Sungold Blanket CAL :: Part 1

HELLO, and welcome to the start of my gloriously bright and colourful SUNGOLD Crochet-Along!! It makes me so happy to begin the New Year with some wonderful colour and gentle, relaxing crochet, I honestly can't think of a better way to spend time in January. Most of you will have read all about the Sungold blanket by now and will know what I'm on about, but if you are new here (a big warm hellooooooo to anyone who is newly landed in the Attic), or if you missed my previous Sungold posts, you can read all about it in my introduction blog post >>

♥ SUNGOLD BLANKET INTRODUCTION

The Sungold colour palette is inspired by my visits to the beautiful horticultural gardens at Harlow Carr here in Yorkshire. It's a garden which is bursting with colour, most especially in the late summer when the beds are overflowing with flowers in bloom. I'll be sharing more inspiration photos each week as the CAL unfolds, because of course I enjoy us making a blanket together, but also l l-o-v-e the idea of taking you on a virtual stroll along these garden paths.

I've been playing with the Sungold colours for many months now, and they are honestly so, so beautiful together. If you love this colour palette and wish to have your own Sungold playtime, the yarn pack is available to buy from Wool Warehouse. I've chosen fifteen shades of Stylecraft Special DK >>

♥ STYLECRAFT SUNGOLD YARN PACK

This year I worked with my friends at Wool Warehouse and put together an alternative Sungold yarnpack using their own in-house Yarnsmiths brand. The yarn is called CREATE DK, and it's a wonderful alternative to Stylecraft if you fancy trying something new. You can read more about Create DK in my post ((here))

Creating two yarn packs for the same colour palette was pretty straightforward - obviously it wasn't possible to match the colours in an identical way as each range is unique, but I think I did a pretty god job of pairing them up. I thought it would be helpful to give you a full list for reference, so here are the fifteen Sungold colours in both ranges >>

Stylecraft Special DK       Yarnsmiths Create DK

Lavender                                    Lavender                        

Proper Purple                            Amethyst

Plum                                            Plum Purple

Boysenberry                               Pink Berry

Fuchsia Purple                          Vintage Pink

Gold                                             Antique Gold

Tomato                                        Paprika

Copper                                         Copper

Claret                                           Claret Red

Magenta                                      Sugar Plum

Dandelion                                   Mustard Yellow

Lime                                             Olive Green

Lincoln                                        Light Sage

Sage                                             Spearmint Green

Cyprus                                         Dark Sage

Whenever I start out on a new blanket journey I do like to be intimately acquainted with my chosen colours, and I find the best way for me to do this is to use my yarn pegs. I really enjoy playing with them, but more importantly they do serve a very useful purpose. Once you take the paper bands off your yarn, it's important that you know the names of the colours so that you avoid any mix ups. In the Sungold colour palette for example, I've found it's very easy to mix up the two pinks (Boysenberry and Fuchsia Purple). 

You don't have to make yarn pegs of course - any way you want to make a note of the colours is fine. Helen (her photo above) made a lovely, simple paper shade card which does a wonderful job.

For those of you who have made CAL blankets with me before then you will be familiar with the schedule. If this is your first time, here is a quick rundown of the weeks....

Today you have access to the pattern which remains free and accessible here on my blog for ever so that you can use it whenever you like. Each week I'll be giving you a list of stripes so that you can work on a portion of the blanket, and we aim to make 15-18 stripes a week. Don't worry if this isn't do-able for you, you can absolutely work at your own pace and take a decade to do it if you need to! 

