Sunburst Granny Blanket: Revised Pattern and Choosing Colors

January 25, 2012
In: Crochet

After last time, I started to realize that this project was going to cost me a lot of money and time. I thought how I could save some of both, so I decided to revise the pattern slightly.

Sunburst Granny Square

One square doesn’t really photograph well, but all in all, much better than the brown experiment, don’t you think?

Here’s my modified pattern:

Materials

  • Super bulky yarn, 3 colors + border color (I’m using white)
  • 6.5mm crochet hook

Abbreviations & Notations

  • ch – chain
  • dc – double crochet
  • hdc – half double crochet
  • st – stitch
  • yo – yarn over
  • [ … ] – repeat instructions in [ ] as many times as specified.
  • double cluster stitch – [yo, insert hook in indicated st and pull up a loop, yo and pull through 2 loops] twice, yo and pull through all 3 remaining loops on hook. For first st in round, the ch 3 replaces the first yo and pull through.
  • triple cluster stitch – [yo, insert hook in indicated st and pull up a loop, yo and pull through 2 loops] 3 times, yo and pull through all 4 remaining loops on hook. For first st in round, the ch 3 replaces the first yo and pull through.

Notes

I like to join as I go, which means that I stop after round 3. Then, when all the semi-finished squares are ready, I crochet the 4th row and join as I go. I will explain about this technique later in the series. If you’d rather complete the 4th row and then sew the squares together, that’s just as acceptable…

Instructions

Round 1 (requires 3m of yarn): With 1st color, make magic loop, ch 3 (this counts as first dc). 15 dc. Join with sl st to top of ch 3. Cut yarn.

Round 2 (requires 5m of yarn): Join 2nd color with sl st between any of the dc in the 1st round. ch 3, complete double cluster st, ch 1. [double cluster stitch between next dc, ch 1] around. Join with sl st to top of ch 3. Cut yarn.

Round 3 (requires 8m of yarn, instead of 11m): Join 3rd color with sl st in any of the ch 1 spaces in the 2nd round. ch 3, complete triple cluster st, ch 2. [triple cluster stitch in next ch 1 space, ch 2] around. Join with sl st to top of ch 3. Cut yarn.

Round 4 (requires 8.5m of yarn): Join 4th color with sl st in any of the ch 2 spaces from the 3rd round. ch 3, 2 dc in same space. [3 hdc in next ch 2 space, 3 times. 3dc, ch 2, 3dc in next ch 2 space]. When you reach the first ch 2 space, 3dc, ch 2, join with sl st to top of first ch 3 (to complete the corner). This round turns the circle into a square.

I’ll spare you the calculations (you can to the first post in the series to see how I calculated the amount of yarn I would need of each color) and get to the final numbers: I would need 1536 meters of colored yarn (all colors) and 986m of white yarn. Originally, I was going to get 4 colors, but when I got to the store I decided that 8 colors would be much more fun!

Yarn for Sunburst Granny Blanket

Yes. That is a pile of 26 balls of yarn. Incredible. Each ball contains 110m of yarn, so I have plenty to spare (assuming I didn’t make any gross calculation mistakes).

8 colors can be combined in 324 different ways, but I only have 96 squares, so I guess I’ll have to come up with some method of making sure I keep the colors well balanced and the amount of yarn from each ball even so I don’t run out of too many colors… I’ll share how I decide how to do this when I know myself…

Until next time, happy crochet!

Comments:

  1. Karen

    Hi Rina!
    I love your sunburst quilt!! You mentioned that you like to join after getting all of the ‘bursts’ done instead of doing round four and sewing them together. Can you explain how you do this?
    Thank you for the beautiful pattern!

  2. […] Rina’s blog, you can also scroll down on this page to see one of my favorite patterns for a Sunburst square.  So bright and cheerful.  There are lots of other goodies to be found on Rina’s blog.  Go […]

  3. Anonymous

    Hello… I have a couple of questions regarding Round 3. I think you meant pull through 4 loops at the end of the triple cluster, correct? Also, should one chain 2 only after the first cluster or all? Thank you. 🙂