Seaside Stash Busting blanket – Week 1 (This is exciting – I’m hosting a ‘Crochet Along’)!

Welcome to my ‘Seaside Stash Busting Blanket’… a 35 week Crochet Along which I hosted here on my blog throughout 2018. The first original ‘Week 1’ blog post remains below and all the subsequent weeks with full instructions are here on my blog (go to the menu to access each week).

Update April 2020: I’m very happy to announce that the full pattern in both UK and US crochet terms is now available over in my Ravelry and Etsy Stores.
Here are the links…

Ravelry: www.ravelry.com – pattern

Etsy: www.etsy.shop – pattern

My original blanket was a true stash buster made using only yarns I had in my stash. The variety of stitch combinations and colours were inspired each week by the textures and colours of the seaside.

You can use whichever yarns you like but for the best results make sure they are all the same yarn weight and the same yarn type. You can use as many or as little colours as you like. My original blanket had a total of 16 colours in it (seen above).

My finished blanket using DK acrylic yarns measures approximately 110cm x 130cm (43 x 51in) but the finished size will depend on your tension and chosen yarn type.

Update January 2022:

I have also designed a new ‘Seaside Celebration’ colour way (shown below using 10 colours) to celebrate 4 years since the original blanket was launched. It’s slightly smaller than the original and you can read all about that here: Seaside Celebration Blanket

The pattern for this blanket is also available in my Ravelry and Etsy stores:

Ravelry: https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/seaside-celebration-blanket

Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/1159784411/seaside-celebration-blanket

Do join the Facebook group Coastal Crochet where lots of photos are being shared and there’s so much help and inspiration! It’s a really friendly and welcoming group… 🙂

https://www.facebook.com/coastal crochet group

And now for where it all began…

ORIGINAL BLOG POST – January 2018:

I’m hosting my first ‘Crochet Along’ (CAL) – I’m calling it the ‘Seaside Stash Busting Blanket’ and it would be fabulous if some of you will join me!

Here’s the story behind my idea…

Last week over on Instagram Mollie Makes Magazine hosted ‘Mollie Makers Week’ – each day there was a prompt to share a photo. I was a little late joining in but took part over the last three days where I shared photos of my ‘fave make’, ‘craft stash’ and finally ‘inspiration’.

This is the photo along with my explanation which I shared for ‘craft stash’…

Oh my! Today the prompt is ‘Craft Stash’ for #molliemakersweek – it would be far too embarrassing to show you all of my #craftstash which extends from under our bed, to a basket by the sofa, to a desk in the living room and a cupboard in the hall! It’s not even very well organised I’m afraid!! Having been a maker for all my adult life I’ve accumulated so many things and people who know me and my love of craft have generously given me lots over the years too, especially any unwanted yarn! So here’s just a little snapshot of yarn and fabrics that I brought out into the front garden this morning…

And it’s this photo that really got me thinking about all that yarn and I’ve come up with the fun idea of an unofficial and unplanned ‘Crochet Along’!

Seeing all that yarn under my bed made me really want to use it all to make another blanket but I really don’t want to start a big project like a blanket at the moment- I don’t really have enough time as I have other potential projects and commissions in the pipeline (as well as my day job and family life to keep up with!!!). But how about if I crocheted no more than 4 rows per week and write the pattern as I go? That would mean by about September time (this is going to be a slow CAL!) I’ll have a finished crocheted blanket with the pattern all written up and it wouldn’t have taken over in any way!! 😊

Well that’s what I’ve decided to do and it really would be lovely if you joined me!

I’ll do a blog post each week with the 4 rows worked, together with the written pattern. I’m literally going to make it up as we go along! There’s no pre-planning of colours or stitches… the only rule is that I will only use the DK yarns from my existing stash and do no more than 4 rows per week!

It will be a big blanket and I guess I’ll work about 140 rows meaning if I do 4 rows per week it will take 35 weeks (but I won’t be putting any pressure on myself to finish it by a certain date and I may give myself some weeks off!)

I announced this over on my Instagram on Monday asking if anyone would like to join me and ‘Wow’! – I have been so touched and overwhelmed by the response! I had no idea how many people would want to crochet along with me and I’m so happy that there’s now over 50 people and some are as far away as Australia and the USA! I’m so excited! It’s amazing that there are so many people who are going to join me in this slow and gentle ‘cal’ which will result in a gorgeous blanket, I promise! 😊 😊

(*EDIT* October 2018… many 1000’s of people joined in with this CAL between January and September from over 30 different countries around the world. It became a very special project indeed… ❤️❤️❤️ And many people are starting blankets even now! There’s a thriving Facebook group ‘Coastal Crochet’. All the instructions will remain on my blog in the weekly blog posts so I hope people will make this for many years to come! 😊)

So here goes, first four rows in UK terminology:

Abbreviations: ch: chain, rep: repeat, st(s): stitch(es), tr: treble

With 4.50mm hook (you may prefer using a smaller or larger hook depending on your tension and the yarn you’re using) make 182ch

Row 1 1tr in 4th ch from hook, (3 missed ch count as first tr), 1tr in each ch to end, 3ch (counts as first st of next row), turn (180 sts)

Row 2 Miss first st, 2tr in next st, continue with (miss 1 st, 2tr in next st) to end finishing with 1tr in final st of row and join with a new colour at end of final st, 3ch, turn (89 groups of 2tr with 1 tr at each side)

We are now working ‘V Stitch’ to create the ‘V’s’…

Row 3 Miss first st, continue with (2tr inbetween the sts from previous row) to end, 1tr in final st, join with a new colour at end of final st, 3ch, turn

Row 4 Rep Row 3

And that’s it… four rows started, put it away, get back to other crochet projects and we’ll do another four rows next week…

Coincidently, fellow crochet blogger Rosina from ‘Zeens and Roger’ has announced her first CAL this week too! A completely different kind of CAL which sounds fun so head on over to her blog to find out more about it…

Happy crocheting Everyone… 🙂 🙂