Patterns are funny things. Sometimes they spring into life, fully formed, like they've been lurking in my brain all along. And sometimes I need to play around with some yarn and a hook and see what the fiber "wants" to be.
I had a supply of Malabrigo Rios leftover from another project, and I knew I wanted to make an afghan. The colorway I had - Piedras - varies A LOT between hanks, so I knew that making one big blanket wasn't the best option. So it would be done in blocks ... and I'd been meaning to come up with a sampler pattern for my not-quite-experienced crochet students to use ... and Erika is always up for holding new classes at the shop ...
After a few hours of digging around, I found the wonderful block-of-the-month afghan designed by Ren Murphy (http://theinspiredwren.blogspot.com/p/crochet-along.html). It had many of the traits I wanted - it was reversible, textured, and relatively easy. But not all of the blocks were exactly what I had in mind, so I designed a couple blocks based on some of my own favorite textures. After getting Ren's permission to use her designs for the class, I rearranged her blocks in order so that they go from easiest - nothing but single crochet - to the most complicated - some very straightforward front-post double crochet. Voila! A new pattern (and class) is born!
The class is offered at River Colors Studio, and I'm teaching two new blocks each month. I'll post the previous month's instructions here periodically, in case you're not in the Cleveland area but want to play along with us. Feel free to post links to pictures of your own projects in the comments!
And now, without further ado, here's the first handout:
Simple and Beautiful Sampler Afghan
Materials needed:
- Washable, worsted-weight yarn in two colors - about 50 gm of each for one class, about 600 grams of each for the entire throw-sized afghan (but you can purchase as you go along, if you want), or about 300 grams of each for the baby blanket. Shop sample used Malabrigo Rios in colorways Pocion and Piedras.
Time to pick your project size!
- If you want to make a 36” square baby blanket, you’ll be making one block using each stitch pattern.
- If you want to make a 54”x44” throw, you’ll need a total of two blocks in each stitch pattern.
Class 1: March 6, 2016
Abbreviations to know this month:
st: stitch
ch: chain
sc: single crochet
sc blo: single crochet back loop only
Block One: Rib-It! Rib-It!
(inspired by http://theinspiredwren.blogspot.com/2015/01/announcing-crochet-along-afghan-sampler.html)
Instructions:
Row 1: Ch 39, sc in second stitch from hook and each ch across; 38 stitches
Rows 2-55: ch 1 (does not count as a st), turn, sc blo in each st across (including 1st st); 38 stitches
Border: *work 38 sc along one side of the square, ch 1 (does not count as stitch), repeat from * on each side of the square. Fasten off and weave in ends
Block 2: Tiramisu
Instructions:
Row 1: Ch 38, sc in second stitch from hook and each ch across; 37 stitches
Row 2: Ch 1 (does not count as a st), turn, [make 2 sc in next st, skip a st] across, ending with ONE sc in the last st of the row.
Repeat Row 2 until block is approximately square.
Border: *work 38 sc along one side of the square, ch 1 (does not count as stitch), repeat from * on each side of the square. Fasten off and weave in ends
