Ohhh I have been waiting so long to share this post with you all! *bounces* I’m so excited, I can’t tell you how much I’ve wanted to share this blanket with you all, in all its glory. Months. Months of keeping it hush-hush! Months of plotting and planning and testing and arranging.
And now I can finally show you all the Kaleidoscope blanket.
Isn’t it goooorgeous?
I am honestly so so proud of this blanket. The maths involved was not inconsiderable! Making sure all the triangles were just the right size so that eight of them together formed an octagon exactly the same size as the octagon itself, working out angles and stitch counts and colour combinations…it was probably the most challenging blanket, in geometry terms, that I’ve ever attempted.
This blanket began waaaaay back at the turn of the year when I was inspired by a quilt pattern I’d seen. I wanted to try to recreate the idea of a pieced patchwork quilt by using different shaped motifs to build up the kaleidoscopic pattern. And to mimic the effect of printed fabrics in a quilt, I turned to colourwork, combining flat stitches with post stitches and popcorns to create a really stunning effect.
It’s an ambitious project, but the end product is a beautiful, unique heirloom blanket that’s full of rich texture and colour.
The Crochet-Along
I’m trying something different with this blanket. For the first time, I’m going to release it as a CAL!
I am so excited for this to begin and to help you all on your Kaleidoscope journeys.
The Kaleidoscope CAL will begin on 3rd January 2020, and will run over 26 weeks – thirteen fortnightly parts.
At the end, you should have a blanket that measures 63”/157cm across at the widest point, perfect for the top of a double bed or a luxurious snuggle on a sofa.
Each part will be available as a free download on Ravelry, so make sure to add the pattern to your favourites or queue.
You can already download ‘Part 0 – Getting Ready’, which tells you more about the blanket and contains a list of the stitches used in the blanket. It also has some helpful tips about the pattern, and a little tutorial on how to change colours, for the colourwork you’ll be doing in the blanket.
The pattern is written in US terms, and includes plenty of pictures and diagrams to help you along.
It is an intermediate pattern, and you should be comfortable with a range of basic and slightly more intermediate stitches. The most advanced part of this blanket is the colourwork, but I promise that once you get the hang of it, it will become practically second nature.
As you can see, I’m presenting this to you with three official colourways!
All three use Stylecraft Special DK.
Jewellery Box takes inspiration from rich jewel colours, a striking contrast against the white; Old Rose is a more vintage floral colourway; and Tequila Sunrise is bold and warm, named for the colours in the classic cocktail.
You can purchase all three colour packs in my shop at Deramores*.
Or, if you want to choose your own colours, there is a helpful table in the ‘getting ready’ download that you can print off and use to keep track of your colour choices.
Of course, the best thing about a CAL is sharing your progress with other people who are working on the same thing – so I’ve set up a Facebook group just for that!
The group is the best place to get help and advice with the CAL, as well as plenty of encouragement. I’ll be there to lend a helping hand, and so will my lovely co-mods and testers Kathy Patching (who made the Old Rose version) and Jill Coker (who made the Tequila Sunrise version).
This blanket may seem a daunting prospect for those of you who are less confident in your own skills, but one of the ladies who tested for me has only been crocheting for a few years – so don’t be afraid it’s too difficult!
I really hope you’ll come and join us for the Kaleidoscope CAL. I’m so excited to see all your beautiful blankets.
Before I go, I just want to say a massive thank you to Kathy and Jill, who worked up the alternate colourways so brilliantly and who will be joining me in helping you all out over the next few months. Thank you, ladies!
See you all very soon 😀
Catherine
Catherine's Crochet Corner 
Just stunning Catherine, love them all.
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I honestly can’t wait ! It’s just gorgeous, thank you
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This blanket is amazing!
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Beautiful! I’ve been waiting for a new project and this will be a perfect start to 2020. Just need to make a decision on what colourway to go with, they are all gorgeous.
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I’m biased, obviously, but I agree they’re all gorgeous 😀
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I had made your Demelza blanket last year and it turned out so lovely! It was for a charity auction and brought some considerable amount of money to the Lotus Children in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. I’ve been following your designs since then. And I am very excited about this new CAL!!! It looks stunning and I will definitely join the CAL. As I live in Mongolia, where almost no company ships 😅 and, yarn is very difficult to find and expensive, I always bring some stash from Turkey, my country. Please may I request a favour: Would it be possible to put the Stylecraft colour next to the names of those you use in the colour ways? I checked the Deramores website but it is very difficult to match the colour names with the actual colours. Then I can work out to find similar shades from my stash. Many thanks!
