Pink Gingham Blanket

I have never really been very good at completing projects that take me longer than 2 weeks to finish. I am guilty of starting several afghans over the years, only to end up putting them away for months and not getting them finished for years. Now that I am retired I find myself longing to make an afghan for my granddaughter.

It was important to me to find a pattern that would keep my interest while not requiring endless hours of joining motifs and weaving in yarn ends. I am so inspired by the beautiful afghans made using square motifs but the thought of those ends! So, after a bit of research on my favorite "yarny" site, I located the beautiful Crochet Griddle Stitch Black Gingham Blanket by Daisy Farm Crafts. She also put together a great video tutorial on her site! Here's the link to the video tutorial: Video Tutorial

I had never used a stranding technique to make a blanket before and thought that this looked easy enough to do using just two basic stitches, single crochet and double crochet. I decided to try the technique out on a much smaller scale using up some yarn leftovers that I had available before ordering enough yarn for my granddaughter's twin sized bed. I'm pretty pleased with the result. 

Here's a photo of my "test" blanket in progress. Don't you just love how the colors and squares work so nicely together? The key to getting a nice finished result is to make sure that you straighten the rows out every 10 stitches or so to make sure that the yarn you are carrying does not get too snug.

Here is my finished "test" blanket. I think that Teddy is loving it. :)

Now for the BIG blanket. For Meredith's twin bed, I decided to work the Griddle Stitch Gingham Blanket up in shades of her favorite color; PINK. I wanted it to be something that she would love to use because it was her favorite color, but I also wanted to make sure it wouldn't be cast aside when she gets older because it seems too childish. So I chose more muted pinks, hoping that it will be one that she cherishes forever. I used the brand Big Twist Soft in the colors rose, blush and white. This is an acrylic yarn, which makes washing much easier. The three colors that I chose blend nicely together. I worked a total of 140 stitches across in blocks of 20 stitches by 14 rows. This will work nicely.

Here are some progress photos:

After 5 sessions...

A little more than half way...

Only three rows of blocks left...

And now after working 26,280 stitches and more than 40 hours of dedicated work, it's all done! I just need to weave in my yarn ends. I added a simple shell stitch border. I am so happy that I decided to try this new technique. It wasn't extremely difficult, and it has a wonderful finished look that appears much harder to complete than it actually is. I hope my granddaughter loves it and cherishes it for a lifetime. I thought of her with every stitch.