♥ PART 1 : stripes 1-15 - that's what we're going to look at today

♥ PART 2 : stripes 16 - 33 (12th Jan)

♥ PART 3 : stripes 34 - 51 (190th Jan)

♥ PART 4 : stripes 52 - 69 (26th Jan)

♥ PART 5 : stripes 70 - 87 (2nd Feb)

♥ PART 6 : stripes 88 - 99 (9th Feb)

♥ PART 7 : catch up (darn in those ends!) (16th Feb)

♥ PART 8 : the border (23rd Feb)

As always, I've created my usual photo-heavy tutorial to help you crochet your tension sample and learn how to create the Lacy Shell stripe. If you are searching for it in my sidebar list, I've named it "Lacy Shell Stripe". You can find it by clicking on the following link >>

♥ LACY SHELL STRIPE TUTORIAL 

I've also made a simple written pattern that you can download/print if you don't need the step by step help and prefer to have a traditional printed pattern to pop in your bag. You can find it by clicking on the following link >>

♥ SUNGOLD PDF PATTERN

I know that some of you may find the thought of crocheting and counting a looooooong wiggly chain and then crocheting that first row a bit daunting. Here are a few tips to help you get off to an easy start...

1. use a bigger hook size to make your chain, then switch down again to work your first row. You can go up two half-sizes to open up the chains a little (eg if you're going to use a 4mm hook for the blanket, make the chain using a 5mm).
2. take your time, and plan to make this first row when you can sit quietly and be completely undisturbed as you count and concentrate on the pattern.
3. make sure you have good light to start your blanket.
4. use stitch markers. You will need to have an accurate chain count for this to work, there is no room for errors. Make your chains slowly, evenly, and place stitch markers at regular intervals, say every 25 chains. This way, if your mind suddenly goes blank (it happens), or the cat distracts you and you lose count (also a distinct possibility in my house), you only have to go back as far as your last stitch marker. I also place stitch markers when making my first row of trebles (as shown above), just to help me be sure I've got it right.

If you are new to my patterns, I want to reassure you of their ease. I deliberately design with beginners in mind so that newbie hooksters can feel confident taking on a large project. And for those of us who are blanket making veterans, my designs offer some top-notch, relaxing hooky therapy. The Lacy Shell is a delightful pattern, it's an easy-breezy two row repeat which is very visual and easy to learn. I'm confident that once you've completed the second stripe (which forms the pattern repeat) then you will be off and flying and more or less crocheting with your eyes shut.

OK....shall we take a proper look at the first set of stripes now? I can't wait to show you how the beeeeeeautiful the Sungold colours look when they come together in this lovely scalloped design......

....eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep, I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is part 1 of the Sungold blanket which has fifteen stripes, using all fifteen shades.

I knew instinctively before even starting this blanket that the colours would come together like a dream, and I was right. The overall effect is just lovely - it's uplifting, joyful and just the right kind of bright. It has summer vibes in abundance which is something I really wanted to achieve with this collection of colours.

The Lacy Shell pattern I designed for the Sungold blanket is such fun to crochet, it uses simple stitches to create a gentle scallop which looks far more complicated than it actually is. It's an easy pattern to learn, and once you get going with these stripes it's pure hooky pleasure all the way.

Here is the colour info for Part 1 of the Sungold Blanket. Remember each stripe is made up of two rows of crochet. Click on the following link for the printable worksheet...

♥ PART 1 MIXED STRIPE WORKSHEET 

1. Magenta (Foundation chain & rows 1 & 2)

2. Proper Purple (rows 3 & 4)

3. Gold (rows 5 & 6)

4. Copper (rows 7 & 8)

5. Cypress (rows 9 & 10)

6. Boysenberry (rows 11 & 12)

7. Lime (rows 13 & 14)

8. Lincoln (rows 15 & 16)

9. Plum (rows 17 & 18)

10. Lavender (rows 19 & 20)

11. Claret (rows 21 & 22)

12. Sage (rows 23 & 24)

13. Tomato (rows 25 & 26)

14. Dandelion (rows 27 & 28)

15. Fuchsia Purple (rows 29 & 30)

NOTE : If you are making a larger double/king blanket with two yarn packs, you will need to crochet some extra length. There will be an extra set of stripes given in part 6 for you to add on if you wish.

