A few weeks ago the most adorable pictures started popping up on my Instagram feed. The very talented Sarah aka Repeat Crafter Me started releasing the patterns for her Christmas Character Afghan and while I managed to resist for a couple of weeks, I just knew I had to try out some of the squares she had written.
I’ve made C2C blankets before but only in single colours or stripes so this was my first time making a ‘graphgan’. Quite a few people have been asking what yarn I used and for tips on the colour changes. I used multiple small balls for the different colours so I didn’t have to carry the yarn through too much. For some instances I did – if it was just once pixel of a colour before reverting to the other colour it’s easier to just crochet over your second colour.
I used Stylecraft Special DK yarn for all my squares – it’s DK thickness, and I used a 3.5mm hook. I also did the traditional C2C method using DC (US terms, or TR in UK terms) rather than the modified version Sarah (Repeat Crafter Me) recommended. She was however using Aran yarn so as mine was thinner I opted for the normal stitch.
Here are the squares I made and the Stylecraft Special DK shades needed:
Santa: Matador, White, Silver, Black
Elf: Aster, Green, Matador, Gold, Soft Peach, Fondant and Black
Snowman: Cloud blue, White, Black, Matador, Green and Spice
Gingerbread Man: Matador, Walnut, Gold, White, Black and Green
Rudolph: Sunshine, Walnut, Mocha, Gold, Matador. Black and White
Sleigh: Sherbert, Matador, Sunshine, Green, White and Black
Christmas Tree: Green, Greengage (a variegated yarn), Sunshine, Aster, Matador and Brown
Stocking: Silver, Matador, White, Green, Fondant, Claret, Aster, Sherbert and Sunshine
Christmas Pudding: this square was designed as an alternative by Elemelo Crafts – Repeat Crafter Me designed a wreath but I already had the Christmas tree square which was very green so I chose the Christmas pudding (it’s hubby’s favourite!). Other alternatives are on RCM’s blog. Colours for this one are: Turquoise, Brown, Matador, Green and White. I also added in some black pixels at random to make it look like raisins in the pudding.
As suggested on Sarah’s blog I did a SC edge around each square which made joining them easier. Just when I thought the pattern couldn’t get cuter, Sarah released a header and footer banner pattern to top and tail the blanket. Here are the pics of mine made up:
Yarn: White, Matador, Meadow, Turquoise, Sunshine and Black.
I can’t tell you quantities of yarn used as I was using up my stash but White, Matador and Green were the shades used most, and I didn’t use more than 3 balls of White and 2 balls of Matador.
Joining:
I chose to crochet my squares together – wrong sides facing each other and SC along the edge. This gives a raised ridge join which I liked for this design. I did this for all the squares and then to join the header and footer. To make sure I evenly spaced the header and footer I found it helpful to use stitch markers to hold the pieces together (in theory you should have the same number of SC on both but in practice it’s tricky adding SC to C2C blocks).
Border:
As if the blanket wasn’t festive enough I decided to add a Candy Cane effect border! Firstly I did a round of White SC around the outside of the blanket, followed by a round of Green HDC to make the colours pop. Then onto the Candy Cane border – I’d seen this method on Pinterest ages ago and after a bit of searching found these instructions here. I just changed the colours to White and Matador – and also added 2 extra chains to the corner spaces to stop it curling up. This border did make the edges of my blanket ruffle a bit (might be worth trying it with 3ch instead of 4?) but blocking sorted most of this out.
And Voila! Here’s my finished blanket! Pip loves it and I can’t wait for her to curl up under it at Christmas and we can watch movies together. It’s bigger than I anticipated ( 46″x56″ ) so it’ll easily cover her bed, which is perfect for Christmas Eve!
A big thank you to Sarah aka Repeat Crafter Me for designing such a brilliantly fun and festive pattern – this is going to be a Christmas heirloom in our house!x
hollypips 
Very lovely!! I need one too 🙂
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Hi Holly!
I am still confused as to how smaller balls of yarn cut down on yarn tails at the end. Also can you explain how if you crochet one pixel and then switch to another color you don’t have a yarn tail at the end? Thank you:)
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Hi Sara, using the small balls you crochet those colours on the row you’re on and then leave it where it is, you then pick it up again when you’re coming back past it again on your next row. Most colours are in patches on the pattern so you can do an area of a colour without joining/cutting that colour for each row. You’ll still have a few ends but not as many as if you chop the yarn for every colour change. Does the help?x
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And for the pixel question e.g say you’re doing 2 red, 1 white, 1 red, 3 white…
I’d do my two pixels in red, then using my white do the next one but crochet over the red yarn as I go so I can use it for the following pixel (so I hold it next to the stitch I’m working around so the 3DC’s go over the spare yarn) Then when I do the red pixel I crochet over the white yarn so I can pick it up for the last 3 pixels.
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Ok I follow you now! I was definitely left with a huge number of ends. Took me two days to weave them all in:( a few here and there are trying to sneak out, but once I found crochet crowd Mike’s way of doing it I think they will be fine. Definitely trying your way on my next one!! Thank you so much for the speedy response! X
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I have another question; ) Once you weave the first color thru the 2nd color in the 3dcs do you cut it there? If I carry it onward thru the slip st it leaves you with the color showing. Or do you just drop the first color and move on with the 2nd? Hence why you have several small balls of yarn?!
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Hi Sara – I’d either have a new small ball of the colour, or slip stitch with the colour I now need to use then ch3, then when I start doing the DC’s again I bring the other colour up and crochet over it x
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Thank you!!
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Where can I get these patterns??
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From Repeat Crafter Me’s website 🙂
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