Colourful Rainbow Sampler CAL
Blocks of colour, a variety of stitches and a large comfortable size make the Colourful Rainbow Sampler blanket a must-make! This project is a Kickstarter for both your stitch repertoire and your rainbow collection. Written instructions and crochet charts step you through the different sections, with photo tutorials to help you visualize the pattern. If you’re a crocheter who has mastered the basic stitches, and if you’re looking for something exciting to make, this blanket checks all the boxes.
Starting May 6th 2020 I will host a CAL for this fabulous pattern. Each week you will get a section of the pattern, and we'll crochet along together towards a finished blanket. Doesn't that sound like a great way to spend time right now?
How did the Sampler Blanket start?
The Rainbow Sampler Blanket is one of my very first patterns. Back when I started crocheting I decided to challenge myself. I grabbed some paper and lots of coloured pencils and started sketching. There were many stitches that I wanted to try, and it helped that I didn’t consider this to be a ‘pattern’. It was truly my Sampler Blanket.
Over the course of a year I worked on this blanket, occasionally posting pictures on Haak Maar Raak to show progress. Once finished I was stunned by the positive response from the crochet community. Because I never intended this as a ‘designed’ blanket, I didn’t write a pattern along. So after many questions, I made up a recipe; loose instructions for anybody looking to make their own Sampler.
Over the years I’ve looked at this pattern as a designer and realised it wasn’t up to standard with my other patterns. So at the beginning of 2019 I decided that it was time to recreate this iconic blanket. I used many of the colours I did in the original version, but this time I was determined to write a proper pattern. It took me the better part of a year and lots of testing, writing and charting, but I'm happy to say that that's now all done. To celebrate this new and improved version, I’m hosting a CAL for anybody who wants to join.
What has happened to the old Sampler pattern?
Because I’ve tweaked so much of the old pattern along the way I decided to take the old pattern offline. It would be very confusing to have an old and a new version of the same blanket. If you are working on the 'old' Sampler blanket I got two pieces of advice for you. If you are in the early stages, rip it out and start over, along with the CAL. I promise the new pattern will be much clearer. If you are already quite far in the pattern and don’t want to start over, send me an email at kirsten@haakmaarraak.nl and I’ll give you access to the old pattern.
When does the CAL start?
The CAL starts on May 6th 2020. It will run for 11 weeks, with the final part of the pattern being released on July 15th. I will run this CAL in the Haak Maar Raak Community on Facebook, so join us if you’re not a member yet! If you can’t keep up with the pace, no worries. The pattern will remain available indefinitely on my blog.
Who's the CAL for?
If you're a beginning crocheter who knows how to make chains, single crochets and double crochets I'm sure you can manage this project. You will learn several different stitch patterns (up to 13!) during the various weeks. I've written this pattern specifically with the not-so-experienced pattern reader in mind. So while I am using abbreviations, I'm not abbreviating the pattern to its fullest to improve on the readability of the pattern. The different stitch patterns will have photo tutorials to help you along, and there are colourful crochet charts included to guide you. Please note that at this stage video tutorials are not planned for this CAL.
Stitch patterns that you will learn are:
- Popcorn
- Bobble
- Puff Stitch
- Granny Clusters
- Wave stitches
- Larksfoot Stitch
- Herringbone stitch
- Reversed Popcorns
- Crab stitch
- Surface crochet
- Catherine Wheel
- Shells (well, one of the million versions that exist!)
- Star stitch
The blanket has been designed in such a way that if you feel like you can't do a certain stitch, you can skip that section or replace it with a different stitch pattern. We'll work it out! The blanket as designed measures 190 x 195 cm (75 x 77in). Large, and comfortable!
What yarn do we use?
I designed this CAL with Scheepjes Colour Crafter. Colour Crafter is an affordable premium acrylic yarn, available in many colours and deliciously soft after its first wash. Almost all Scheepjes retailers stock this yarn, so give your local retailer a call. If you want to order online, have a look at one of the following online retailers who stock Colour Crafter:
* Please do check the shipping policies before ordering. At this time they might not ship to all countries.
