Thin Mint Blanket

I don't know about you, but I don't like shopping for gifts off of registries.  The concept is good, getting people what they want and not duplicating it, but in application it never works out quite like that.  People forget to use the registry and you end up with four crock pots.  Also, the gifts don't really show much thought or originality, not to mention that the stuff tends to be overpriced.  So, for baby showers I like to give baby blankets and for weddings full sized blankets.  When it is handmade, it will not be duplicated!

So, if there is a wedding of a close friend coming up, start crocheting, and you'll have a unique gift they will hopefully keep forever that will be memorable.  When I decide to make someone a blanket for their wedding, I first inquire as to their wedding colors.  If they picked them for the wedding they obviously like the colors.  Then I get creative and come up with something using those colors.  If you don't know where to start, look through some pattern books and see what you like: try to visualize the pattern in the color scheme.  Then get crocheting!

My buddy is getting married soon, so I made a blanket for them.  When I bothered him about the colors for the wedding he told me to 'think Thin Mints' as a description of the green and brown colors they had chosen.  So, I've thought of this blanket as my 'Thin Mint Blanket' even before I began it.

This blanket is an application of the Half and Half striping pattern.  The diamond portion of the blanket changes colors every two rows, so this color pattern applies so yarn cutting is not required.  I do however cut the brown yarn when each set of diamonds is complete.  It would be a little ridiculous to carry the brown color up through 13 rows of green.

Here's how to make it:
Chain 164
Row 1: sc in 2nd chain from hook, (ch 3, sk 2, dc, ch 3, sk 2, sc) across (green)
Row 2: ch 4, turn, dc in sc (sc in dc, [dc, ch 1, dc, ch1, dc] in sc) across, (dc, ch 1, dc) in last sc (brown)
Row 3: ch 6, turn, sc in sc (ch 3, dc in middle dc, ch 3, sc in sc) across, ch 3, dc in last dc (brown)
Row 4: ch 1, turn, (sc in dc, [dc, ch 1, dc, ch1, dc] in sc) across, sc in last dc (green)
Row 5: ch 1, turn, sc in sc (ch 3, dc in middle dc, ch 3, sc in sc) across (green)
Rows 6-13: repeat rows 2-5 twice
Row 14: repeat row 2
Row 15: repeat row 3
Row 16:  ch 1, turn, (sc in dc, [dc, ch 1, hdc, ch1, dc] in sc) across, sc in last dc (green)
Row 17: ch 3, turn, dc in every ch 1 space, hdc, dc, and sc across  (green)
Rows 18-27: ch 3, turn, dc across (green)
Row 28: ch 1, turn, sc, (ch 3, sk 2, dc, ch 3, sk 2, sc) across

Repeat Rows 2-28 5 times, ending with Row 16 (There will be six sets of diamonds)

Border: (brown)
Round 1: sc around, 3 sc in corner
Round 2: dc around, 5 dc in corner
Round 3: sc around, 3 sc in corner
Round 4: (dc, ch 1, sk 1) around, (dc, ch 1, dc, ch 1, dc) in corner
Round 5: sc around, 3 sc in corner
Round 6: dc around, 5 dc in corner
Round 7: sc around, 3 sc in corner

The final dimensions were 75" x 110", weighs 4.4 lbs, and took about 10 skeins to complete.

I made this using I Love this Yarn, Mid Green and Coffee with a J hook.

Stripes: Color Blocks

Here is the last installment, at least for a while, on color patterns.  This striping scheme has four rows of the main color then two rows of the contrast color repeated.  This is a variation of the Featured Color striping pattern where the 'featured' color is the same as one of the two other colors.  Basically, one of the alternating colors is replaced to fill in the block with the featured color.

If instead of matching the featured color with one of the other colors, you make the two other colors the same, you end up with the Thick and Thin striping pattern.

So here's how to do this:

Make your chain and the first two rows in the contrasting color.  At the end of the second row, tie on the main color, do not cut the contrasting color.  Finish the stitch by pulling both strands through the loops.  Chain with both strands together.

Work one row with the main color.  At the end of the row, tie on another strand of the main color.  Pull both strands through the loops to complete the stitch.  Chain with both strands.

Work two rows with the new strand of the main color.  Switch back to the original strand of main color for the fourth row of the main color.  In this color pattern, the contrasting color is always pulled up on the same side.

 Here's the pattern for this dishcloth:
Chain 28
Row 1: dc in 4th chain from hook, dc across
Row 2-14: ch 3, turn, dc across
Border:
Round 1: sc around (3 sc in corner)
Round 2: sc around (3 sc in corner)

Rows 3-6, 9-12 are in the red color.
Rows 1-2, 7-8, 13-14 are in the yellow color.

I made this using Sugar and Cream Country Yellow and Wine with a J hook.

Stripes: Unequal stripes

If, instead of using three colors, you only use two colors in the Flanking Colors stripe pattern, you get alternating widths of stripes of your main color.  Four rows and two rows, with a single row of the contrast color in between.  This pattern requires a lot of rows to see the overall result of it, and I think it would make a really pretty blanket.  I probably will try something like this in the future, maybe in maroon and white.

So here's how to do this:

Work your chain and the first row in color B.  At the end of the row, tie on color A, do not cut color B.  Pull both through the loops to finish the stitch.  Chain with both strands.

