Gingham Blanklet

I got restless last night and probably FINALLY tired of crocheting doilies. 

 I wanted something NEW to crochet.

I grabbed some crochet books and started looking through them for INSPIRATION. 

 I spent time in Ravelry looking at Santas. 

I must find something!

Nothing was happening until my eye caught this cute gingham blanket in Melody Griffiths' book "crochet afghans." 

 That looked interesting...a gingham blanket {{{yippee}}} a new stitch to try.

I pulled some shades of red, blue and green Caron Simply Soft yarn I had in my stash. 

 I decided to go with a ruby red (forgot the name of it), pink (watermelon) and white for the three colors. 

 I'm using an H hook.

I worked up three rows..errr...top looked ok but not the bottom. 

 You could see my yarn colors threads stretching across the back. 

 That didn't seem right but I couldn't see how else to do it. 

 Then I studied the book's photos and realized Melody showed both the front and back of her throw.

 There were no threads loose across the back. 

 Obviously I wasn't doing the stitch correctly. 

 I googled "gingham stitch video" and found a video for this stitch.

It wasn't a great video - no close ups - but the author's commentary helped me figured it out.

Back to my project...frogged back to the ruby red foundation second row and started again. 

 This time it worked like a charm. 

 This gingham pattern is tiny just three double crochets - but you could make it larger if you wished.

This stitch would be great for potholders too. 

 It may not be the last time I use this interesting stitch.

I highly recommend Melody Griffiths' book "crocheted afghans." 

 You may remember I made her "Sunshine and Shadows" throw previously (see it here).  

That's the beautiful afghan shown on the cover of her book!

Off to another sweet DO NOTHING day except what I want to do. 

 Life is GREAT!