Baby Rainbow Sampler Blanket (part 5)

Find the other parts of the Baby Rainbow Sampler blanket here:

• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3
• Part 4
• Part 5
• Part 6
• Part 7
• Part 8
• Part 9
• Part 10
• Part 11

Notes

• Don't forget: Blue colour codes are for the Rainbow version!

Colour layout

Techniques

Catherine Wheel

Click here for the tutorial about the catherine wheel.

Catherine Wheel Section 1 (rows 59-64)

The Catherine wheel is a fun stitch to learn. As the name suggests the pattern creates big wheels that you crochet over the course of two rows. The stitch might look complex at first glance, but as long as you tackle it step by step, you can do it!

Row 59 (WS) Join Colour R (L) with a ss in first st, 1sc in same st, *skip 2 sts, (3dc, ch1, 3dc) in same st, skip 2 sts, 1sc in next st; repeat from * another 22 times, skip 2 sts, (3dc, ch1, 3dc) in same st, skip 2 sts, 1sc in last stitch, cut yarn, turn. [25 sc, 24 3dc-ch1-3dc clusters, 48 spaces where you skipped 2 sts]

Row 60 (RS) Join Colour L (M) with a ss in first st, ch3 (counts as first dc), dc3tog, ch7, skip ch-1 space, *dc7tog, ch7, skip ch-1 space; repeat from * another 22 times, dc3tog, 1dc in final st, turn. [23 half Catherine wheels, 2 quarter wheels (one on each end), 2 dc, 23 ch-7]

Row 61 (WS) Ch3 (counts as first dc), 3dc in dc3tog (there’s an ‘eye’ in the centre of the wheel, that’s where you’ll be working your stitches), 1sc over the ch7 of your previous row into the ch-1 space of Row 59, *(3dc, ch1, 3dc) in next dc7tog, 1sc over the ch7 of your previous row into the next ch-1 space of Row 59; repeat from * another 22 times, 3dc in final dc3tog, 1dc in last dc (the ch3 with which you started Row 60), cut yarn, turn. [23 half Catherine wheels, 2 quarter Catherine wheels (one on each end), 2 dc, 24 sc]

Since we’re only going to work one row of Catherine wheels the next row will look like Row 60, but will not be exactly the same. If you would crochet 7 chains as the ‘top’ row of the Catherine wheel, you can imagine that all your next rows would have quite the gap. Instead, we’ll be securing the chain to the Catherine wheels. This way, you can continue with the rest of your blanket without big gaps. Basically, we’re mirroring Row 59.

Row 62 (RS) Join Colour R (L) with a ss in first st, 1sc in same st, *ch3, dc7tog, ch3, 1sc in ch-1 space of Row 61; repeat from * another 22 times, ch3, dc7tog, ch3, 1sc in last dc (the ch3 with which you started Row 61). Cut yarn, turn. [25 sc, 24 dc7tog, 48 ch-3]

We’ll need to make sure we’re going back to 145 hdc in the next row. This means counting! Luckily, we can look to Row 59 for that. Each Catherine wheel took up 6 stitches (1sc, 2 skipped stitches, a Catherine wheel and then 2 skipped stitches again) for every repeat. So we’ll just need to make sure we’re working 6 stitches per Catherine wheel to get back to 144 plus the final stitch that we’ve used to fasten the last wheel.

Row 63 (WS) Join Colour A with a ss in first st, ch1, 1hdc in same st, *2hdc in ch-3 space, 1hdc in dc7tog, 2hdc in next ch-3 space, 1hdc in sc; repeat from * another 22 times, 2hdc in ch-3 space, 1hdc in dc7tog, 2hdc in ch-3 space, 1hdc last sc, ch1, turn. [145 hdc]

Row 64 (RS) 145hdc, cut yarn, turn. [145 hdc]

Continue with part 6 of the pattern.

Diagram