Crochet Alongs have been really popular projects over the last few years, they are such a great way to create a beautiful design while being part of a friendly, helpful community as well.

I’ve always loved seeing all the beautiful crochet alongs that have been released over the years, but oh my don’t they need you to crochet at a furious pace to keep up? They are usually run over 10 weeks, and the blanket patterns are double bed sized! That’s an awful lot of crochet in just 10 weeks especially if you have a job and a family to take care of as well.

I know there’s nothing wrong with going slower and just admire others finished pieces in the meantime, but I always feel behind with the times and end up loosing momentum and that feeling of being part of a community all working together. As pleased as you are for others who do keep up, you do feel that little pang of disappointment that you can’t keep up with the chatter of the pleasures and challenges of that weeks pattern part release.

So, I always knew that if I created a crochet along of my own that it would be one that went at a much slower pace. One that would be easier to keep up with around job, kids and life, one that would be more inclusive to all walks of life and that I would be able to keep up with myself if I was taking part.

Stitch Confidence

The other thing that I wanted to achieve in creating my own crochet along is to tackle stitch confidence.

In crochet communities, one of the things I hear quite a bit is that “I can only do a granny stitch” or “I couldn’t possible try that I can only do really simple stitches”
That is just a lack of crochet stitch confidence talking as there are lots of different stitches made with the same basic elements as granny stitch or any simple stitch, they are just rearranged in a different order.

So I wanted to make my pattern easy to follow, with step by step guides, full of pictures and video tutorials so that everyone from all abilities and confidence would be able to follow along with as much help and guidance as I could possibly give.

The 50 Stitches CAL will be made up of 50 squares, each using a different stitch or technique. We will then join them all together to create a beautiful sampler blanket.

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The 50 Stitches Crochet Along

It’s because of these 2 elements that I came up with the 50 stitches crochet along.

• 50 squares
• 50 stitches
• 50 weeks

Each square will then be joined together with an interlocking border to make a beautiful sampler blanket. If you are looking for a crochet blanket pattern with lots of different stitches, then this is the project for you.

Every square will be made of 32 stitches on each edge, so easy to make in an hour or 2 each week. Each week will feature a new stitch or technique so you can expand your stitch range and gain confidence in your ability to try different stitches and try new projects. There will be full picture instructions each week, along with a video to show you how each stitch is made.

There is also a dedicated Facebook group for the project where you can ask question, make new friends and show off your beautiful work – Click here to join the 50 Stitches Group

What do you need to know?

Check out this video telling you everything you need to know about the 50 Stitches crochet along

https://youtube.com/live/LsR-QQjyHj0

My colour choices for the 50 Stitches CAL. I’m using Rico Creative Cotton Aran, but any fibre type can be used.

I’ll be using 4 colours in Rico Creative Cotton Aran, but this would make a great stash busting project so use as many or as few colours as you like. I will also be making a scrap blanket using Stylecraft Cotton Classique.
If you’ve never worked with non mercerised cotton before, then be aware that the Rico can split. You may want to switch to another fibre type if you would find this troublesome. Any fibre can be used, and as long as you are using aran/worsted/weight 4 yarn then your blanket will come out at similar dimensions to mine.

Rico cotton aran is a thin aran (also called Worsted weight or weight 4), so you can get away with switching to a DK (Double knit or light worsted) and still acheive a similar finished size to me and use the same hook sizes I used.

Although I’m from the UK I use US terms. I will give the UK translations each week for all the stitches, but otherwise everything will be in US stitch terms including the tutorial videos.

The crochet along will be available for free on my blog, but you can purchase the ad free, printable version of the pattern on either as part of my Lifetime Pattern Pass, which gives you access to all of my published patterns including future ones for a one off fee (find out more here). Or by itself on Ravelry for just £5

Purchase the ad free, complete pattern here (includes a bonus panel too)

Different stitches work up in different tensions, so to keep the squares the same size I’ve had to use several hook sizes. So it’s important that you pay attention to the hook size stated for each square, as it will change quite often. If you are uncomfortable using the small hook sizes for aran yarn, then go up a hook size. But if you do this you need to do the same for every square otherwise you will end up with squares of different sizes.

The hook sizes needed are:
– 3.5mm
– 4mm
– 4.5mm

I’ve calculated the total amount of yarn needed as 3500 metres or 3800 yards. This is a generous over calculation, so should be plenty to get you through the entire project.

It has been so much fun putting this together, even though I’ve done more frogging in the last few weeks than I have for the whole of 2019 😂

I really hope you enjoy this project and that you get to try a few new stitches and techniques while doing it.

Please come and join the Facebook group and show us how your getting along, your beautiful colour combos and of course I’ll be there to give a helping hand too.

You can find all the links to each weeks pattern on this page, or click here to go straight to week 1