I understand that at the moment your preferred retailer might not ship internationally anymore. I can’t help that, but what I can do is make all the available yarns and quantities per week known in advance so you have all the information necessary to check whether you have enough yarns at home and to see if your local retailer has what you need. I will do so over the following days.
This is the list of colours that we will be using:
Scheepjes Colour Crafter (100% Premium Acrylic, 100g/300m):
- Colour A: 1063 Rotterdam x 4 balls
- Colour B: 1005 Barneveld x 1 ball
- Colour C: 1425 Deventer x 1 ball
- Colour D: 1034 Urk x 1 ball
- Colour E: 1019 Texel x 1 ball
- Colour F: 1263 Leerdam x 1 ball
- Colour G: 1081 Gouda x 1 ball
- Colour H: 1241 Den Bosch x 1 ball
- Colour I: 1130 Sittard x 1 ball
- Colour J: 1020 Leiden x 1 ball
- Colour K: 1316 Almelo x 1 ball
- Colour L: 1065 Assen x 1 ball
- Colour M: 1132 Leek x 1 ball
- Colour N: 1083 Tilburg x 1 ball
- Colour O: 1123 Roermond x 1 ball
- Colour P: 1067 Hoorn x 1 ball
- Colour Q: 1080 Venlo x 1 ball
- Colour R: 1023 Tiel x 1 ball
- Colour S: 1068 Den Helder x 1 ball
- Colour T: 1009 Utrecht x 1 ball
- Colour U: 1061 Meppel x 1 ball
- Colour V: 1084 Hengelo x 1 ball
- Colour W: 1390 Amersfoort x 1 ball
- Colour X: 1246 Maastricht x 1 ball
- Colour Y: 1708 Alkmaar x 1 ball
Colour Crafter is available in many more colours. So feel free to mix and match colour combinations to your heart's desire!
Yarn leftovers
It's both the joy and burden of designing with many colours: leftovers. I've optimised the new version of the CAL blanket to work economically with colours and removed colours that were only used for a single row. Still, you're still using 25 different shades in this blanket. We will have many leftovers after this is finished, ranging from ~15 grams to ~65 grams per ball. On the plus side, this means that you barely have to worry about gauge and can go by the look and feel of the blanket instead of yarn weight. I'd like to think of this blanket as your Rainbow Collection Kickstarter. You can make many more beautiful rainbow projects after this blanket. I'll hook you up with some tips later!
Yarns used per week
I have created an overview of the amount of yarn that you will use per colour per week. Please note: this is the max. yardage based on the results between me and my testers. The numbers represent the grams used.
Comments
I'm not on Facebook and never will be. This fact prevents enormous enjoyment of many craft projects; but it can't be helped.
I just participate in those on websites, and mourn missing ones like this.
You new site is beautiful, and so must be your husband. April 06, 2020 22:34 - Reply
190 x 195 cm! April 07, 2020 16:20 - Reply
Do keep in mind that you're not only looking at weight but also at meterage - some 50g cottons might have less than half the meterage than a 100g acrylic skein, depending on the yarn weight! April 08, 2020 18:56 - Reply
This is my personal preference and I hope it works. Looks good in the balls. April 16, 2020 12:46 - Reply
I would suggest taking a very plain colour as base colour, just because the other parts of the blanket are so colourful.
What you could do is change it up with a shade of white or of-white, like 1001 Weert or 1005 Barneveld. If you do this, I would replace the ball of 1005 Barneveld (off white, colour used for the background of the purple bobbles and for a section of Surface Slip Stitch crochet if I recall correctly)With something else. Perhaps a very soft Purple, like 1724 Helmond?