Release color B, and work row 2 with color A.  At the end of the row, tie on another strand of color A.  Finish the row by pulling both strands of color A through the loops.  Chain with both strands.

Release the first strand of color A, and work two rows with the new strand of color A, pulling color B up along the side.

For the fifth row, switch back to the first strand of color A.

Upon completion, the dishcloth has two thick stripes and one thin stripe of color A, and four stripes of color B.  The color gets pulled up along both sides, but is not readily visible when it is two strands of the same color.

Here's the pattern:
Chain 28
Row 1: dc in 4th chain from hook, dc across
Row 2-14: ch 3, turn, dc across
Border:
Round 1: sc around (3 sc in corner)
Round 2: sc around (3 sc in corner)

Rows 2-5, 7-8, 10-13 are in the red color.
Rows 1, 6, 9, 14 are in the yellow color.


I made this using Sugar and Cream Country Yellow and Wine yarn with a J hook.

Stripes: Flanking Colors

After mapping out several patterns, and making several dishcloths, I came up with this three color pattern.  A variation of the Half and Half striping pattern is to use two separate strands for one of the colors.  This generates a look of two rows of the main color flanked on either side by a single row of a color, which varies between two colors. 

Here's how to do this:

Make your chain and work one row with color B.  At the end of the row, tie on color C, do not cut color B.  Finish the stitch by pulling both strands together through the loops.  Chain with both strands.

 

Release color B, and work row 2 with color C.  At the end of the row, tie on color A, and pull both colors through the loops, then work 2 rows with color A, pulling color B up the side after the first row.  For more detailed illustrations on how to do this, see my earlier striping posts.

Here's the pattern:
Chain 28
Row 1: dc in 4th chain from hook, dc across
Row 2-14: ch 3, turn, dc across
Border:
Round 1: sc around (3 sc in corner)
Round 2: sc around (3 sc in corner)

Rows 3-4, 7-8, 11-12 are in the red color.
Rows 1, 6, 9, 14 are in the green color.
Rows 2, 5, 10, 13 are in the yellow color.

I made this using Sugar and Cream Sage Green, Country Yellow, and Wine with a J hook.

Stripes: Featured Color

So, I decided to map out the color patterns that I've made to this point.  I developed a way of drawing them out that let me try out new patterns.  Here's what I came up with: 1 row Color A, 2 rows Color B, 1 row Color A, 2 rows Color C, repeated.  The end result is thick stripes of color flanked by Color A, the 'featured' color. If you make colors B and C the same, you get the Thick and Thin stripe pattern.

Here's how to do this:  make your chain, and work 2 rows in the same color (color B).  At the end of the second row, tie on color A, do not cut color B.  Pull both strands through the loops to complete the stitch.  Chain with both strands. 

 

Release color B and work row 3 with color A.  At the end of the row, tie on color C, do not cut color A.  Pull both strands through loops to complete stitch.  Chain with both colors.

 Release color A and work row 4 with color C.  At the end of the row, finish the stitch by pulling both colors B and C through the loops.  Chain with both colors.   Release color B and continue row 5 with color C.

Colors are drawn up on both sides.

Here's the pattern:
Chain 28
Row 1: dc in 4th chain from hook, dc across
Row 2-14: ch 3, turn, dc across
Border:
Round 1: sc around (3 sc in corner)
Round 2: sc around (3 sc in corner)

Rows 3, 6, 9, 12 are in the red color.
Rows 1-2, 7-8, 13-14 are in the green color.
Rows 4-5, 10-11 are in the yellow color.

I made this using Sugar and Cream Sage Green, Country Yellow, and Wine with a J hook.

Stripes: Thick and Thin

A variation of the Equal Thirds color pattern is to have two of the strands be the same color.  This makes it have the appearance of two rows of the main color, and then one color of the contrast color.  I used this color pattern for the Stitch 15 and Stitch 25 baby blankets.  It worked well for embedding the color of the variegated yarn into the work in the Stitch 15 blanket, and allowed the appearance of white triangles in a sea of maroon in the Stitch 25 blanket.

Here's how to do this:
Make your chain, and first row in color A.  At the last stitch, tie on another strand of color A, without cutting the first strand.  Pull both strands through the loops to finish the stitch.  Chain with both strands. 

Work row 2 with the new strand of color A, releasing the first strand.  At the last stitch of row 2, tie on color B, and finish the stitch by pulling both strands through the loops.  Chain with both strands.

Work row 3 with color B, releasing color A.  At the last stitch of row 3, grab both the color B strand you've been working with and the color A strand that is waiting there from row 1.  Finish the stitch with both strands.  Chain with both strands.

Release color B, and work row 4 with color A.  Repeat this pattern, changing strands every row, picking up the color that is available at the end of each row.  Colors will be carried along both sides, though a third of the time, this will be two strands of color A.

Here's the pattern for this dishcloth:
Chain 28
Row 1: dc in 4th chain from hook, dc across
Row 2-14: ch 3, turn, dc across
Border:
Round 1: sc around (3 sc in corner)
Round 2: sc around (3 sc in corner)

Rows 1-2, 4-5, 7-8, 10-11, 13-14 are in the red color.
Rows 3, 6, 9, 12 are in the yellow color.

These are the Gryffindor like colors I used in the Half and Half stripe pattern.

I made this using Sugar and Cream Country Yellow and Wine with a J hook.