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I’m not 100% sure what you’re asking – you want to know what colours correspond with the coour names?
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Yes exactly!!
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Hi , I’d like to make this blanket but I’d like to use my own colours. Is there any sort of plan to show which colours are which on the finished blanket. Any help you can offer would be greatly appreciated
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I don’t have a plan, but I have a feeling that somebody in the Facebook CAL group did make one – so my suggestion would be to ask there?
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Perhaps the colour numbers?
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I collect Kaleidoscopes, so this will be a dream for me. Wow! they are beautiful. Do you have a template for the pattern, so that we may color to decide on the color placements. Mary Morris
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I do, but there are a lot of different colour combinations, and I’m not sure the diagram would make sense at this point. But the colour chart in the ‘getting ready’ pdf should give you an idea of what colours are used where, to help choose your own colours.
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I would love to see which colours are next to one another so I can swap out a few I’m not a fan of. I especially would like to create a red, grey and black version.
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The colour list in ‘getting ready’ is pretty much in the order you’ll be using them through the CAL.
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Will it be released elsewhere than ravelry…I can never get that site to work for me, it’s me I expect as I’ve had two mini strokes and there are some things I just can’t grasp, although I’ve been crocheting for 56 years….I would love to do this…it’s beautiful…🦋p
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I really want to keep it just in one place, to avoid any confusion and to make it easier for me to keep track of. Is there any way you can ask somebody else to help with Ravelry/download the pdfs for you?
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It’s so beautiful ! I just ordered the yarn ( Tequila Sunrise colourway ). I can’t wait to start 😁. Thank you
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It’s a lovely pattern. I would like to do the tequila sunrice. But I don’t want to use acrylic yarn. I live in Sweden I would like to do it in cotton and a smaller hook. 4,5 is to big for me. I use boye nr 2. Can do with number 4 also. Can you suggest a cotton yarn for it?
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Not knowing what yarn is available for you, I couldn’t give you any suggestions 😦 a smaller hook with a DK weight yarn will give you a smaller blanket in the end, but one of the testers used a 4mm hook and her blanket was the same size as mine, so it will depend on your gauge.
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This design is beautiful and I love all three colourways. Thank you for sharing!
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Will more be available, they are all sold out. Thanks
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They will be! Deramores assure me they’re working hard on restocking. You can sign up on their site to be notified when your colour pack of choice is back in stock.
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Incredible! So hard to believe it is crocheted. I don’t know if I’m advanced enough to do this but I might give it a try. I’ve never seen anything like it! Question ~ do all these triangles, squares, etc. need to be made on their own? That will be like a gazillion pieces to join, won’t it. Not complaining at all, just wondering how much work is involved and if I am anywhere near that caliber of crocheter. Either way, it is so beautiful! You are brilliant!
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There are a lot of parts, that’s true! Quite a lot of triangles. In some ways, the hardest part of this blanket (for me, anyway!) was persevering through the triangles 😀 😀 but we’ll be joining at several intervals through the CAL, so it won’t be like making a whole pile of individual motifs and then joining them all at once.
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Beautiful pattern to work on, quite new to me but I would like to put my own colour choice and yarn choice so that it will be an unique piece as is the pattern. Love to you.
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Will the CAL be offered on any other platform? Those of us who are no longer Ravelry members for one reason or another would love to participate! This is beautiful!
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It’s only going to be on Ravelry, I’m afraid.
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I love this. I think my mother would too. Do we need to sign up?
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Nope! The pattern parts will only be available on Ravelry, but I’ll be posting about it/links to each part on here every fortnight. You can join up to the facebook group for extra support, but it’s absolutely not a requirement 🙂
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I love it! I made the Ross blanket last year and would love to do this pattern in a similar color way. Problem is, I really need a YouTube follow along as I have a disability with reading paper patterns. Would you please consider having someone do a YouTube?
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I’m absolutely open to someone doing youtube videos, but I don’t know anybody who’s available to do it! If you know anybody who would be able to do them, do let me know.
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Amazing! Could you help me measure how thick the yarn is? I can’t find this yarn in my country, so that I’m looking for a similar yarn instead
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It’s a DK weight yarn, so have a google to see what you can find 🙂
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Looks like the storm at sea quilt I did years ago
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I’m excited to try it my 2 daughters Barb and Peggy Sue are going to do it as well
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Thank you so much for hosting this! The blankets are simply gorgeous. I added this to my list of current crochet alongs on whatsnanamaking.com. Absolutely love!