Just a suggestion! April 07, 2020 15:38 - Reply
The weekly patterns are freely available for everybody, on my blog, and will remain available after the CAL. I am in the process of creating a printable pattern PDF (a.k.a. Ebook, it's 70+ pages long) that you can purchase for a fee in the Haak Maar Raak shop. That will be available this month! Sign up for my mailing list (see footer below) if you want to get updates on that, as I'll send out a mailing when the PDF is available. April 08, 2020 08:54 - Reply
Melissa April 10, 2020 10:52 - Reply
I'm glad that you found some relief in crochet, after what sounds like a very intense and traumatic experience. My heart goes out to you and your family!
On the meterage: It's around 4500m. This weekend I'm putting together a document where I specify how much meterage is used for each colour per section, so if you can wait for a couple of days with ordering in yarn, you got much more info to work with! April 10, 2020 11:33 - Reply
Super gave cal....kijk nu naar je kleuren. Misschien al vermeld maar 1132 moet denk leek zijn ipv prei.
Ik kan niet wachten. April 12, 2020 17:42 - Reply
Can you tell me how much yarn in total I have to buy? I read that I will have much yarn in rest if I go with all the yarn suggestion, so I think maybe it's less ball of yarn than the suggested April 13, 2020 12:42 - Reply
I meant I have made my Double Trouble in stylecraft special dk (not color crafter)and will make this one in the same yarn. April 13, 2020 12:54 - Reply
I would recommend starting with a 4.5 or 5.0mm hook. I worked on a 5.0mm, a tester of mine on a 4.5. Both blankets came out great so it depends a bit on your tension which one is best. Hope this helps! April 13, 2020 22:27 - Reply
When I started crocheting I used a 6.00mm hook, but now I would choose a 5.0mm or perhaps even a 4.5mm hook. 4.5mm is what's recommended on the ball band. I used a 5.0mm for my sample, one of my testers used a 4.5mm for hers. Both came out great :). So I would go with one of those! April 14, 2020 09:48 - Reply
I am quite new at crocheting and I loooooooove your work. I would looooove to make this blanket too and learn all those stitches, however I don't have a FB account and I don't want to open one. Is there an option to do this from here? (your Blog) and if so, when will the different tutorials be available?
Thank you very much for all the inspiration and for sharing!! April 15, 2020 14:40 - Reply
thank you! Okay let me see. The 1065 Assen is always used in 'green' lanes, either with the lighter green or the darker green. So it's important to pick a green in the middle of the range, so it will still have enough contrast with either.
If you look for a bright green, you could pick 1822 Delfzijl or 1821 Terneuzen. If you're looking for a more calm green, perhaps 1842 Enschede would be an alternative. I wouldn't go any darker than that shade because of the contrast.
Hope this helps you! April 16, 2020 08:32 - Reply
we'll be using one size hook throughout. I used a 5.0mm hook, my testers a 4.5mm hook. Depending if you're a loose or tight crocheter you can pick the one or the other :) May 04, 2020 08:27 - Reply
Thank you for this lovely CAL. I will appreciate if you can assist me with the table with the yarn need. Is it possible that we get the table with yarn weight in some other format like Word or PDF to enable us to pick yarn out of our stack. May 07, 2020 08:54 - Reply
Is it possible to make it smaller? I want to crochet it to use it in my sofá, but i don't know how many chains shouñd i start with.
Thanks! May 07, 2020 14:41 - Reply
I would approach this by choosing a number that's divisible by as many stitch counts as possible (so 12, 10, 8, 6, 5, 4, etc), and add one extra stitch to the stitch count to keep to pattern instructions as written as much as possible. You will have to improvise a little bit because not all stitch repeats will fit the smaller size! May 08, 2020 08:34 - Reply
on the size, see the comment I typed to Susan below! May 08, 2020 08:36 - Reply
Don't worry!! I've decided to crochet it following your super marvellous pattern!!
Thanks for shearing!! :) May 08, 2020 23:46 - Reply
If I would like my blanket to be smaller almost about 40 stitches less how do I figure out how many stitches I should go with for the pattern to fit May 13, 2020 13:39 - Reply
Thank you. July 27, 2020 04:51 - Reply