YARNSMITHS CREATE DK >> to make things a bit less complicated each week, I've decided to only list the Stylecraft colours that I'm personally working with to make my Sungold blanket. For those of you who are using the Yarnsmiths Create DK pack, you will find the colour list on the PDF worksheet. Here...let me show you what I mean......

^^ This is what the PDF worksheet looks like, you can download it and print it and keep it in your yarn bag. Each week there will be a sheet like this for you to download, so you can use it for both the Stylecraft yarn pack and the Yarnsmiths yarn pack.

♥ PART 1 MIXED STRIPE WORKSHEET 

When I make my samplers for my blankets, I always like to order the colours in a beautiful rainbow-ish colourwash, as shown above. I think it really shows off the colour palette in an inspirational way, and in recent years I've made colourwash versions of my full size blankets too. I know many of you love the Colourwash colourways, so I do try and work out a colour order if the palette will work well in this way, and the Sungold colours are perfect for it. I haven't had time this year to make a sampler like I usually do, but I can show you a graphic image if you like?

^^ isn't it luuuverly?!

My wonderful J has made a PDF worksheet for this Sungold Colourwash version, so if this is calling to you and you'd like to order your colours in this way, then you can go right ahead. I'll give you a worksheet each week alongside the "mixed stripe" version.

♥ PART 1 COLOURWASH WORKSHEET 

Now when you work the colourwash version, there will be some stripes which are single (2 rows), some double (4 rows) and some triple (6 rows) - remember you don't need to fasten off if you are creating double or triple stripes, you can just carry on across four or six rows of crochet, does that make sense? So for example, when you start the colourwash blanket you'll make your foundation chain in Magenta, then follow the pattern using Magenta for the first four rows (a double height stripe)

Something else to mention - the colourwash version is designed with a full 99 stripes (175cm) length in mind, so it won't be suitable for making a smaller sized blanket. If you have double yarn quantities you can increase the width if you like to make a double/king size, but the length is set at 175cm. I hope that all makes sense.

And finally - SQUARES!!!! I know it's a lot to take in, and maybe THREE different versions of one blanket is over the top but you know I do believe more is more. I LOVE to encourage and inspire creativity and am always on board for sparking ideas and lots of hooky, colourful joy.

My talented friend Kaz is working this Square harmony version as a CAL in one of the Attic24 Facebook groups, so if this design appeals to you, please do join the Hooked on Attic24 Facebook community. There is also a way to access the CAL info if you aren't on Facebook - pop over to Kaz's online page ((HERE)), and each week you'll be able to get the instalments for free. Thank you so much Kaz x

Well I think that's all for now...there's been a lot of information to share with you this week as we get started with this glorious new blanket journey. I hope it all makes sense and whichever yarn pack you are using, and whichever version of the Sungold blanket you are choosing to do, I hope you can find everything you need. 

I really enjoy having so many of you making a blanket along with me  and remember I'm right here with you doing my own CAL blanket as I'm only one week ahead of you!!! It's a bit crazy but I LOVE being a part of the CAL community so much.

Please do share your photos on social media as I'd love to see how you get on - you can share on my Facebook page, or use the hashtag #sungoldcal on Instagram so I can find you.

Wishing you a week full of happy moments with hook and yarn!

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♥ SUNGOLD YARN PACKS 

♥ LACY SHELL TUTORIAL

♥ SUNGOLD BLANKET PDF PATTERN

♥ SUNGOLD BLANKET INTRODUCTION

♥ PART 1 MIXED STRIPE WORK SHEET

♥ PART 1 COLOURWASH WORK SHEET

Comments

[Liz Platt]

Looking forward to starting. Thanks xxx

[Maureen briggs]

Why won’t the PDF print ?

[Karen]

A very happy start to the new year!

[Sarah]

Yay! So excited about this. The New Year is looking up 😊

[emily parry-harries]

Thankyou so much for this, so much work! I think there is an error in your colour order / names - hint of silver, baby blue and meadow should be (maybe) tomato, dandelion and fusca?