not your average crochet

How did ya’ll like doing stitches that you’ve already done before last week?  Hopefully it was easier but not boring.  We’ve done all the stitches we’re going to do so it should be smooth sailing from now on!  Let’s get started, and don’t forget we’re using US terms!

Last week we left off with for 46:

row 47

With new color, hdc across.  Remember to crochet between the stitches below like we did above the star stitch last time.  Count your stitches at the end, just to be safe.

row 48

With new color, dc across.

rows 49 – 52

With 2 colors, do the Catharine wheel stitch pattern.  Feel free to refer back to the post in which we first did this if you need a reminder.  And don’t forget to keep your stitches very loose!  Someone suggested going up a hook size or two for these rows, so you could try that if it’d make you more comfortable.

row 53

With new color, dc across the same way we did after the last Catharine wheels.  Count your stitches when you’re done.

row 54

With new color, dc across:

That’s all for this week!  Don’t know why that picture turned out so extra red… my floor is brown…  Anyway, here’s the whole thing:

When you finish, I’d love to see a picture of yours on facebook or Ravelry, or on Instagram with the hashtag #nyaccal also.  Everyone’s blankets are looking great!  I’m really astonished and pleased at the number of participants — it’s all way bigger than I thought it would be, and even now people are jumping on board (welcome so very much!).  Hopefully you’re all enjoying this CAL as much as I am.

Well, that’s all for today.  Thanks so much for stopping by!  And don’t forget to weave in your ends!  🙂

How did everyone like the chevrons last week?  Everyone’s blankets are looking fantastic — I’m so excited to see this project really taking shape!  Are you ready for this week?  We’re just repeating what we’ve already done now, so any frustrating bits are hopefully over and done with!

This week we’ll be doing 9 rows, just because I didn’t want to end the week in the middle of a stitch pattern.  Next week we’ll be back to 8.  Don’t forget we’re using US terms!

Last week we left off after finishing row 37:

row 38

With new color, dc across.

rows 39 – 41

With new colors, work these three rows in the granny stripe pattern.

row 42

With new color, dc across.

row 43

With new color, hdc across.

row 44

With new color, dc across.  Here’s a picture of the back of the blanket (don’t know why I didn’t get the front):

rows 45 and 46

Make sure row 45 is a right side row.  Do the star stitch the same way you did it before:

And that’s it for this week!

Hope everyone is enjoying the CAL so far.  Don’t forget to share pictures of your progress on the facebook page or the Ravelry group, and also on Instagram with the hashtag #nyaccal as well.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

I hope everyone enjoyed the break in difficulty we had last week — those bobbles weren’t too bad, were they?  This week we’re doing a bit of a chevron/ripple that I’m calling the “mirrored chevron,” so let’s get started!  Don’t forget, we’re using US terms.

Last week, we finished with row 29:

row 30

With new color, dc across

row 31

For this row and the 3 following rows, the turning chains do NOT count as the first stitch as they have previously been doing.

Change to a color you have a lot of.  Ch 1.  In the first stitch, bring up a loop.  Bring up a loop in the second stitch as well:

Yarn over and draw through all 3 loops on hook:

That counts as our first stitch.  It’s essentially my way of making sc decreases without just skipping a stitch entirely, as some books and patterns recommend.  In the next st, make a hdc.  In the next st, make a dc.  In the next st, make 3 tr.  In the next st, make 1 dc.  In the next st, make 1 hdc:

We’ve made a “mountain!”  Now it’s time to decrease again, only this time we’re going to pull up loops from the next 3 stitches, not 2; yarn over and pull through to finish the st:

In next st, make a hdc (the start of another “mountain”)… Continue this way, making the mountains and decreasing, until the end.  It should look like this:

At the end of the row, you should just have 2 stitches left to work into for your last decrease instead of 3.  We’ll do the same as we did in the beginning and pull up loops from the 2 stitches, preparing the decrease:

row 32

With your next color, finish the decrease of row 31.  Ch 1 (again, this does NOT count as your first stitch like it usually does).  This row is the same process as row 31 only we’re just using sc.  Pull up loops from the first 2 sts:

Yarn over and finish the stitch:

Sc in next 2 sts, then sc 3 in the middle treble of the row below:

Sc in next 2 sts, then make another decrease over the next 3 sts, just like we did in the last row:

Continue this until the end.  It should look like this:

At the end, you will only have 2 sts, left, so do like we did in the last row: pull up loops from last 2 sts, yo, pull through to finish st.  Yes, go ahead and finish the stitch.  We’re not changing colors yet!

row 33

With the same color, repeat row 32, but do not finish the last decrease stitch because we will change colors now:

row 34

With the same color as row 31, ch 3.  This does not count as your first stitch!  Make a tr into the second st.  That counts as your first stitch.  dc in the next st, hdc in the next one:

sc 3 in next st, hdc in next st, dc in next st:

Now we’re going to decrease over the next 3 stitches.  Make a treble into each of the 3 stitches but do not pull the last loop through any of them.  When you’ve done that, yarn over and pull through all loops on your hook and it’s a treble decrease:

You’ve got it now; continue until the end.  It will look like this:

At the end, there are only 2 sts left so we will just decrease with 2 unfinished trebles.  Do not finish, we’re changing colors:

row 35

This is a normal row of hdc, so ch 2.  This does count as your first stitch again, so make your first hdc in the top of the dc in the row below:

At the end, remember that the ch 3 of the row below didn’t count as a stitch, so make your last hdc in the top of the treble (but don’t finish, we’ll change colors):

I’d check to make sure you have the correct stitch count at this point.  Should be the same number you started the blanket with.

row 36

Make a normal dc row.

row 37

Make a normal hdc row.

We’re done for this week!  I had to take this last picture on the floor because the whole thing no longer fit on my white paper, which is what I’ve been using for all the close up pictures.

Also, we’ve now completed all of the stitch patterns we will use in this blanket!  I was considering doing surface chains but I figured we’ve got enough eye-catching stuff going on as it is.  Feel free to add them if you like, though, if you’re looking for a little extra something!  Just make sure you do them on the front of the work.  These might be good for any scraps we have at the end.

Anyway, as usual, if you have questions, don’t be afraid to ask!  And again, I look forward to seeing your pictures on facebook and Ravelry and Instagram (#nyaccal)!  Everyone’s doing a fantastic job so far and I love seeing all the color variations/palettes everyone’s got going!  I’m having a blast and I hope you are too!

Thanks for stopping by!