Wonder Crochet Blanket CAL 2016

Hi all,

How many of you lovelies are currently doing a CAL or KAL or any kind of -A-Long?? I've been wanting to join one but so far haven't been able to do so for one reason or another. Well...finally I did!!

I decided to join the American Crochet and Crochet With Us group's MCAL. And for a change I started on time. It's called the Wonder Crochet Blanket Mystery Crochet-A-Long (MCAL) It started on January 07th 2016. This is going to be my very first MCAL! and I'm really excited!! Yayyy.....

Here is the link to the CAL: http://americancrochet.com/wonder-crochet-blanket-2016-cal-american-crochet-2/

Each time a CAL seems interesting I don't join because of not having the suggested yarn. Since the only yarn easily accessible here is 100% acrylic light fingering yarn. But I really, really wanted to do a CAL so I figured I'd use what I have. I'd just have to make a few modifications, that's all!

Luckily for me the designer gave us the necessary stitch count for ease of adjustment. So keeping in mind I wanted a multiple of 6+4 I started chaining till I reached the width I wanted. Which in my case was 276+4. And then I realized that since the first row was double crochet (dc) down the line I should've started with a row of foundation double crochet (fdc) instead!! Duh!!! So then obviously I went a-ribbitting!! After that I did a row of fdc. There's an excellent tutorial for that on http://www.futuregirl.com/craft_blog/2009/3/tutorial-foundation-single-crochet.aspx

When I first started using foundation crochet stitches I discovered it has a tendency to curve in. While browsing one day, I found a tutorial explaining how to avoid that curve. I'd wanted to include the link here but for the life of me I can't find the tutorial!! So anyways what you need to do is; while doing the chain part of the stitch, you pull the loop so its looser than the rest of the stitch. Here's mine. Pretty straight huh?

I did this row with a size 3.75mm hook because fdc tends to have a looser tension than regular stitches. I did a row of 279 stitches to keep the math right. Then moved to a 4mm hook from row two.

The other thing I do different is that I use standing stitches whenever I start a row. I hate doing the chains!! Tamara Kelly from mooglyblog has some marvelous tutorials on these techniques.

http://www.mooglyblog.com/standing-double-crochet-joining/ - there's both a video and a photo tutorial.

http://www.mooglyblog.com/chainless-starting-double-crochet/ - this is what I use when starting a new row. Very handy.

Once you try the above two techniques you may never go back to chaining again!!!

So I'm done with the first 6 rows published and I'm waiting for the next instalment that's supposed to be released on Jan 21st 2016.

And here is a pic of my blanket so far....

 

 

Check out the neat edges eh??!! All ends woven in! Ain't I a good girl??!!

Talk to you soon.....