Rainbow Sampler Blanket (Part 7)

Sampler parts:

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

Notes

• You can find general information and the patterns for the previous parts for this CAL here.
• Yarn amounts used in Part 7 are below. please note: these are my yarn amounts. I'm a loose crocheter. If you need less, that's perfectly fine as long as the blanket looks and feels good.
  • Colour A: 40g
  • Colour B: 28g
  • Colour F: 10g
    
  • Colour H: 10g
  • Colour I: 10g
  • Colour K: 6g
  • Colour Y: 24g

Techniques

Puff Stitch

Click here for the tutorial about the puff stitch.

Surface crochet

Granny Clusters

Click here for the tutorial about granny clusters.

Reversed popcorns

Stitch repeat in blanket: Multiples of 10 + 1 stitch.

A reversed popcorn is different from a regular popcorn because the bobble is facing the other way. The reason we’re doing a reversed popcorn in this row is that the row is a Wrong Side row. If we didn’t make any changes, this popcorn would face towards the back of your blanket, and we don’t want that!

To work a reversed popcorn, first crochet six dc in one stitch (photo 1). Remove your hook from the loop after the sixth dc. Re-insert your hook through the first dc from the back to the front (photo 2), pick up the loop and pull this through the stitch (photo 3,4). You now have a popcorn that seems to be facing the back of your work, which is the Right Side in the blanket. The front of your popcorn will look like in photo 5.

Puff Stitch section 3 (Rows 106-110)

Another Puff Stitch section. How I love these stitches!

Row 106 (RS) Join Colour H with a ss in first st, begin-puff stitch in same st, *ch1, skip 1 st, puff stitch; repeat from * another 118 times, ch1, skip 1 st, 1dc in last stitch, cut yarn, turn. [1 begin-puff stitch, 119 puff stitches, 120 ch, 1 dc]

If you look closely to your stitches, you can see that the chains you’re crocheting look like they’re laying on top of the puff stitches!

Row 107 (WS) Join Colour A with a ss in first st, ch1, 1hdc in same st, *1hdc in ch, 1hdc in puff stitch; repeat from * another 118 times, 1hdc in last ch, 1hdc in begin-puff stitch, cut yarn, turn. [241 hdc]

Row 108 (RS) Join Colour I, repeat Row 106. [1 begin-puff stitch, 119 puff stitches, 120 ch, 1 dc]

Row 109 (WS) Join Colour A, repeat Row 107 but instead of cutting yarn, ch1, turn. [241 hdc]

Row 110 (RS) 241hdc, cut yarn, turn. [241 hdc]

Surface crochet section (Rows 111-117)

This section we’ll be working with a new technique: Surface crochet. Surface crochet is special. It’s not worked on top of the stitches, but over the stitches (hence the name). It’s the perfect way to adorn a little piece of crochet you’ve made.

It’s also a versatile technique. While we’re only making straight rows in this blanket to keep it simple, you can also crochet shapes like the crossed rows in the Hygge shawl, or circles like in my Roller Coasters. You can go crazy with colours if the basics you’re working with are simple!

For surface crochet you will need a basic crochet fabric to work on. That’s why we’ll be working a couple of rows of hdc only. You can surface crochet on any type of solid stitch though (sc’s, hdc’s, dc’s). If you want to make shapes that are worked over several rows like in the Hygge shawl, you’re going to want to stick with sc’s, because those stitches are more or less square in height and width (making it easier to create an even, neatly looking piece). For the horizontal rows we're making in this project, hdc's work fine.

Row 111 (WS) Join Colour B with a ss in first st, ch1, 1hdc in same st, 1hdc in each of the next 240 sts, ch1, turn. [241 hdc]

Row 112 (RS) 241hdc, ch1, turn. [241 hdc]

Row 113 (WS) Repeat Row 112. [241 hdc]

Row 114 (RS) Repeat Row 112. [241 hdc]

Row 115 (WS) 241hdc, cut yarn, turn. [241 hdc]

Row 116 (RS) Join Colour A with a ss in first st, ch1, 1hdc in same st, 1hdc in each of the next 240 sts, ch1, turn. [241 hdc]

Row 117 (WS) 241hdc, cut yarn, turn. [241 hdc]

Surface crochet Make sure you’ve got the RS of the blanket before you. Now take Colour K, hold your thread at the back of your work and insert your hook right below the loops of the first stitch of Row 112 (in the same space as where you crocheted your last stitch of Row 113). Pick up the yarn and pull up a loop. Now insert your hook from front to back in the next stitch of Row 112, pick up the yarn and pull up a loop. Make sure these loops aren’t tight. Pull your last loop through the first loop (effectively slip stitching), which creates a stitch that lays flat on top of your crochet. Insert your hook in the next stitch, pull up a loop and pull through loop on hook. Continue like this all the way across your blanket to the other side. Insert your hook into the final stitch, pull up a loop, pull through loop on hook, cut your yarn with a 20cm ending and pull all the way through. This way, you can neatly fasten your final loop.

Repeat the instructions above for the stitches in Row 113.

It’s important to check your surface tension throughout. You do this by stretching your fabric widthwise. If it is supple and gives as much as your regular stitches do, you’re good. If you feel that your stitches are very tight and impairing the stretch, make sure to keep all of your loops very loose. If this is difficult for you, you can use a hook 5.5mm or 6.0mm instead of the regular 5.0mm for the surface crochet.

Granny Cluster Section 4 (Rows 118-119)

I’m sure you can dream these stitches by now!

Row 118 (RS) Join Colour F with a ss in first st, ch3 (counts as first dc), 1dc in same st, *skip 2 sts, 3dc in next st; repeat from * another 78 times, skip 2 sts, 2dc in last stitch, cut yarn, turn. [79 Granny clusters with 3 dc, 2 clusters with 2 dc, 241 dc in total]

Row 119 (WS) Join Colour A with a ss in first st, ch1, 1hdc in same st, 1hdc in each of the next 240 sts, cut yarn, turn. [241 hdc]

Popcorn section 3 (Rows 120-124)

This section might look like the previous sections, but it’s different in one particular way: you’re making the popcorns on a WS row. So in order to have the popcorns pop on the right side of the blanket (the RS) you’ll have to make inversed popcorns. Don’t worry, they’re not that difficult.

Row 120 (RS) Join Colour Y with ss in first st, ch1, 1hdc in same st, 240hdc, ch1, turn. [241 hdc]

Row 121 (WS) 5hdc, *inversed popcorn, 9hdc; repeat from * another 22 times, inversed popcorn, 5hdc, ch1, turn. [24 popcorns, 217 hdc]

Row 122 (RS) 241hdc, cut yarn, turn. [241 hdc]

Row 123 (WS) Join Colour A with ss in first st, ch1, 1hdc in same st, 240hdc, ch1, turn. [241 hdc]

Row 124 (RS) 241hdc, cut yarn, turn. [241 hdc]

Find part 8 of the Sampler Blanket here.

Diagram