Howdy!! I hope this blog post finds you all living well!! We must find the things that recharge our minds and bodies and for me it’s good yarn! Haha!! Maybe not quite true, but close. When I go into a store and see and touch beautiful yarn, I get so inspired. I was on the hunt for something special to make a gift and when I found these Caron Cloud Cakes, I was instantly drawn in. Not only do they have the beautiful colors and striping that you get in Caron Cakes, but they are so super soft.
I definitely wanted to use them for the blanket that I was creating, but I had a hard time picking my favorite color so chose these four colors to use together. Maybe at first glance you are like, “Why? Why would you choose those to put together?” I did want to have as many colors in the blanket that I was making as I could, and these just seemed to talk to me.
Pictured above from top to bottom and right to left is Shore Birds, Kelp, Lagoon, and Saltwater Taffy. Just look at how beautiful they all work together!!! The striping is subtle, but gorgeous.
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Caron Cloud Cakes is a medium #4 yarn and 8.5oz/240g/760yds/695m
I paired the Cloud Cakes with 4 partial skeins that I had in Caron One Pound Expresso. I knew that I wanted to carry a neutral color throughout the blanket and this brown just seemed to work the best with what I had in my stash, but I think white would have really made this blanket a showstopper.
NOTE: this is more of a “formula” than a precise pattern, but if you know how to make a single crochet, half double crochet and double crochet you should be okay to proceed.
This blanket is made using 3 strands held together – one in the brown and two in the Cloud Cakes.
I used my size P/11.5mm hook to work the 3 strands together. This size hook created a beautiful fabric that wasn’t too tight, but soft and flowy. You may need to adjust your hook size if you are choosing different materials, or you find that your fabric isn’t feeling very “blankety.” If you have never worked holding 3 strands at once the main thing to keep an eye on is that you are pulling them evenly and that you don’t have any pieces getting missed. As you work just keep checking the back of your work to make sure nothing has puckered out. Using this many strands together makes a very luxurious blanket.
THESE ARE THE P HOOKS THAT I HAVE, but there are other brands. I also have THIS SET
I also wanted to use the Lemon Peel stitch to create an interesting texture, but something that I could work without thinking about it as I listened to my audiobook. I do believe that some crochet work should be relaxing and not complicated for ultimate unwind time. The Lemon Peel stitch is one of my favorites!
My blanket came out to be about 55×65 inches, but feel free to adjust. CAUTION: I did use just about every single bit of my four cakes of yarn so if you are chaining more to make a larger blanket you will most likely need at least 2 more cakes at to finish.
I chained 121 to start. For the Lemon Peel Stitch you can chain any ODD number to start.
sc= single crochet
dc = double crochet
hdc= half double crochet
The stitch is a simple repetition of sc, dc across the entirety of your chain. You chain an odd number because you place your first sc in the 2nd chain from the hook when you start your first row.
You start your row with a sc and end with a dc. After you chain 1 and turn (at the end of every row) you start with a sc in the last dc from the row before. You cannot mess this up if you are putting your sc in a dc and a dc in the sc from the row before. You start every row with a sc and end every row with a dc.
I started with my brown and Shore Birds and Lagoon all held together. After about 1/2 the first two cakes were used, I cut the Lagoon and added Saltwater Taffy with the Shore Birds. When the Shore Birds was almost out (change colors at the end of a row to make weaving in your ends easier) I added Kelp and worked until the Saltwater Taffy was almost finished. The end of my blanket has Kelp and the last half of Lagoon. So, every time you get to half a cake used you are adding in a new color. In this way, you create multiple rows of fascinating colors.
The border is simply two strands of brown and just hdc around the entire blanket with 3hdc in each corner. Make sure you are evenly spacing the border stitches and that each side is the same number of stitches as the opposite side.
Weave in those ends under your border rows and you are finished. I like to wash all my blankets on gentle with a bit of fabric softener and pop up on the spare bed to dry flat.
This gorgeous quick afghan worked up in just 2 days for me, but hopefully will be cherished for a lifetime.
If you have any questions, please reach out to me.
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