.

Even though we only started in mid October it feels like I have been in this forever. We had tulips, and granny stripes, and bobbles (single- and two colored); we had the spike stitch as well as the star stitch. All in all, 110 rows in the colors of the rainbow. To make up the pattern, to write the instructions was a lot of fun (even though more sophisticated, more complex than I thought it would be).

This is where we got last Friday:

Babyblanket Babydecke Crochet AlongIf you’re interested in looking at everyone else’s beautiful blankets have a look at my Facebook account.

Last night, I finished the “prototype,” the archetypal blanket. Like I said: Crazy to think about it …

photos CAL Babydecke / baby blanket

Between October and December 2013 the pattern to this blanket was published in German on Jessica’s blog ≈ as a crochet along in 13 parts. My idea was to teach beginners how to improve their skills and to encourage them to accomplish a “bigger task” such as a (baby) blanket.

They were introduced to several (more or less) complicated stitches, “embedded” into crochet basics, such as sc, hdc, and dc rows. Each session consisted of 10 rows – including (at least) 1 special stitch.

Comments, feedback, and pictures were (and still are!) very welcome over at facebookCAL Babydecke Teil 2So sehen die ersten 20 Reihen der Babydecke aus. / This is how the first 20 rows of our babyblanket CAL look like.

Danke für die wunderbaren Bilder und Mails, die Ihr uns seither geschickt habt! / Thanks a million for all those wonderful pictures and mails that you’ve sent ever since!

Bilder der fertigen Decken sind in unserer Galerie / Pictures of all finished blankets can be found here.

Dank an Alle die mitgemacht haben! / Thanks a lot for joining!

A German CAL

Hooray! I finished both blankets last night! The acrylic blanket measures 42″ x 42″; the sock yarn blanket is almost twice as big: 44″ x 70″ and I am perfectly happy with both of them. Looks like the smaller one will be for a baby in Washington (as planned), whereas the sock yarn blanket gets to stay with us. At least for now :). I have been crocheting those blankets since June 1 and – believe it or not – I am still excited, hooked, and determined to start over and make another.

Hannah's blanket

This time it will be different though as I designed my own blanket together with Jessica (over at schoenstricken.de)! It is made of cotton yarn in rainbow colors and will have the size of a baby blanket (27″ x 35″) once it is done. And with Christmas approaching at an alarming rate (…) we decided to serialize the pattern as a German CAL.

The whole thing was triggered off in summer when I introduced the idea of a CAL to Jessica’s readers as a guest blogger. CALs are not very popular in Germany (yet!), but the feedback we received on that blog post was tremendous. Shortly after, we started to meet once the week. I would crochet while Jessica would take pictures and slowly but steadily a colorful “beginner blanket” would emerge.

Neither Jessica nor I have any intentions to reinvent the wheel. That is to say, the patterns I use have been used before. Some of them I learned with Hannah. Others are taken from books or the net. However, the composition is totally ours and we love it.

Tonight we posted the first 10 rows. I have not been that excited since waiting for a test to be returned in school. Fortunately, all comments are positive throughout!! And I am very much looking forward to next Friday and the next 10 rows … 🙂

Hannah’s Blanket

It’s been a while since Hannah over at NYAC suggested that we all do a blanket CAL together and I cannot believe we’re already accomplishing “week 6” in a few days. Hannah’s instructions and pictures are very nice and easy to follow and on Saturdays I seriously feel like doing homework when crocheting row after row according to her guidelines. So far, there has been no stitch or sequence that I did not like and of course I check Facebook the minute I am done to peek at all the others blankets that are just like mine and still so very different.

However, I am having (and have had) a hard time with some of the stitches due to the sock yarn I chose (and the fact that I am a perfectionist maybe … :)). Stitches like the Catherine Wheel or the Mirrored Chevron just don’t look right (to me) with a flimsy fiber. Consequently, I had to modify patterns to meet the yarn’s characteristics or – worse! – change them altogether. I endlessly grappled with the bobbles for example, as the second color would always shine through the stitches. At the end (exasperated …), I would crochet the row of bobbles in only one color as a compromise.

Yes, I have to admit: spending the weekend on 6 rows would occasionally take some of the fun. So finally, the day before last, I left work early to make it to the store in time (with regard to opening hours Germany is clearly not the U.S.) to buy acrylic yarn (probably similar to the brand Hannah is working with) and to start over. And it is with pride that I announce today that both blankets are “up-to-date” since last night!

But which one is nicer? I wish I knew! Here are the basics:

  • Crocheting the acrylic yarn is not only faster in speed but also faster in seeing a result. So far the acrylic blanket-to-be measures 16″ (41 cm) whereas the other one has only 10,5″ (27 cm). That is clearly an advantage.
  • Still, it is a lot lighter. Acrylic does not seem to have any weight at all. Now that I am able to compare, I totally prefer the weight of the sock yarn blanket-to-be. It seems to rather embrace the body – does that make sense?
  • Plus, the feel is different. Acrylic may be softer but sock yarn is thicker to the touch. I really like that too.
  • However, with acrylic yarn the stitches have more defined contours, they stand out and I love that. Looking at the Star Stitch (my favorite stitch so far) makes me smile.
  • Moreover, it’s easier to work over a second yarn (as for the bobbles) and even the Mirrored Chevron worked out straightaway with all stitches being even and nice.

In short: I have no favorite, I like them both, but I would probably prefer to snuggle with the sock yarn blanket. So I asked the expert at home and – guess what – J too decided in favor of the sock yarn blanket.

Of course, I will finish both of them. The first one because it is so much fun to make it (acrylic yarn)  and the second because it will be rewarding to finish my “master piece” (sock yarn) 🙂

What was your choice of yarn and why? Are you happy with the result (color, texture, feel …)? I am seriously impressed by all the different variations of Hannah’s blanket that I have seen so far! What would you do differently if you would start anew? Or wouldn’t you change anything at all? I am very curious to get to know the story behind your blanket!

Happy Crochet on Saturday 🙂

Crochet Blankets