Apologies for being so quiet, I have been finding juggling all the things that are involved in my life a bit tricky over the last few months, but I am back, and hopefully I will manage to stick around for a while.
As you may have noticed I love to make blankets. Don't get me wrong, I make lots of other things too, but blankets are my favourite, they are my go to item. Over the years I have tried lots of patterns, simple ones, complex ones, colourful ones etc and what I have discovered is that I am a bit of a lazy crocheter. What I mean by this is that I am always doing at least two things at once, whether its crochet and making mental to-do lists; crocheting and watching whilst the girls demonstrate something for me; crocheting whilst listening to a tale from work by my other half, or just crocheting and watching tv.
So whilst I love to look at a complex border, or an intricate pattern that has you counting every stitch, the reality is that I love a pattern that enables multi-tasking so is intrinsically simple.
I hope that this pattern ticks those boxes, once you get past the start it has a simple three row repeat. I have not specified yarn type of hook size as this is completely up to you, pick a yarn you like and use the hook you would normally use with it, then make your item as big or small as you want, it could be made in cotton and used as a mandala, it could be made in DK and used as a blanket, or made in t-shirt yarn and used as a rug.
In these pictures the finished rainbow blanket was made using Ice Gumball yarn, the how to pics were made using cotton as I think the stitch definition is clearer in cotton.
* apologies, some of the pictures will not stay where I ask them so if you suffer from OCD look away now, this pattern seems to be reflecting the chaos of my life in pictorial form! *
All of that said here it is my granny star blanket pattern, I have had a few friendly crocheters check it over for me, and I am very grateful for this but if you spot an error please let me know, it was written whilst watching my daughters rehearse their halloween jokes and try on costumes:
Lulu Loves Crochet
Granny Star Pattern
pick whatever yarn you fancy, and an appropriate hook, for blankets I would normally use DK yarn and a 4.5mm hook.
Once you get started this is a simple pattern with a three round repeat until you reach the size you want your blanket/rug/mandala to be
you only need to know four stitches for this pattern - which is written using english terminology:
- chain stitch
- treble crochet (US double crochet)
- double crochet (US single crochet)
- slip stitch
To start:
chain 5 and join into a circle
round 1:
chain 2 (counts a 1 tr) 2tr, *ch2 3tr* repeat * to * three times, as you would to start a normal granny square, slipstitch to join to top of starting 2chain and slipstitch across to the 2 chain space from previous round
round 2:
ch2 (counts as 1 tr) 2tr, ch2, tr3 in same space ; *3tr ch2 3tr* in each 2ch corner space repeat * to * all the way around, ss into top of starting 2ch and ss along to 2ch space from previous round
round 3:
ch2 (counts as first treble) 2tr 2ch 3tr all in same space , in next space *3tr 2ch 3tr* repeat from * to * all the way around another 6 times, should end up looking like 8 granny corners. ss into top of starting 2ch and ss along to 2ch space from previous round
round 4:
ch2 (counts as first tr) 2tr 2ch 3 tr in first corner space, *skip next space from previous round, 3tr 2ch 3tr into next “corner point space”* repeat * to * all the way around (another 6 times).
ss into top of starting 2ch and ss along to 2ch space from previous round
round 5:
Ch2 (counts as first treble) tr2 ch2 tr3 in two chain corner/point space from row below, *3tr in space working along 3tr 2ch 3tr in point/corner* repeat from *to* all the way around. ss into top of starting 2ch, ss along to corner/point space
round 6:
Round 7:
Ch2 (1tr) 2tr 2ch 3tr, *work along with groups of 3tr until you reach the middle of the row, skip one space (its easy to find as it is directly in line with the one from row 4)
3tr groups along to the next corner, 3tr 2ch 3tr in corner space* repeat * to * all the way round
3tr groups along to the next corner, 3tr 2ch 3tr in corner space* repeat * to * all the way round
repeat rows 5-7 until you reach the desired size.
To finish I did two rows of double crochets then added pompoms onto the points
Please note, I do NOT do a chain space between groups of trebles on straight edges, this is a personal choice, if when doing a normal granny square you would do a one chain space between groups of 3 trebles then you might want to include them in this pattern I omitted them as I felt the pattern did not need it/was too loose with them. But this is a personal choice.
I hope you enjoy it
Kirsty
