My first ever crochetalong, the Flower Power Autumn Blanket Cal starts on October 1st 2016. That’s the day that stage 1 will begin and photo and video tutorials will be published.

You can read more about the timing of the Flower Power Autumn Blanket CAL here – this is the quick start guide page that is easy to get to using the main menu of my website above. Please also subscribe to the Crafternoon Treats YouTube channel to get notifications of the video tutorials and podcasts about the CAL.

Here is another peek at the finished blanket…

Introduction – what is a CAL?

Before I get into the information about the colours of the blanket, I just want to explain about what a CAL is. If you don’t want to read this bit, just skip on to the next heading! This is for newbies as I often get asked this question.

A CAL, short for crochetalong, is something that is  becoming much more popular and most CALs are run by bloggers. The idea is that the pattern for a project and the Yarn colours and choices are posted in advance. Sometimes its possible to buy ready-made-up blanket packs so you only have to order that, rather than all the individuals yarns. Other times, you make your own choices.

The project is then done on the blog and anyone can join in, coming along each week to see the pattern or tutorial releases and then making the blanket along with everyone else taking part. Its a lovely way to feel that you are taking part in a crochet and chat group, even though its all online and you may be crocheting at home with the family or on your own.

While its a great way of motivating yourself to keep up with a project and finish it, there is NO PRESSURE. A crochetalong is FUN!!! This one certainly is. Take your time and join in, but don’t worry if you can’t keep up to the published stages, or with the racing hooks that some crocheters have. I’ve added in a breather in the middle for catch up and the idea is, if you want, to start the blanket in early October and finish it before Christmas. A nice present to yourself, or for someone else!

Prize thread for the Flower Power Autumn blanket CAL on Ravelry

I’ll be running a finished blanket thread in my Crafternoon Treats Ravelry group and I will have a draw for prizes from the entries in that thread on February 14th 2017. So you might win a  lovely prize too!

Flower Power Autumn Blanket CAL yarns and colours

I made my Flower Power blanket in the lovely muted colours of Deramores Vintage Chunky and Deramores have some blanket packs available. They have kindly given me a discount code – TREATS10 – so that you can get 10% off the yarn packs if you quote that code. This doesn’t expire until December 31st 2016, so there is plenty of time to buy it, even if you want to make the blanket in 2017 or beyond!

The colour pack will have one ball in each colour in the range.

From the top in the photo above we have:

Chalk – a light cream

Shadow – deep grey          Cobble – light, silvery grey     Barley – a lovely caramel cream

Maritime – deep navy       Iris – rich denim blue      Marsh – gorgeous deep teal      Sage – soft vintage green

Robin – bright red      Berry – deep red       Mulberry – deep plum     Thistle –  lilac     Rose – vintage pink

Alternative yarn choices for the Flower Power Autumn blanket CAL

The Flower Power autumn blanket has 42 square motifs and a border. I made it in the chunky yarn, which makes it into a blanket big enough to sit comfortably on a King size bed. I think it will work better as a chunky blanket but I’m giving alternatives for DK weight yarns too, for those who prefer that weight of yarn.

I’ve suggested several possible options based on Stylecraft yarns, as these are colours and yarns that I know well. If you want to make the blanket from stash yarn or other brands, please skip to the end of this post for information about working out yardage/metreage.

Option 1 – Stylecraft Special DK

The Special DK range has such an enormous selection of colours that it is possible to match all of the colours in the Deramores vintage range very closely.

You will need to use the yarn doubled. So you split each ball into two, then work with two strands held together. I’ll talk more about that in a YouTube video so look out for that on the Crafternoon Treats YouTube channel.

Here are the closest matches from Stylecraft Special DK and you will need one 100g ball of each of the 13 colours listed in the right hand column:

Deramores doesn’t currently have plans for a Stylecraft DK colour pack but you can go straight to the Stylecraft Special DK page and order there if you would like to. Or go to your favourite online retailer or local yarn shop! This yarn is widely available.

Option 2: Stylecraft Special Chunky

Stylecraft also has a chunky weight yarn but the range of colours is not as extensive as the Special DK range. BUT – if you want you can use the chunky colours that are available and use Stylecraft DK doubled in the others for the same effect. That’s only actually four colours now and three colours after October 10th 2016, when pale rose becomes available in the chunky yarn.

Again, you need one 100g ball of the Stylecraft Special Chunky colours listed in the right hand column, plus one 100g ball of the DK alternative listed in the Stylecraft Special DK column to its left:

Option 3: Stylecraft Batik DK

Having used the Stylecraft Batik DK yarn in my Sea Breeze Crochet scarf pattern, I know that all of the colours in this range go really well together. From the 16 colours available, its not possible to get as close a match as with the Special DK, but the blanket would be beautiful with this combination. You will need one ball of each and you will need to use a 4mm hook as the Batik balls (50g) have 138 metres of yarn. This is 2 metres less than the Deramores Vintage Chunky yarn. See the last section on yardage/metreage.

How much yarn will I need from stash?

If you want to make the blanket and join in the crochetalong using yarn from your stash, or yarn from a totally different range, go ahead!

This is what you will need.

13 colours that blend well together

You can try to match them to the Deramores Vintage colours, or come up with your own combo. Whichever you do, make a list of your yarn choice next to each number in this table. This is important when you come to follow the pattern as the yarn number is given in one of the options.

At least 140 metres of yarn in each colour

The vintage chunky yarn has 140 metres in each ball and I used virtually all of each ball in the design. If you have another yarn with at least 140 metres in the ball you should be fine but I will be publishing a video with more information on yardage and metreage and tension.

A note about tension/guage

This is not really important in this blanket as the squares all fit together very easily. However, we will do a tension/guage check exercise as part of Stage 1 of the CAL as your individual tension is important if you don’t want to run out of yarn!

Basically, this means that if you crochet VERY LOOSELY (I am a loose crocheter anyway and I’ve based the yardage/metreage on my tension and a 6mm hook), you may need to go down a hook size to a 5mm.

The post Flower Power Autumn Blanket CAL: Colours! appeared first on Crafternoon Treats.