Welcome to Week 1 of the Mélange Blanket mystery crochet along with Underground Crafter! This week’s square is the Cross & Puff Square by Creations by Courtney.
This post contains affiliate links. I may receive compensation (at no added cost to you) if you make a purchase using these links. Materials for this project were generously provided by King Cole and Denise Interchangeables.
Join the Mélange Blanket Mystery Crochet Along!
- Learn more about the CAL (and enter the giveaway for your chance to win a one of five great prizes from babé crochet co., Denise Interchangeables, GlassEyesOnline, King Cole, and Knitter’s Relief Balm by 11:59 p.m. Eastern on December 22, 2023) in this blog post.
- You can join in by crocheting along with each square of this blanket as you have time.
- Sign up for my newsletter here so you never miss a clue!
- Share your progress and post pictures of your finished projects. Tag your projects and posts #undergroundcrafter and #melangeblanketcal on all social media. You can also tag me as Underground Crafter on Facebook, or as @ucrafter on Instagram when you’re sharing project pictures.
- If you’d like to chat with other crocheters, join the Underground Crafters Facebook group or follow Mélange Blanket CAL thread the Underground Crafter Ravelry group.
- By the end of the CAL, you’ll have 48 beautiful squares you can put together into a beautiful blanket.
- Use the button below on your Ravelry project pages or elsewhere on social media. Right click (on desktop) or tap and hold (on mobile) to save.
Mélange Blanket Square 1: Cross & Puff Square
Our first square is the Cross & Puff Square by Creations by Courtney. In addition to her website, you can follow Courtney online at Etsy | Facebook | Instagram | LoveCrafts | Pinterest | Ravelry | YouTube.
You can see Courtney’s version below. She used two colors in King Cole Fashion Aran yarn.
As I mentioned in the Mélange Blanket CAL kick off post, I am using King Cole Big Value Aran (available through your local yarn shop or online at LoveCrafts or Wool Warehouse UK) and my Denise US Size J-10/6 mm crochet hook for my blanket. This makes it easier to keep consistent gauge across all my squares.
For my version of the Cross & Puff Square, I used Berry for Rounds 1 and 5, Nougat for Rounds 2 and 4, and Ocean for Round 3. My square came out at just under 6″ (15 cm), so once I wet blocked it, the size was perfect. (If you’re new to blocking, check out Blocking Basics for Crocheters and Knitters.)
This pattern uses two special stitches. You can find my video tutorial for the crossed double crochet here. The other special stitch is the horizontal puff stitch, which is explained really clearly in the written pattern but if you are new to puff stitches in general, you can find my puff stitch video tutorial here.
Round 4 requires extra focus because you’ll need to pay attention to where your stitches are positioned. In other words, you should press pause on whatever streaming show you are watching while crocheting (smile). Updated: Courtney has a video tutorial for this square that will walk you through this Round (see below).
Head over to Creations by Courtney and get the free pattern for the Cross & Puff Square here. Don’t forget to share your version online using #undergroundcrafter and #melangeblanketcal as hashtags.Tag me as Underground Crafter on Facebook, or as @ucrafter on Instagram when you’re sharing project pictures, or share your pictures in the Underground Crafters Facebook group or in the Mélange Blanket CAL thread the Underground Crafter Ravelry group.