An acquaintance who had been in countless wedding once showed me a crocheted blanket that a bride had made her. She gushed about how that gift was the most meaningful bridesmaid gift she had ever received. Since I crochet, I tucked that little tidbit of information away for later. When I got engaged, I pushed my fiance to help me pick out colors so I could start on the pile of blankets I was planning on making.
I decided to make blankets for our three bridesmaids and both sets of parents. I had to make five blankets, so I needed to find an afghan pattern that I could make fairly quickly. I have made many afghans that took me months to make. I didn’t have that much time. I had an afghan pattern pinned named “Super Quick Throw.” The blanket was crocheted with four strands of yarn held together as one with a giant hook. That’s about as quick as one can hope for. The blankets crocheted beautifully.
I do have a few tips:
- The pattern is available free on the Red Heart website.
- I bought yarn in bulk in our wedding colors. I chose acrylic yarn because it holds up well and for the price. It crocheted into a stiff, scratchy blanket. However, after washing and drying each blanket once, they were completely transformed. They became pliable and soft.
- The pattern calls for a hook size P-16 (11.5 mm). I couldn’t find a hook this size and ended up with a 10 mm hook. I adjusted by crocheting to the correct size rather than the correct number of stitches. The pattern is easy, so it wasn’t hard to do. The rows that require a certain number of stitches have a three stitch repeat. There is a two stitch “border” on each side. This means that your starting row should have a total stitch number that is a multiple of 3 plus 4 stitches. (As written, the pattern calls for 58 stitches. This is a multiple of 3 (54/3=18) plus 4.) I don’t remember how many stitches I used. I think it was 70. Whatever gets you to a 48 inch wide blanket.
- I used the no foundation row starting technique instead of the chain start technique in the pattern. Here is a good tutorial. This technique keeps your tension from being off in the first row and is easier to measure your 48 inches.
- With the same “size verses stitches” philosophy, you should repeat Rows 2-7 until the blanket is the length you want. The pattern calls for 58 inches. I wanted my blanket to be at least 60 inches so I repeated until I finished on a Row 7 with a length greater than 60 inches.
- The edges of the blanket turned out a little jagged. I finished the blanket off with a border. I slip stitched in each stitch on the short edges and single crocheted along the long edges. This cleaned the blankets up nicely.
Difficulty: Easy
Time Required: About 13 movies per blanket
Overall Experience: Excellent
