Thursday, June 23, 2016

Diagonal Stripe Blanket Experiment

Experiment time!  I created this beautiful (and BIG!!!!) bag recently and finally got around to the finishing details.  But I'm totally in love with this bag and I'll explain why the yarn I used is also my favorite new yarn to play with.  Instructions on how I made this blanket are included in this blog post.


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(Pardon the pictures, this bag is too big for my light box so I did the best I could with my dining room table lighting!  Unfortunately it makes the colors look different at varying angles!)

Note on the yarn: this was my first time trying Bernat Maker yarn.  It's new, and when I saw it at Michael's I simply couldn't resist!  If you haven't seen it in person, go check it out... it's kind of like t-shirt material but it's really smooth, strong and it shows the stitch details really nicely.  No, this isn't a paid advertisement... I'm just excited about it and want to use it for EVERYTHING.





When I created this bag, I didn't really have a plan in place.  I simply wanted to try out my fun new yarn and also had been itching to try C2C (corner to corner) technique after reading about it on Repeat Crafter Me's blog.  The fun of C2C is that you don't really need a plan in advance because it grows from the corner outward.  It's quick and I really enjoyed trying it out... I have also since used C2C for my Shark Graphgan, which you can find here.

Materials:
  • Bernat Maker yarn, 2 balls (for me: 1 - Aqua, 1 - Cream)
  • 9 mm crochet hook
  • Tapestry needle
  • Straps: 4' of strapping, I chose a corresponding cream color
Stitches used:


Instructions:
  1. C2C technique in 3-square-wide stripes, alternating colors until the piece is 15 squares x 20 squares
  2. Make 2 identical panels
  3. SC the pieces together around 3 sides and flip inside out
  4. Weave in loose ends
  5. Sew straps in place with sewing machine



Finished dimensions: 24" x 18"

The coolest part of the bag?  It's HUGE!  I put 13 skeins of Bernat Super Value in the bag and it still had room.  That's over 5500 yards of yarn!  I originally planned to make a rectangle piece for the bottom and side panels but ran out of yarn because I was having too much fun making the main pieces!  I thought about lining the bag but liked the stretchiness.




Try making something C2C with this amazing yarn yourself!  It would make a great pillow cover or smaller tote or market bag... or mirror the stripes to make a cool chevron look too... sky's the limit!

Happy Crafting!


Please note that all commenting has been closed, please go to my new website www.homemadebygiggles.com to this post and comment there instead!