Hello everyone! It seems you all love our June 2022 cover project, the Beach Waves Blanket by designer Alessandra Hayden. With all that love has come some questions about how to create this stunner, so I thought I would put all your questions into a blog post to help you out! Some of the questions below kind of repeat in a way other questions, but I thought it best to include them all. The different wordings of the questions may strike a better chord with you. I will add more questions as they pop up! If you don’t have a copy yet, be sure to subscribe or head over here to get one!
How is the colorwork accomplished?
This pattern is worked in tapestry crochet. That means that you work over the color not in use until you need it. When you are one stitch before the color change, work the stitch until you have 2 loops on your hook, drop the old color and pull the new color through the loops. Now when you work the next stitch, work over the old color while stitching with the new color. This hides the color while not in use. If you need a visual of tapestry crochet, click here.
On the color change rows, am I to sc join both colors at the beginning and carry the yarn along?
You will sc join with the main color for that row and you will work over the second color until it is needed. On rows where you are using two colors, you have main color that starts the row and a second color that comes in later. Therefore you want to sc join over the top of the second color until you need it, see tapestry crochet info above. You will leave a long tail for both at the start that will become your fringe later. When you are doing using the second color in the row, you will continue to crochet over it through to the end. Eventually your row’s starting color will shift and then you will shift what color is considered the main color and which color is considered the second color.
Throughout the entire project the yarn colors switch from one color to another color after just a few stitches. Do I cut the yarn each time or leave it connected and then pick it back up. If I leave it connected doesn’t that make the back side of the blanket a mess. Also if you cut the yarn each time how do I finish off that stitch?
No cutting the yarn until you are completely done with the row. Again see tapestry crochet information in the first question. Working over the color not in use, saves you from cutting and keeps the back looking just as pretty as the front.
How do I leave a 7” tail on the second color that is used in the row?
Since you are working over the second color to the very end, you will be able to cut a leave a 7 inch tail at the same time you cut a 7 inch tail for the main color in the row.
What does it mean the “right side is facing at all times”?
You never turn the blanket. You will always be working this pattern with the right side (or public/pretty) side facing you. When you complete the row and cut all the yarn, you go back to the start of the blanket to start the next row. Do NOT turn the blanket to do so, just slide your work back until you are at the first stitch. Then leave your long yarn tails, sc join over the color not in use and work across the row from right to left (or left to right if you are a lefty) again. So you will always read the chart from right to left (or left to right if you are a lefty).
–Britt Schmiesing, editor