Once upon a time, a redheaded girl named Katie tried to make an ugly crochet blanket. She used up all of her scrap yarn, in a very random order, paying no mind to colour clashes or matches. She found it quite fun, a welcome break from the toil and trouble of choosing yarn of colours that blend or pop or match. The blanket grew and grew, until one day it was 160cm wide. Katie weaved in all of the loose ends and declared the ugly blanket to be done! “I will call the it The Hodge Podge!” she said, because of the marvellous mixture of pinks and blues and yellows and greens. The only thing was, it turned out that the blanket wasn’t so ugly. It was full of colours, a lot of some colours and a little of others. It was big and warm and cosy and comforting and that redheaded girl slept under it all winter long.
Although she was so happy with her crazy kaleidoscope blanket, she said to herself “One is not enough!”. So Katie got to work and created… The Hodge Podge No. 2!
Vital Stats:
Started – June 2013
Finished – July 2014
Pattern – Basic granny square with one chain between each cluster, and two chains on each corner.
Size – 140cm x 140cm
Yarn – Random, mostly 8ply soft acrylic
Hook size – 4mm
Border – One row of US single crochet/UK double crochet
The Hodge Podge (bottom) and The Hodge Podge No. 2 (top).
So pretty! Great work!
Oh I love love love your blanket (and your blog which I just found (o:). I think the blanket is very beautiful.
Louise
PS…Hello!
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Beautiful!! Inspiring!! 🙂 thank you!!
Absolutely beautiful!
i am changing my plan from the small granny squares to your hodge-podge granny blanket for my project. Thank you!
Please show me once you are done!
~K
It’s beautiful! But HOW do you survive weaving in all the ends? And how do you do it so they don’t show — with all the different colors? Thanks.
Hi Wendy,
I don’t mind weaving them in – I find it relaxing! It does take a long time though. I use a needle to weave them back and forth ad back again, pull tight and snip! With time a couple can poke out a bit, but so far so good with both Hodge Podges.
~K
Thanks, Katie! That how I do my ends too — just wish I found it relaxing and not intolerably tedious!
I much prefer patterns that allow me to crochet over my ends as I go. . . .but I love the look of this one!
It is beautiful!
I love your hodge podge projects! What a great way to use up a yarn stash. I’m currently working on my own hodge podge type project that I will donate to our local library silent auction. I hope they make a little money with it.
Hi Judy,
I’d love to see the finished blanket!
-K
Looooove it! Classic granny.
What a lovely blanket, I have done one of these in the past!!!!
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I have one. It’s big enough to cover a double bed and my grandmother made it out of scraps because they were poor and nothing went to waste.
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I have just spotted your gorgeous blanket on Pinterest and am going to start one this evening! It will be a fab way to use up all those leftover balls of wool. I can’t wait to start. Thank you for the inspiration.
Gorgeous!
Hiii
Lovely colourful blanket!
Can you share a video how to start ? Want to start this blanket with red & cream colour..
Thanks
I love your blanket! I had started one of my own but I don’t like it as much as yours! I was wondering did you use a certain amount of each yarn? Or did you just make sure that you only went one round with each color?
Hi Brea,
For the most part I honestly used the scraps I had. I made sure to start each row in a new spot.
~K
would like to have the pattern. really nice afghan .thank you
I love your blanket. I am a beginner so would this be too complicated for me.
I could not find the pattern also, maybe you can tell me where to get it.
Thank you Happy New Year
I tie the wool together and than work in the ends. I wanted to find the correct way to change color but had not luck so far.
Hi Donna.
It’s a basic granny square pattern, there ar heaps of videos on YouTube to point you in the right direction.
To learn how to change colours,the method which includes using your new colour to yarn over in the middle of your treble/double crochet.
~K
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That is beautiful. I actually have one started. Everytime a finish a project, I have little leftovers and that is what I am using for mine. Love yours.
Thanks Debbie!
~K
Ok, I dig the blanket. I love the colors, the pattern, and skill used to create it. I do not have the ability or patience to make one, perhaps queen in size is what I like. Anybody know where I can buy one? I’ve always wanted one since I was a little kid. Awesome job!
Hi Mark,
Thank you. Your best bet would be an op shop, church or community fete or perhaps Etsy.
~K
I usually do open square, or a classic granny, what pattern is this that makes it closed? I love it☺
Hi Crystal,
The amount of chain stitches between the groups of three treble/double crochet stitches will affect how open the blanket looks. I do one chain in between.
~K
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Thanks for sharing this! What is the purpose of chaining one between each cluster? The pattern I learned to do a granny square has You chain 1 only between the corner clusters and not between all the clusters. Does it make that much of a difference?
Thanks again!
Hi Lori,
No it doesn’t make much difference I don’t think, but it does depend a little on your yarn, tension and hook size. Technically if you omit the chain your clusters will sit closer together, therefore your “holes” will be a little smaller.
~K
its lovely but were is the pattern please
Hi Carol,
The pattern is a basic granny square, there are many, many tutorials to be found online.
~K
C est absolument magnifique moi qui fait du crochet je vais commencer pour si j ai le courage d aller jusqu au bout merci encore c est très très beau
As the blanket got bigger how how did you know if you would have enough yarn to complete a round?
Hi Linda,
Each round is made up of one or more colours, so it didn’t matter how much yarn I had left.
~K
Love your blanket. Would it be just too difficult for you to write a simple pattern? So many have asked and patterns can vary so much so please write the pattern???? Is there an exact one on Ravelry or somewhere else exactly like yours??
Hi Vicki,
The pattern is a standard granny square like this – https://www.thesprucecrafts.com/how-to-crochet-classic-granny-square-3576784 – I used random colours in no particular order.
Also, after each round I turned the blanket over to the “back” and started the new round. This helps keep it square.
~K
I have crocheted for charity a large Granny Square blanket. But where I started it doesn’t look flat like the rest of the blanket. It looks a bit tight. Do you know how I can fix this please.
Hi June,
Blocking may help. It is basically making the blanket damp and gently pulling it into shape. You can then pin it down to hold the shape while it dries.
~K