Friday, August 7, 2015
TUTORIAL: Kitty-Cat Afghan - Baby Size
This pattern is available in several places and in several slight variations on the Internet, so I cannot claim it as my original design - the author is unknown. This is a visual tutorial for those of you who, like me, thought this pattern seemed very intimidating at first ... but I quickly discovered that it’s a piece of cake. You only need to chain and DC, and learn how to do a cluster. In the last row you'll also do SC, HDC and TR - but we'll get to that later! This pattern is quick and easy – and very cute.
Size:
H (5 mm) hook
approximately 450 g yarn
Stitches:
- CH – chain
- DC – double crochet (treble crochet in British English terms)
- Cluster - Yarn over, insert hook into the space between shells two rows below, yarn over, draw up the yarn to the working row. Do this THREE times, so you have 7 loops on your hook. Yarn over once more and draw it through the first 6 loops on the hook, yarn over again and draw through the last 2 loops on hook.
Chain 103 stitches (see the piece in green below if you want to make a different size)
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Foundation (2 Rows)
Row 1:
DC in the 4th chain from hook, 1 DC in the next two stitches (3 DC in total), skip 2 stitches, *[2DC in the next stitch, chain 1, 2DC in next stitch = shell]. Skip three stitches!** Repeat from * to ** till five stitches before end. Skip 2 stitches, 1 DC in each of the last three stitches.
A short note before you go on. The pattern is worked in five stitch repeats/a 5-stitch pattern repeat. What does this mean? Well, for a starting chain, you need 8 chain to start the row (- the stitches in italics above) and the cats are based on a pattern repeat that is worked in five chains into your starting chain (the piece from * to ** above.) To finish off, you need 5 chain (see the piece in italics above.) So your starting chain needs to be in multiples of 5 chain PLUS 8 chain (to start) and 5 chain (to finish), e.g. I start with
103 chains: 5 + 8 (beginning and end) + 90 stitches (18 x 5-stitch repeats)
A short note before you go on. The pattern is worked in five stitch repeats/a 5-stitch pattern repeat. What does this mean? Well, for a starting chain, you need 8 chain to start the row (- the stitches in italics above) and the cats are based on a pattern repeat that is worked in five chains into your starting chain (the piece from * to ** above.) To finish off, you need 5 chain (see the piece in italics above.) So your starting chain needs to be in multiples of 5 chain PLUS 8 chain (to start) and 5 chain (to finish), e.g. I start with
103 chains: 5 + 8 (beginning and end) + 90 stitches (18 x 5-stitch repeats)
Row 2:
3CH (counts as first DC here and throughout), DC in next two stitches. In the chain space created in the shell in the row below, crochet a shell [=2DC-1CH-2DC]. Crochet a shell [=2DC-1CH-2DC] in the chain space in each shell in the previous row. Repeat till you reach the last three stitches, 1DC in each.
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Kitty (3 Rows)
Change colours. From now on, we’re going to crochet cats! You need a new colour every three rows.
Row 3 (kitty body and paws):
After the first three DC, you'll continue with cluster – shell – cluster – shell - cluster etc. Finishing with a cluster before the 3 DC at the end.
What is this in pattern terms?
3CH, DC in next two stitches. * Cluster [=Yarn over, insert hook into the space between shells two rows below, yarn over, draw up the yarn to the working row. Do this THREE times, so you have 7 loops on your hook. Yarn over once more and draw it through the first 6 loops on the hook, yarn over again and draw through the last 2 loops on hook.]. Crochet a shell [=2DC-1CH-2DC] in chain space of shell in the previous row, crochet a cluster between this shell and the next. Repeat from * (cluster - shell - cluster ) till you reach the last three stitches, 1DC in each.
Row 4 (kitty face):
3CH (counts as first DC here and throughout), DC in next two stitches. In the chain space created in the shell in the row below, crochet a shell [=2DC-1CH-2DC]. Crochet a shell [=2DC-1CH-2DC] in the chain space in each shell in the previous row. Repeat till you reach the last three stitches, 1DC in each.
