2024 Crochet Along – Terrific Textures Throw

Today we are kicking off our annual blanket crochet along! I am so excited about this year’s project. The Terrific Textures Sampler Throw features 20 squares showcasing a different textured crochet stitch.

How do I participate in this CAL?

A crochet along is when a group of crocheters follow along and make the same pattern.

What makes crochet alongs fun, is the social aspect of it. Consider this your formal invitation to join my Crochet Group on Facebook. In there, you can share your progress, ask questions and hang out with me too. I will be sharing each square pattern there as well as over email.

If that’s not your thing, no worries, being in the group is not necessary to complete this throw.

Either way, be sure to sign up for my email list to get notified each time a new square is released.

The Details

I picked out 20 different highly textured crochet stitches to showcase in this throw. I tried to stay away from stitches with subtle textures like the lemon peel stitch or grit stitch, in favor of ones that rely heavily on post stitches, bobbles, puffs and more.

A new square will be published here on The Unraveled Mitten every 2 weeks on Mondays starting January 15, 2024. You can see a complete schedule below. We will finish up our blanket by the end of October.

Each square will measure around 12 inches after blocking. I will include the stitch multiple needed for each stitch in the pattern in case you want to make your squares smaller or larger.

This size square will give up a blanket that measures approx 48 in x 60 in before adding a border.

This is a mystery crochet along so you won’t see the final project until its complete.

Yarn and Materials

• Approx 3000 yds of worsted weight yarn
• 5.5mm crochet hook

This is a stash-busting CAL so there is no shopping required. Dive into your stash and pick a selection of worsted-weight yarn to get started. Be sure that your selected yarns have similar qualities, this will help ensure that your squares come out the same size. For example, making a square in Caron Simply Soft when your other squares are made in Red Heart Super Saver will result in a much smaller square.

I will primarily be using Red Heart Super Saver and With Love from my stash to make my blanket. One of my big crochet goals for 2024 is to see some turnover in my yarn stash by the end of the year. I am going to try very very hard not to buy anything for this blanket. I ended up using 10 different colors plus 1 more for the joining and border.

How to Block Your Crochet Squares

I highly suggest that you block your squares. This makes them lay nice and flat. It will give your blanket a polished look. If you don’t know how to block, it’s super easy.

Using rust-proof pins, pin your square out on a mat making sure it’s 12×12 (or whatever size you want your squares to be). Then lightly steam it with a garment steamer or steam iron. If you’re using an iron be sure not to touch the iron to the yarn because it will melt.. Also, don’t oversteam it. When your square feels soft and is damp all over it’s done. Let it dry and remove it from your board.

You can find my favorite tools for blocking in my Amazon Shop.

If you want something a little more fancy than pins and mats I recommend this wooden blocking board I found on Etsy.

2024 Crochet Along Schedule

The number listed after each month is the release date for each square within that month. As squares are published I will replace the number date with the link to the pattern. You will also be able to find the most recent squares on my homepage.

January Boxed Bead Stitch and Jacob’s Ladder Stitch

February Parallel Line Stitch and Puff Stitch Stripes

March Left Leaning Crochet Cable and Double Waffle Stitch

April Falling Leaves Stitch and Almond Ridges Crochet Stitch

May 3D Slanted Shell Stitch and Leafhopper Stitch

June Crossed Ripple Stitch and Basketweave Stitch

July Diamond Trellis Stitch, Harvest Stitch, and Raised Herringbone Stitch

August Braided Cable Stitch and Aligned Cobble Stitch

September Even Bobble Stitch and Raised Brick Stitch

October Popcorn Twist Cable

Joining Your Squares

Now that you have all your squares finished it is time to join them together and add a border. Lay out your squares and decide on a layout. Also, make sure your ends are woven in.

This join can be done with the front sides of your squares facing inward or outward. I chose to join them with right sides facing outward because It creates a textured ridge along the seam and since our blanket is all about texture I decided it would fit with the theme.

The basic idea is with right sides facing outward, single crochet through both loops of each square all the way across the row. Repeat this for each horizontal row. Then do the same process on the vertical seams. Since each of our squares has a little bit of a different stitch count you may need to skip a stitch here and there, but it is not noticeable.

Single Crochet Join Tutorial– Repeat Crafter Me

Single Crochet Join Video Tutorial– Nana’s Crafty Home

I couple of my squares were much smaller than most (ahem, double waffle stitch I’m looking at you) but since the stitches were pretty stretchy and the stitch count was in that 34-38 stitches per side range they joined together beautifully.

In total for the joining and border, I used 260 yds of worsted weight yarn (Red Heart Super Saver in Charcoal). I also accidentally used a 5mm instead of 5.5mm hook, use whichever your prefer.

Adding a Border to Your Blanket

I went for a simple border on this blanket. My requirement was that it wasn’t too frilly and that it not use more than the one skein of yarn I had set aside for the join and border.

I looked high and low at different blanket border ideas but none of them were quite right. I settled on doing a crossed double crochet border. I love that is has a subtle texture and a pretty eyelets.

Rnd 1: Join yarn in any corner, ch 1, sc in same space as ch 1, *sc evenly to next corner, (sc, ch 2, sc) in corner. Repeat from * around ending final repeat after corner ch 1, join to top of 1st sc with sl st.

• When you get to the place where squares are joined it can be hard to get a smooth line. Try this: Sc in corner space of current square. Then Sc2tog starting in corner space of current square and ending in corner space of next square. Finally, sc in same corner you ended your previous sc2tog.

Rnd 2: Ch 3 (counts as 1 dc), *skip next st, dc in next, dc in skipped st. repeat from across until 1 stitch before corner ch-2 remains. Dc in next. (dc, ch 2, dc) in corner space, dc in next. repeat from * around, ending final repeat after working corner. Join top of 1st sc with sl st.

Rnd 3: Ch 1, sc in same st as ch 1, *sc in each stitch across to corner, (sc, ch 1, sc) in corner. repeat from * around. Join to to of 1st sc with sl st.

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