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I am very interested in joining this CAL, but I just found this today. I’m afraid that I will be starting a little late by the time I gather the materials together. Can I still download the pattern and begin when I’m ready? Or maybe you will be offering it again?Thank you. This is beautiful!
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Of course you can! The patterns will be available in perpetuity; the documents won’t disappear at the end of the CAL.
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I have finished all part 1…. do I have to wait 14 days for the next part? Is it possible to buy the complete pattern now? I really want to finish my blanket within 1 month… 😉
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I am running short on the color F, probably by 2-3 squares. My gauge is a little big as squares are just under 5 inches. I will be ordering from the US. Are there any other colors that may run into an extra skein I should also order? Any color yo or tester had less then half a skein remaining?
It took 2 skeins F and 1 skein A to make 22 squares (part 1 squares)
Thanks,
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The only one that’s tight on quantity is colour F. Everything else should have plenty left over, in terms of usage. But if you’re ordering, I would get another ball of colour A, just to be sure.
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Hi catherine i want to hear if i can get permission to make your cal kaleidoscope for youtube video in Danish since i know many who do not understand english. I will of course refer you as a designer and possibly give a link to fb gr and also post a link to gr on my youtube channel and post to my youtube as Well in fb gr
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No, I would rather you didn’t. I would prefer to keep just one set of videos for the blanket.
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I’m loving this: so beautiful, and challenging enough to not be boring. I’m using worsted weight to get a bedspread size, and have just a wee but of B left after my 2a triangles. Are we using this again and should I get another skein? Thanks so much.
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You’ll be using B in part 10, so yes, you should order more 🙂
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Thanks!
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It’s absolutely stunning !! #thank you so much for designing this piece of art❤
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🙂
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I love this. Ordered it through the company and also had my daughter send me yarn for another colour way.. the first part was great, I am having trouble with the triangles…seem. Too big and the front post stitches are pulling the piece out of line. Any ideas as to what I am doing wrong. Any help would be appreciated as I has exhausted utube suggestions and videos
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Hi June,
You could always go down a hook size for the triangles? It shouldn’t matter going down a hook size to achieve gauge for the triangles; they should still fit nicely with the squares, if your triangles are coming out larger than your squares.
With the front post stitches, try giving them a gentle tug to get them to sit nicely. And also try to imagine how they’ll look when the triangles are all joined together, when the edges will look straight and the post stitches will also sit a bit more neatly.
Are you able to join the CAL group on Facebook? It would be easier to share a picture of your work there, and somebody else may well have encountered the same problem!
Catherine xx
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Lovely work!
Are you planning to provide the pattern on a platform other than Ravelry?
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No, it will only be on Ravelry.
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Thanks for the reply. I hope you all have wonderful results. I’ll pass on the project, Ravelry is too political and biased for my tastes.
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That’s fair enough and absolutely your choice. For what it’s worth, I happen to support Ravelry’s stance that white supremecy is hate speech and should not be allowed a platform in a civilised world.
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Hi I wonder if I am stupid or missing something but the triangles making up the center pieces of the circles with the squares seem to have 4 colors but I can’t find any triangle using 4 colors? Also there needs to be 72 of these as they all look the same? There isn’t a pattern requiring that 72 be made? Hope you can clarify my blonde state of mind. Regards, Pieter
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Hi Pieter,
I think the ‘triangles’ you’re referring to are actually octagons, which will be the last shapes you’ll crochet before moving on to joining everything together. There are nine of them, and they’re designed to mimic the shape of the triangles. So don’t worry, you won’t be making 72 triangles to get there! (though you do still have lots of triangles to go, I’m afraid!)
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Please do you have a totorial on the blanket
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Yes, all the links are here on my blog. Search ‘Kaleidoscope Blanket’.
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These are just breathtaking works of art. They are so fine, they are masterpieces and belong in museums. I’ve never seen anything quite like it.
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Do you draw any inspiration from historical textile art? Or did you do a design sketch from an actual kaleidoscope??? Either way, I hope the contemporary crafts museum in your area has some of your work. I am in awe.
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I took inspiration from one specific quilt – you can read about my inspiration and design story here: https://catherinescrochetcorner.co.uk/2019/12/10/my-kaleidoscope-story/
I don’t think there is a local contemporary crafts museum where I am! But thank you for the lovely compliment.
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Absolutely wonderful !! – and it really does look like what one sees in a kaleidoscope. The work of a lifetime.
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I am almost finished (after almost 2 years!) – working on the border now. It is beautiful but I have found several discrepancies between the pattern and the chart in the border. However, working from the chart resolved the problems.
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