Shaded Squares. Frankie s Knitted Stuff

Transcription

1 Frankie s Knitted Stuff Shaded Squares The crochet squares that make up this blanket are worked in two shades of one colour, sometimes the two are balanced, at other times one shade is dominant. This play of colour, added to the raised stitch used for the squares, gives a blanket that is full of interest and texture. Facts and Figures I made my blanket with Sirdar Country Style DK (155 m / 50g), using 3.5 and 4.5 mm crochet hooks. The bigger hook is for the coloured squares and the smaller one for the edgings. There are 48 squares in the finished blanket, each measuring about 14 cm or 5"². The blanket is about cm (46 32"). The pattern could be worked in other weights of yarn, just adjust the hook size to suit, remembering that you will need a smaller hook for the edgings. This pattern uses ritish crochet terms: tr = US dc htr = US hdc dc = US sc

2 My Colours I used two shades of four colours, one 50g ball of each: Meadow (dark) 614 Smokey reen (dark) 470 Tana (light) 390 Soft Teal (light) 602 ustic ed (dark) 396 Maple (dark) 612 Cherry (light) 402 Honey (light) 399 The shade Smokey reen is nearer blue than green. The edgings on the squares and the blanket border were worked in a dark grey (Anthracite, 395); I used six balls of this colour. The Squares The coloured part of the squares is made up of five rounds in a ridged stitch pattern. The shading is achieved by using two shades of one colour, D and L (dark and light) in a square, varying the amounts of each shade. There are three variations of shading: D1 ounds 1 & 2 in D, ounds 3 5 in L. D2 ounds 1 3 in D, ounds 4 & 5 in L. D3 ounds 1 4 in D, ound 5 in L.

3 D1 D2 D3 ou will also need to work the same three variations with the shades reversed: That will give you six squares in each colour; work another set of each to give you twelve squares, 48 all together. Now that we ve dealt with the shading, here are the instructions for actually crocheting the squares. Just change colours as needed. Instructions for the front and back raised stitches are at the end of the pattern. Using a 4.5mm hook work 6 ch and join with a ss into a ring. ound 1 L1 L2 L3 4ch, (3tr into ring, 1ch) three times, 2tr into ring, join with a ss to top of 4ch.

4 ound 2 ss in corner space, 4ch, 2tr in space, FrTr, rtr, FrTr, *(2tr, 1ch, 2tr) in corner, FrTr, rtr, FrTr, repeat from * twice more, tr in corner, join with a ss to 3rd ch. ound 3 ss in corner space, 4ch, 2tr in space, FrTr, (rtr, FrTr) three times, *(2tr, 1ch, 2tr) in corner, FrTr, (rtr, FrTr) three times, repeat from * twice more, tr in corner, join with a ss to 3rd ch. ound 4 ss in corner space, 4ch, 2tr in space, FrTr, (rtr, FrTr) five times, *(2tr, 1ch, 2tr) in corner, FrTr, (rtr, FrTr) five times, repeat from * twice more, tr in corner, join with a ss to 3rd ch. ound 5 ss in corner space, 4ch, 2tr in space, FrTr, (rtr, FrTr) seven times, *(2tr, 1ch, 2tr) in corner, FrTr, (rtr, FrTr) seven times, repeat from * twice more, tr in corner, join with a ss to 3rd ch and fasten off. This looks complicated written down but all the rounds are much the same, just with more raised stitches worked as the square gets bigger. Here are the three squares with dark centres (two, three and four rounds worked respectively):

5 And here they are once the light rounds have been added to make them all the same size: Edging the Squares All the squares are edged with the same colour; I used dark grey. To allow for the change from raised stitches to normal crochet, the edging is worked on a smaller hook (3.5 mm) and some stitches are also decreased in the first round. Join the yarn to any corner space. ound 1 3ch, 2htr in corner, miss 1 st, (2htr, dec) four times, 2htr, *(2htr, 1ch, 2htr) in corner, miss 1 st, (2htr, dec) four times, 2htr, repeat from * twice more, htr in corner, join with a ss to 2nd ch. ound 2 ss to corner space, 5ch, 2tr in corner miss 1 st, work 17 tr across side, *(2tr, 2ch, 2tr) in corner, miss 1 st, 17 tr across next side, repeat from * twice more, tr in corner, join with a ss to 3 rd ch and fasten off. So, work two complete sets of dark and light squares with each of the four colours to give you 48 squares.

