Butterfly Corner to Corner Blanket

Completed blanket with one "hidden" Butterfly

Crochet for me is an outlet for creativity but it is also a way to support the causes that I love.  This blanket is one example.  It is a corner to corner pattern with butterflies that I created for the Turner Syndrome fundraising walk held in Minneapolis annually.  I’ve made two of these blankets so far and each one makes me feel happy.  The corner to corner pattern is fast to build up, aka fast rewards, and seeing the butterflies pop out of the background is super satisfying.  The comments I received from the bidders was probably the best part aside from raising the most money for a single item at the auction.

WIP for Turner Syndrome Auction event.

Here’s the basic details on this blanket.  It comes out close to twin size.  I really should have measured it but as you can see it covers our large sofa, roughly 6 feet by 4 feet.  Using a different yarn or hook will of course give you different results. 

You can see the sizing on the queen size bed here.

Materials Used:

• Five Caron Big Cakes self striping yarn, medium weight 4
• Two skeins accent yarn in the same weight (I used white and purple RedHeart yarn I had laying around)
• 5.5 mm crochet hook.

This is another view for size guestimation.  This is laid out on our queen size guest bed.  It’s the full length and width without the border edging.

Now when I started making these I was NOT good at reading written patterns.  I watched video tutorials from You Tube, Bella Coco she’s seriously amazing, and I quickly mastered the corner to corner stitch.  This was only my second attempt at a corner to corner project and I thought why not go big?

I loved the self striping yarn for this blanket because as a newbie it gives it a professional type look without any effort.  Learning to change colors for the butterflies was a bit of a learning curve but I watched this video for tips on switching colors.  You will need three spools, max, of your butterfly color when creating this.  You can see the tiny white lines where I carried my yarn.  As with all corner to corner blankets once you are at a distance you can't really see them.

For this blanket I didn’t create a written pattern only the excel graph.  I tried making a written pattern but I was terrible at it!  So I’m hoping that you will enjoy making this blanket with a visual guide only. Ignore the colors on this diagram, I wanted the best contrast possible, so I used black for the butterflies.  The yellow border was my way of centering the butterflies.

It looks wonkey but I assure you it's centered.  The excel columns expanded when the numbering went over 100.  

February is Turner Syndrome awareness month.  I designed this blanket for my bestie, who has Turner Syndrome, and I've decided to sell the PDF copy of the patter on my Ravelry store for $2.00.  All proceeds from the sale of this pattern PDF will be donated to the Turner Syndrome Foundation and I will personally match the amount dollar for dollar. Thank you for your support.

Don't panic!  The free version is still here for you.

Butterfly Blanket Pattern (Twin Size)

This blanket uses the corner to corner method of crochet.  Abbreviations and instructions are in US terms. 

Suggested Yarn

Use yarn that is medium weight (4) with a 5.5 mm hook.  I used the Caron Big Cakes self striping yarn.  You will need ~3,000 to 3,500 yards of yarn to complete depending on your tension, that’s 5 Big Cakes, one skein (365 yards) of your butterfly color and yarn for edging depending on how much of a border you want.

The stitch patterns is as follows:

Following the graph use the corner to corner stitch as outlined here.  If you are a visual learner I suggest finding an online tutorial on the corner to corner stitch.

To increase:

• ·        Create the slip knot and chain 6
• ·        DC into the 4^th chain from the hook
• ·        DC in the 5 and 6 chains, turn your work
• ·        Chain 6
• ·        DC into the 4^th chain from the hook
• ·        DC in the 5 and 6 chains
• ·        Slip stitch into the previous square and chain 3
• ·        Do 3 DC into the space under the chain 3 from the previous square
• ·        Continue increasing in this manner until you obtain the width you want

To Decrease Length or width:

·       

• At the end of the row where you no longer want more width or length, slip stitch 3 times around the posts
• Chain 3 and do 3 DC and continue with the pattern as normal

You will change colors using spools of your butterfly color.  You will need five spools total. 

To change colors while doing the corner to corner stitch:

Step 1: Do not complete the last yarn over of your third double crochet
Step 2: Instead, yarn over with the new color to complete the double crochet
Step 3: Slip stitch into the previous square and chain 3
Step 4: Continue as normal in the new color
You will occasionally need to carry the butterfly color through your work on the same row.  To do this just hide the yarn under the double crochets as you would if you were crocheting over loose ends.
To complete this blanket add a border of your choice.  I keep it simple with 2 to 4 rows of single crochet all around in either the butterfly color or the self striping yarn or a combination of the two to use up the extra yardage.  Weave in your ends and enjoy your blanket.

Review the Graph

This pattern is a visual graph of the squares you will complete with the corner to corner stitch.  The colors used on this graph are for contrast.  You can choose any colors you would like.  The yellow border represents that there should always be two squares between your butterfly color and the edge of the blanket.

To ensure you are following the correct row match the numbers at each end.  The proportions look off but rest assured the blanket looks wonderful finished.

Use one skein per butterfly and carry the color as needed crocheting over the butterfly color with the main blanket color.

Good luck and enjoy the project.