Stash Buster Blanket

 

I've found a great blanket pattern for when you have too many balls of yarn in your stash, and you need to use it up.  The pattern is called the Stash Buster Squares Blanket, and you can find the pattern at The Crochet Swirl

It's the perfect project for when you're 'on the go', as each square is quite quick to make, and making small individual squares, means you aren't carrying a large heavy project around as the blanket grows.  The only drawback for this project is that it is time consuming joining each square individually.  The pattern suggested a mattress stitch join.  If I was making it again, I would crochet the squares together.

I love the texture of these squares.  The stitch is a modified lemon peel stitch, using half double crochet in place of double crochet.

The majority of the yarn I've used is Stylecraft Special DK leftover yarn from previous projects.  The raspberry colour is carnival 8ply.  I usually don't mix different brands of yarn, but in a stashbuster project it's more than OK, provided with ply doesn't feel too different.  I used a 3.75mm hook for the squares.

Each individual square measures approx 9.5cm.

I made 120 squares in total, and used a random colour placement to create a blanket that is 10 squares by 12 squares.  The completed blanket measures approx 100 x 125 cm with the border.

The squares are joined by hand, using a mattress stitch through the back loop.

I added a simple border of 2 rows of single crochet, followed by 5 rows of moss stitch and finished with a row of crab stitch.  The border was worked using a 4mm hook.

I hope you get the chance to try this pattern, as it's a very relaxing make.