Row 5 (kitty ears):
Repeat row 4.
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Doesn’t look much a like a cat yet, does it? Well, this is where it starts to get interesting... Change colours again and repeat rows 3, 4 and 5. Has your first pussycat appeared yet?
Keep going till the blanket has reached the length you want. I normally do foundation + 21 kitties + finishing rows. This gives me a blanket that’s approximately 66cm x 82 cm
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Finishing (2 Rows)
Second-last row:
Repeat row 3
Last row:
3CH, DC in next two stitches. TR in next stitch (in cluster of previous row), DC, HDC, SC in each of the next three stitches (you should now be at the chain of the shell in the previous row), HDC, DC, TR (in cluster of previous row). Do you see what we’re doing? We’re trying to even it out and create a nice top edge. Continue till the last three stitches, 1DC in each.
Edging:
3 chain, then DC around the edge of the blanket. It's best to use a smaller hook because you'll have to wriggle it through the stitches on the side and bottom of the blanket. I create a corner by simply doing 2DC in the corner of the blanket, 1CH, then 2DC in the same stitch.
You may not reproduce this pattern in print or claim it as your work. You may not sell the pattern. Do not copy and paste pattern to another website, please use a link.
How do I make this an adult-sized blanket? How many starting chains do I need?
It's kind of a difficult question to answer because I use a lighter weight yarn than WW, so my blanket would be a little smaller than yours. When I make this blanket for babies, it's about 27 inches / 68 cms across (without the border). So one way to calculate how many starting chains you need is to measure the baby blanket you've done and use that as a basis for your calculations. In other words, if I wanted a blanket that would fit a 200 m-wide bed, I'd do three times as many starting chain as I need for a baby blanket (68 cm x 3 = about 210 cm across)
If you wanted a more precise number, I would do a little gauge test with the yarn you plan to use:
Chain 13 stitches.
Do 1 DC in the 4th chain from hook, 1 DC in each of the next 2 chain stitches. Skip two chain, 2 DC in next chain, ch1, 2DC in next chain, leave the next three chain free. (We're pretending to start the first row)
Take a ruler and measure how long the last five chain are (in the first row of a real blanket, these five chain would be the empty 3ch between shells and the 2 chain each with 2DC - these four DC form the shell - in them). Use this to calculate how wide you want the blanket.
Say, for instance, your bed was 2 metres across. Imagine the width of these five chain was 2.5 cm (just off the top of my head). That means that in order to make a blanket 200 cm across, it'd look like this:
200 cm / 2.5 cm = 80
80 x 5 chain = 400 chain
400 chain
+ 5 chain (for the first 3DC and the two chain between them and the first shell)
+ 3 chain (for the first 'fake' DC at the start of the row.)
+ 5 chain (for the last 3DC and the two empty chain between the last shell and these 3DC)
____
413 chain*
If you wanted a more precise number, I would do a little gauge test with the yarn you plan to use:
Chain 13 stitches.
Do 1 DC in the 4th chain from hook, 1 DC in each of the next 2 chain stitches. Skip two chain, 2 DC in next chain, ch1, 2DC in next chain, leave the next three chain free. (We're pretending to start the first row)
Take a ruler and measure how long the last five chain are (in the first row of a real blanket, these five chain would be the empty 3ch between shells and the 2 chain each with 2DC - these four DC form the shell - in them). Use this to calculate how wide you want the blanket.
Say, for instance, your bed was 2 metres across. Imagine the width of these five chain was 2.5 cm (just off the top of my head). That means that in order to make a blanket 200 cm across, it'd look like this:
200 cm / 2.5 cm = 80
80 x 5 chain = 400 chain
400 chain
+ 5 chain (for the first 3DC and the two chain between them and the first shell)
+ 3 chain (for the first 'fake' DC at the start of the row.)
+ 5 chain (for the last 3DC and the two empty chain between the last shell and these 3DC)
____
413 chain*
(this number is only a wild example, please take five minutes to check it before starting to crochet a meadow-sized blanket :-))
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