A crochet-along blanket in nine parts, designed by Helen Shrimpton and sponsored by Stylecraft Yarns. Each section has its own page with detailed instructions and photographs.
What a CAL is
A crochet-along releases a large project in instalments rather than as one document. It exists because a blanket like this is genuinely daunting seen whole – nine parts of instructions in one file would put most people off before they picked up a hook.
Broken into sections, it becomes nine manageable projects. You finish a part, see visible progress, and move on. That structure is the reason CAL blankets get finished when equivalent solo projects get abandoned.
Working through it
Do the parts in order and finish each one before looking at the next. The sections build outward, and the stitch counts at the end of one part are what the next part depends on.
Count at the end of every part. A stitch count that has drifted by two will not be obvious in that section, but it will make the following section refuse to fit, and by then you are unpicking a great deal of work. Five minutes of counting saves an evening of frogging.
Colour planning
With nine sections, colour placement matters more than in a simple blanket. Work a small sample of your palette before committing – a set of colours that looks good in a pile of balls does not always look good in bands.
Buy all the yarn at the start. A CAL uses a lot, and running out of one colour partway through means either a dye lot change or a redesign.
Blocking
A large round or square motif blanket needs blocking to sit flat. Wet it, pin it out square, and let it dry fully. The difference is dramatic on a piece with this much stitch texture.
Pace
There is no deadline. If a part is fighting you, put it down and come back – the instructions will still be there.
