Kaitlyn’s Blanket Graduation Gift ~ May 19, 2013

May 19, 2013

Kaitlyn’s blanket graduation gift was a project I made for my niece when she was graduating from high school. It’s been so many years ago now that I don’t remember if her mama asked me to make the blanket or I asked her mama what colors I should make the blanket in. Either way, I know my sister in law suggested I make the blanket in the colors of the college she had decided to attend after graduating. I thought that was a great idea so I got to stitching.

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Kaitlyn’s Blanket Graduation Gift Project Info:

Craft: Crochet
Made For: My niece Kaitlyn as a high school graduation gift.
Started: March 28, 2013
Completed: May 19, 2013

Pattern Info:

I am incredibly frustrated to discover that this pattern is no longer available online. I have searched all over to find it. Each site I have clicked on states it has been discontinued. Grrr…. I actually still have a printed copy of the pattern thankfully, but I am sure there are copyright laws that would not allow me to share that information on this site. Since I do not know for sure if it’s allowed, I will not do it. However, please message me if you are interested in a copy of it. It was a free pattern online when I found it, so I would imagine I am allowed to at least share it. If anyone knows anything different, please let me know.

So, without further ado…. here is the pattern info:
Aunt Dot’s Double Crossed Afghan by Carol Wolf, Wolf Crochet

As I search for pictures of this project I am so frustrated with myself for not having better ones to choose from. I thought by this point in my stitching journey I had been doing a better job of tracking my projects. If the last 2 posts are any indication, I apparently went through a period of time where I relapsed into poor project tracking. LOL Let’s hope I don’t discover any other periods of time in my stitching journey where this became a trend. I don’t like not having better pictures of these items that I spent hours working on!

What about gauge?

Blankets are another type of project that gauge isn’t really a HUGE issue if you’re off a bit. The only projects where gauge is really of essential importance is in wearables. Anything you need the size to fit correctly is when gauge becomes a critical factor in your project planning. Blankets and certain accessories aren’t going to be unusable if your gauge doesn’t match exactly. In fact, on the project information page for this pattern on ravelry that information isn’t even listed.

Yarn used for Kaitlyn’s Blanket Graduation Gift:

As if finding out the pattern has been discontinued isn’t frustrating enough, I also haven’t been able to find the yarn I used either. I used:
Caron One Pound yarn in the colorways Iris-0550 and Jonquil-0586. These colors no longer seem to exist. I did find similar colors in the JoAnn Fabric Website in the yellow and deep violet colorways, but they are not the same. Additionally I found a shade of yellow on Amazon that looked close as well, I will post that link below with a few other yarn options.

The creator of this pattern actually used Caron Simply Soft yarn, which has a whole lot more color options for you to choose from anyway. I would highly recommend just sticking to what she suggested. Based off her pattern info (using Caron Simply Softy yarn), these are her yardage recommendations. This is a striped Afghan so you will need two colors:

4 skeins (the purple color in my blanket) – 1320 yards
2 skeins (the yellow color in my blanket) – 660 yards

Great yarn websites to check out would be: LoveCrafts, Lion Brand, Knitpicks/We Crochet and Knitcrate.

What hooks and tools are needed to make this crochet blanket?

My favorite brand of hooks to use are the Knit Picks brand, like the one pictured above. They are so beautiful and well made. I have a wood set that includes the crochet hook above as well as the padded handle set pictured below. I love them both! In addition to these We Crochet / Knit Picks sets, I also posted a few other options for complete sets you can find on Amazon a little further below.

As promised here are a few sets from Amazon that would be great too. I don’t think the light up set pictured below has the smallest hook sizes but I think that looks kind of awesome and it would work for the bigger flowers and other crochet projects you would make. I love that it’s rechargeable! Again, be sure to do your research and read the reviews. If you buy a good set of hooks it’s likely you will never need to buy another set again, or at least not for a very long time. Doing your homework to make sure you are making a sound purchase is always a good idea.

Additional Tools for when your wrists and/or hands ache

If you are like me and you knit and crochet a lot, something that I have found is useful at times is a pair of stress relief gloves. I own a few different kinds, but I do think any of them is better than not using anything at all if your hands and wrists are bothering you. I’ll include a few links for you to check out.

Need a little more help?

In conclusion, that should be about all you need if you want to try this one out. If you feel like you might need a little extra assistance and want online classes to help you, check out the link below for Annie’s and Crafty websites. I take online classes often to improve and advance my skills. You can always learn something new!

I taught myself to knit and crochet through kits that I found at my local craft store, so there is always that option as well. I’ll share links to kits similar to what I used that you can also find on Amazon if you can’t find at your local craft store or can’t get to one soon.

That should be about all you need if you want to try this one out. Please let me know if you have any questions or need any help.

Happy Stitching!
🧶💖
~Mindy~