Tutorial: Fold A Star Blanket

Hello hello!

A couple of weeks ago, I finished a star blanket for a newborn baby girl for good friends of ours and complained to my husband that I never know how to fold these blankets. They always look oddly shaped when folded, are impossible to gift wrap, and so on. Well, my husband took one look at the blanket and was like "uh, yes, of course, you could fold it", took the blanket andddd folded it perfectly. Right. I was baffled and posted a picture on Instagram. It looks like I am not the only one struggling with folding star blankets, and I was asked to ask my husband to show the world how he folds star blankets...

So, I present the "fold your star blanket tutorial" :). The pattern I used for the blanket is from Celeste Young and the yarn is Life DK and Life Changes DK from Stylecraft. 

I would love to see your folded blankets! Can you tag us on instagram or use the hashtag #crochetbetweenworlds? That would be awesome!!

If something is unclear, please let me know, and I will try to describe it in other words. 

Take care, 

Anne

Tutorial: Fold A Star Blanket

Step 1

Lay it out with the wrong side facing up.

Step 2

Fold in the first side. I use the corners (the dips) as guidelines. With larger blankets, you might to fold it over a bit further though. 

Step 3

Fold in the second side. If your blanket is bigger than mine, the sides will overlap more and you might need to fold the side in a bit further.

Step 4

Fold in the upper half. If your blanket is bigger, you might need to fold it in a bit further.

Step 5

Fold in the lower half. If your blanket is bigger, you might need to fold it in a bit further.

Step 6

Fold the lower half in again to the middle and turn it over! :)

The Video

It might sound more complicated than it actually is. In fact, it is super easy... So, we made a short video - it doesn't have the highest quality (we filmed it in the middle of our move and were rather short on time) but I hope you get the idea anyway. :)

BAWJ2019 - Weeks 18, 19 and 20!

Hey everyone,

Aargh! Time is running away from me at an alarming rate - I feel like I'm barely keeping up. We had all the family in town for Allie's first  birthday (!!) last weekend and it's going to take me a bit longer to recover from all the excitement and cooking. 

Allie got her own little chocolate cake to munch and mash - as you can see, she had a LOT of fun (and needed a bath directly afterwards!).

I still haven't convinced the little flea to stand still long enough to model cardigans for me, plus we are having a weird resurgence of summer at the moment and everyone is back in tshirts! Climate change is so weird and annoying, I want winter and snuggly blankets and hot tea! 

I have managed to squeeze a bit of crochet in here and there, mostly getting up to date with the BAWJ. Without further ado, here's my take on Weeks 18, 19 and 20!

If you want to join in on BAWJ2019, check out Julie's Facebookgroup, blog and Ravelry Board for more information.


WEEK 18 - SIMBELMYNË by POLLY PLUM

Pattern: https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/simbelmyne

Yarn colours: All of them (mini balls and scraps from the bottom of the box...)

Ugh I love Polly Plum designs. She makes art with yarn, and writes so clearly that making her afghan squares is almost effortless. Plus, she is an all round excellent person and one of our fellow Stylecraft Blogstars!

This one is another masterpiece, with a square that ends up both solid and lacy, somehow. It is almost identical front and back (which is great in an afghan) and all in all was a pleasure to crochet!  

WEEK 19 - HAYTON BLOCK by MELISSA GREEN

Pattern: https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/hayton-block

Yarn colours: Coral, Silver, Krypton

Again, this square was a lot of fun to crochet. Working longer stitches into the row below, playing with back post stitches, and having the variety of a square design (most of these squares start as circles)... 

However, as you can see it came out quite wonky - it must need some hefty blocking. I'll ignore that for the moment and see if peer pressure will do the job for me in the finished blanket, but I remain slightly dubious for now. Plus, it is quite on the large size. Maybe I'll have one blanket for enormous squares and one for less enormous ones?

WEEK 20 - BAWJ2019 DREAM SQUARE by INEKE MOOIJENKIND

Pattern: https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/bawj2019-dream-square

Yarn colours: Raspberry, Teal, Phosphorus 

Two new stitches to learn in this square - the bead stitch and the folding sc/hdc/dc. Bead stitch seems to be a neater and less tedious version of the bullion stitch. The folding sc/hdc/dc makes a really cool loopy texture! See the little tunnel of teal stitches? 

I have heard a lot about Ineke's patterns but hadn't had the chance to make one yet - this one is making me very curious to find out more :D 

Phew, that's another three weeks done! I have three new patterns off with testers at the moment, maybe one day I'll get around to writing them up properly and publishing... how soon does Allie start daycare? 

What are you working on at the moment? Link me to your blog or facebook or insta! 

BAWJ2019 - Weeks 15, 16 and 17!

Hi everyone!

It's been a rollercoaster couple of weeks here at Casa del Westlund - we had a week's holiday at Lake Macquarie over Easter, I've been crocheting up a storm of cardigans for Allie since it seems like we might actually have winter this year (yay!) and she has decided all of a sudden that three naps in a day is for chumps, and breastfeeding is super slow and irritating and could we please just already have bottles!? Argh! 

Before we get to the BAWJ squares from the last few weeks, here's a photo of Allie's favourite holiday activity: DUCKS.

Ducks go KAK KAK KAK, and you feed them and pat them and even crunch on a bit of their seed. Now all birds are greeted with KAK KAK KAK, duck or not 😂

I'll tell you all about the cardigan collection next week hopefully - it depends when Allie feels like stretching her modelling and cooperation muscles. Cross your fingers for me! She is a very determined and independent little miss. 

On to the BAWJ2019! All three of these squares were very well written patterns!

If you want to join in on BAWJ2019, check out Julie's Facebookgroup, blog and Ravelry Board for more information.

