3.25.2013

Make it Monday // The $65 Crochet Blanket

You guys, we're nearly done with the living room!  I'm excited!  We're now down to a room by room finishing stage.  There is still a lot to do but there's a lot that has been done.  I seriously can't believe how this house used to look & as I sit on our couch down here where a garage bay used to be, I am so proud of us.  Sheesh, we did a lot!  Since we're on our way to finishing the living room - nearly everything is done...we just have to agree on art for the walls, finish filling the shelves in the movie/game space, organize the living room side of our huge bookshelf, & pick out some side tables.  It's like so close!!

The most recent addition to the room, besides the catch all planter box tray from last week, is this blanket I finished crocheting this past weekend.  I say finished last weekend because It's usable...but I think I want to add a fringe!

Zach requested a huge blanket that we could both snuggle under when we start watching our next tv series.  Since the blanket in our bedroom is made from regular acrylic yarn I thought I'd try something more luxurious for the living room since it would be on show more.  I love really fuzzy, really warm, boutique-y blankets that look crazy expensive & often are.  I decided to work with Lion Brand Homespun in Spice, Meadow, & Pearls.  These three colors are the main colors in our living room, along with dark browns in the couch & the furniture.

I picked up a few skeins of these Lion Brand colors at JoAnnes when they had a sale going on, I believe they were $4.70-ish down from $6-ish.  I got through them & needed more.  I popped by the yarn section of Meijer & found that they were only $4.99 - but Meijer didn't have the sage green color.  All in all this blanket took 13 skeins of yarn - making this blanket cost me $65.  I don't think I would have found a blanket this big for that price.  I mean this thing is huge! But still, $65 is a lot for a blanket!  Especially one made by hand!
The weight of this blanket is great too, it's wonderful to snuggle under.  I used a J hook & a modified V-stitch through out the entire blanket.  I make a lot of my blankets with this modified V-stich because it's quick...and I have no attention span!  Here's the basic pattern:

Chain an odd number in the length you'd like, including a ch 3 at the end for turning.  

1 dc in fifth chain from hook, ch 1, 

(here's the modified part) *yo, insert hook into same ch, yo, draw yarn through loop, yo, draw yarn through first 2 loops on hook, yo, skip one ch, insert hook into next ch, yo, draw yarn through loop, yo, draw through first 2 loops on hook, yo, draw through all three loops on hook. ch 1*

Repeat from * to * until last ch 1, double crochet in same stitch as last modified decrease, skip one ch, dc in last ch.

ch 3, turn.

Now you'll do this stitch pattern in the ch 1 spaces of the modified V's below:

dc in first ch 1 space, ch 1.

*yo, insert hook into same ch 1 space, yo, draw yarn through loop, yo, draw yarn through first 2 loops on hook, yo, insert hook into next ch 1 space, yo, draw yarn through loop, yo, draw through first 2 loops on hook, yo, draw through all three loops on hook. ch 1*

Repeat from * to * until you do the last ch 1 on the current row, double crochet in same ch 1 space as last modified decrease, dc in the top of the ch 3 from previous row.

Repeat this way until you've reached the length you want.

here's an example of decreasing & here's an example of a v stitch pattern.  And below is an example of a modified V-stich symbol I came up with based off of the symbols for double crochet & chain as seen in crochet diagrams:
I hope that makes sense! But this type of stitch works up really, really fast.  It creates a cool texture in any sort of fabric you create.  A lot of my scarves are made with this stitch too.  It's super versatile!  I'm not sure if this stitch has been done before or has been better explained but I hope that the explanation above makes a little bit of sense!
We've been loving using this blanket as winter is still hanging on.  It looks lovely on display when it's not in use too!!

I can't wait to show you more of our house as it comes together! We've got so many projects in the works.  In fact, shortly after taking these photos we picked up prettier floor lamps!

Have you ever taken on a project that ended up costing your more than you'd hoped?  Did it still turn out lovely in the end?


xoxo, Moe

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3 comments:

  1. Great blanket - looks fantastic with those colour choices!

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  2. Love it! Might have to try this out, the stitch is something new to me. :)

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  3. not nessicarily that cost more than i thought but took way more yarn AND time than i thought.

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