Frankies Knitted Stuff

Big Dots, Little Dots

As you might have guessed, this crochet blanket is made up of big dots and little dots. The little dots are sewn together in fours and then joined to the big dots like a traditional four patch quilt. Facts and Figures I made my blanket with Stylecraft Special DK yarn (295m / 100g) and a 4mm crochet hook. There are 72 big dot blocks and 72 little dot and the finished blanket measures about 127cm / 50". I used nine colours for the dots (less than 100g of each): Teal, Saffron, Magenta, Bluebell, Meadow, Camel, Plum, Denim and Pomegranate. You will also need far more of the background colour (Cream) than you could possibly imagine, 500g in fact.

This pattern uses British crochet terms:

dc = US sc htr = US hdc tr = US dc

The Dots I crocheted all the dots first before turning them into squares. With each of the nine colours I made eight big dots and 32 little dots and yes, that is an awful lot of dots. Big Dots Make 4ch and join with a slip stitch into a ring. Round 1: 3ch, 11tr into ring, join with ss to top of 3ch (12 sts). Round 2: 3ch, 1tr in same place, (2tr in next st) 11 times, join with ss to top of 3ch (24 sts). Round 3: 3ch, 2tr in next st, (1tr, 2tr in next st) 11 times, join with ss to top of 3ch (36 sts). Round 4: 3ch, 1tr, 2tr in next st, (2tr, 2tr in next st) 11 times, join with ss to top of 3ch (48 sts). Fasten off and darn in ends.

Little Dots These are made in exactly the same way, following the first two rounds only of the above pattern.

Turning the Dots into Squares Big Dots Join the cream yarn to any stitch. Round 1: 2ch, 1htr, *(1htr, 1ch, 1htr) in next st, 2htr, 7dc, 2htr, repeat from * three times, ending with 7dc, join with ss to 2ch. Round 2: 2ch, 2htr, *(1tr, 1ch, 1tr) in next st, 3htr, 7dc, 3htr, repeat from * three times, ending with 7dc, join with ss to 2ch. Fasten off and darn in ends. Little Dots Theres only one round for these. Join the cream yarn to any stitch. Round 1: 2ch, *(1tr, 1ch, 1tr) in next st, 1htr, 3dc, 1htr, repeat from * three times, ending with 3dc, join with ss to 2ch. Fasten off and darn in ends.

Sewing the Blocks Together I decided to sew rather than crochet the blocks together as I wanted a smooth finish. This took a ridiculously long time but was worth it in the end. I used mattress stitch, working into the middle of the edge stitches. First make the little dot blocks. From the 32 little dots in each colour you will be able to make eight four patch blocks. Then lay out all the blocks in twelve rows of twelve, alternating big and little blocks. I decided on a colour order and laid out the big dot blocks first, following this order, beginning at the top left and working in rows. Then I filled in the gaps with little dot blocks, following the same colour order but, this time, beginning with colour number 8 rather than colour number 1. Sew the blocks into rows and then sew all the rows together.

And, as if that wasnt enough now add a border. The Border Actually, after all that sewing together, this went quite quickly. It is worked in three rounds. Join the cream yarn to any stitch.

Round 1: 2ch, then work half trebles all round, with two or three trebles where the blocks join. Work 2htr, 1ch, 2htr into the corner spaces. Round 2: 3ch, then work trebles all round. Work 2htr, 1ch, 2htr into the corner spaces. Round 3: 3ch, then work trebles all round. Work 3tr into the corner spaces.

The border not very exciting but it does the job. If your crochet is anything like as uneven as mine you will now need to block your blanket and then sit back and admire.

Abbreviations st ch ss dc htr tr stitch chain slip stitch double crochet (US sc) half treble (US hdc) treble (US dc)

Frankie Brown, 2012.

My patterns are for personal use only and should not be used to knit items for sale.