WEEK 15 - LEMON ZINGER SQUARE by MARY BETH TEMPLE

Pattern: https://hookedforlifepublishing.com/2019/04/lemon-zinger-square/ 


Yarn colours: Pistachio, Coral, Silver, Graphite

It was interesting starting with a five pointed star in the middle - I'm not a huge fan of how wonky the circle is to get it back to a square, but the central flower is just so cute.

I also got to learn how to do a different kind of surface crochet! The wibbliness appeals to me :P 

WEEK 16 - FINDING BALANCE by RHONDDA MOL

Pattern: https://oombawkadesigncrochet.com/2019/04/finding-balance-afghan-square-pattern.html 

Yarn colours: Pistachio, Heather, Raspberry, Sage and Bismuth 

So much texture! I learned a new stitch, and was very grateful that there were photos of each round as after a bit I found the pattern very wordy and somewhat challenging to keep track of where I was up to. 

So bumpy and petally and deliciously squishy. A cushion cover in this stitch would be so lovely. 

Even the back looks really cool, with the spiked trebles down behind the petals!

WEEK 17 - FANTASTIC! AFGHAN SQUARE by JULIE YEAGER

Pattern: http://julieyeagerdesigns.com/fantastic-afghan-square-clue-7/

Yarn colours: Iron, Cream

You might recall - I've made this square before! It was Julie Yeager's Mystery CAL Afghan Square from 2015, which I made in rainbow colours of Special DK. It was fun to follow Julie's lead and make this version in only two colours - Iron Elements and Cream. 

Again, doesn't it have lovely texture? Those front post stitches... 

Phew, that brings me all up to date! Back soon with cardigan photos.. oh, here's a sneak peek ;) Don't forget to cross your fingers that we can get her to hold still for photos! 

BAWJ2019 - Weeks 13 & 14!

Hi everyone!

I got a bit behind in the BAWJ2019 this fortnight - Kiah has been working lots of night shifts, and Allie has had a chest infection which has made the nights very long and the days very busy... zzzz... Fortunately Allie is on the mend now, so I'm starting to get a bit more sleep again. 

I think these two squares are some of my favourites so far - clearly written patterns, nice designs and not overly fussy or complicated :)

If you want to join in on BAWJ2019, check out Julie's Facebookgroup, blog and Ravelry Board for more information.

WEEK 13 - MY APRIL FOOL by MELINDA MILLER

Pattern: http://mocrochet.blogspot.com/2019/04/my-april-fool.html

Yarn colours: Storm, Cream & Mercury

Lots of popcorns again in this one! It was very interesting the way the shape of this square transformed with each row - very well thought out. 

The whole square has a lot of texture going on, but mostly focussed in the central part. Back post stitches, working in the back loop and of course the popcorns do the magic. 

One slight downside of such heavily textured squares is that they aren't really reversible. The back just isn't very nice to look at, and in an afghan I kinda prefer it when the back is at least almost as pretty as the front.  

WEEK 14 - ARIANE by DIANA KRENZ

Pattern: https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/ariane-7


Yarn colours: Coral, Old Gold, Violet, Sage, Graphite

I think this is my favourite square so far :) Straightforward pattern but still interesting, and the look would change endlessly just by playing with the colours. 

I love the little row of tulips in the border! 

The square does have a little bit of texture in the front post stitches, but you can see on the next picture that it is still very nice to look at on the back.

Overall I'm really enjoying the BAWJ2019 - meeting lots of new designers, and having a crochet goal for each week which helps keep me sane when it would be so easy for crochet to just fall by the wayside!   

BAWJ2019 - Weeks 9-12!

Hi everyone! 

My BAWJ2019 is coming along nicely! I have 13 squares completed now, all in different colour combinations. What do you think of my e-afghan? 

This is going to be a bit of a long post because I have FOUR squares to show you! 

If you want to join in on BAWJ2019, check out Julie's Facebookgroup, blog and Ravelry Board for more information.

WEEK 9 - QUATREFOIL ROSETTE by LISA MAUSER

Pattern: https://thislittlehookofmine.blogspot.com/2019/03/quatrefoil-rosette.html

Yarn colours: Teal, Cream, Indigo, Storm, Sage, Old Gold, Graphite

This square was well written and worked up very nicely. It was interesting to use so many colours - the other squares so far have a maximum of 4-5 colours.

The texture is lovely! And even the back is nice. 

WEEK 10 - ROSEBUD FLOWER SQUARE by CHERYL DEE CROCHET

Pattern: https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/rosebud-flower-square


Yarn colours: Graphite, Cherry, Raspberry, Cream, Rose, Iron 

I particularly liked how this square took into account the twist from hdc rows by changing direction each row - the backs of the hdc stitches provide a different texture, and the square stayed very straight!

I'm not sure how much I love the little extra rosebud, but it's nice to learn new techniques.

It's easier to see on the back how the alternating hdc rows keep the square nice and straight:

WEEK 11 - MISTLEY by JACQUI GOULBOURN

Pattern: https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/mistley-square

Yarn colours: Heather, Olive, Coral and Copper

Another well written square! It's so nice when a pattern just slides off the hook without much thought or consideration! 

I wish the centre circle was a bit more... circular, but maybe blocking will assist with that, if I can be bothered.

WEEK 12 - LITHA by KRIS KELLN

Pattern: https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/litha-2


Yarn colours: Silver, Lupin, Violet, Graphite

Talk about a well-written pattern! I think this is my favourite square so far - interesting stitches, not overly complicated but extremely easy to follow. If only all patterns were like this!

Again, I wish the centre diamond was, well, centred, but maybe the little twist is a design feature not a bug :P 

Phew, I'm up to date (and up to date on here) - bring on the next 36 weeks!