6 Joining the Squares Arrange the squares in eight rows of six in any order that pleases you. ou will find the plan I used at the end of the pattern. The rows are crocheted together, first one way and then the other. Use the same colour that you used for the edgings of the squares. Take the two squares from the start of the first two rows and, holding them with their wrong sides together and using the 3.5 mm hook, join the yarn to the corner spaces and make 1ch. Now work in dc (US sc) across the square. There should be 21 stitches plus the corner spaces at each end. At the end of the square, work 1ch before beginning to join the next pair of squares. When you have worked all the horizontal joins, turn the blanket and repeat the process for the vertical joins. The order Once all the squares are joined together, the last thing to do is to add a border to the whole blanket. This is worked in the same colour as the edging on the squares and imitates the raised lines of the joins.

7 ound 1 This is a tidying up round. Use a 3.5 mm hook and join the yarn to the corner space at the end of any square. 2ch, *tr into the end of the raised join, htr into corner space, 21 htr along the side of the square, htr into corner space, repeat from * all round the blanket, working (2htr, 1ch, 2htr) into the four corners. ound 2 This is where it gets clever. Use a 4.5 mm hook and, working with the wrong side of the blanket facing you, join the yarn round any post from the last round. 3ch, FrTr round next and every stitch all round the blanket, adding 1ch at the four corners, join with a ss to the 3ch. This pushes the edge up to the front to mimic the ridged joins. ound 3 Change back to the 3.5 mm hook but still work with the wrong side of the blanket facing you. 1ch, FrDc all round, this time adding 2ch at each corner, ss to 1ch and fasten off.

8 This round of smaller raised stitches lies behind the last round, making the finished edge of the blanket nice and firm. And that s it... you might like to block the blanket now if your crochet is as uneven as mine (my squares never end up the same size) and then you re done. Abbreviations st / sts ch ss tr htr dc FrTr rtr dec FrDc stitch / stitches chain slip stitch treble (US double crochet) half treble (US half double crochet) double crochet (US single crochet) front raised treble: work a treble in the normal way but insert the hook from the front to the back and then to the front again, round the stem of the next stitch back raised treble: work a treble in the normal way but insert the hook from the back to the front and then to the back again, round the stem of the next stitch decrease : *yarn round hook, insert hook in stitch, yarn round hook, pull the yarn through, yarn round hook, pull through two stitches, repeat from * in the next stitch then put the yarn round the hook and pull through all three stitches. front raised double crochet: work a double crochet in the normal way but insert the hook from the front to the back and then to the front again, round the stem of the next stitch Frankie rown, My patterns are for personal use only and should not be used to make items for sale. Please do not use them for teaching purposes without my permission.

9 Colour Plan L1 L1 L2 L2 L3 L3 L1 L1 L2 L2 L3 L3 D3 D3 D2 D2 D1 D1 D3 D3 D2 D2 D1 D1 This shows the top half of the blanket, the bottom half is a repeat of this colour plan. yellow red blue green L1 ounds 1 & 2 in light, ounds 3 5 in dark. L2 ounds 1 3 in light, ounds 4 & 5 in dark. L3 ounds 1 4 in light, ound 5 in dark. D1 ounds 1 & 2 in dark, ounds 3 5 in light. D2 ounds 1 3 in dark, ounds 4 & 5 in light. D3 ounds 1 4 in dark, ound 5 in light. Frankie rown, 2014.