A couple months ago, I finished the 6-Day Superstar Blanket from Betty McKnit. Betty has several patterns for round chevron (star) blankets, among other things, and many are touted as 6-Day projects. She has an active community on FaceBook, a website, and a subscription community. Her patterns are popular on Ravelry, with some having hundreds or even thousands of projects attached to them. It's a whole thing.
I had never done a circular chevron blanket, and hers look nice, so I decided to try out the Superstar Blanket. While the project did take me a couple months, that's because it was my charity stitching during that time, and I was only working on it one day per week. I also had to take it out at one point and start over. All things considered, I 'd say that I did indeed put about six days of work into it to get a decent size baby blanket. The Superstar Blanket is available for free on the Betty McKnit website, although the page is a bit slow to load. You can also purchase the pattern as a pdf if you want something without ads.
The pattern is written to make a blanket with fourteen points. That's not quite enough to lie flat in the pattern stitch, so you make up the difference by increasing hook size as you go, when needed. Instructions are provided for both DK and worsted yarn. I used worsted. The pattern suggestion for worsted is to start with an I (5.5 mm) or J (6 mm) hook--about a size larger than you would normally use with that weight of yarn--and then bump up your hook size when the work starts to "cup." When I did that, I wound up using a size K (6.5 mm) hook about ten rounds in, with my work already cupping. And that gauge is already loose enough that I really didn't want to go up to an L (8 mm). So, I ripped out and started over with sixteen points on a size I hook.
Sixteen points worked out much better for me, and I did eventually bump up to a size J hook even with those extra stitches. The finished blanket wound up being just a little ruffled, but not enough to be a problem. If you look at other people's finished blankets on Ravelry, it's clear that fourteen points worked out just fine for lots of other people. I'm guessing that Betty and a lot of other crocheters work much more loosely than I do, but for those of us who don't, adding an extra repeat was really easy to do.
The pattern itself is well-written and very clear, with good photos. The row numbering is a little odd at first as you get the pattern established, but it makes sense after the first repeat. A lot of the pattern involves instructions on how to create a general concept and fudge things around to make it work. I appreciate that kind of writing, because it's engaging and makes you think about how to get from A to B in your project. If you often make things without a pattern, that's probably how you already think. I love that.
At the end of the pattern, the final row is an edging row. Since the pattern doesn't require you to stop on a particular pattern row, the multiple of stitches required for the edging doesn't necessarily match the number of stitches you have, and so the pattern tells you to fudge it. Personally, with the stitches I had, the amount of fudging I would have needed to do to make the edging work was just too much. Ultimately, I just went around the edge in crab stitch and called it a day.
Overall, I really enjoyed this pattern. There's tons of pattern support if you need it. The pattern itself is easy to follow. Betty includes advice throughout on how to handle common difficulties. I also like the pattern stitch. Since I was changing colors every two rows, I especially liked the contrast when I switched colors after a cluster row. The visual effect reminds me of the Mandelbrot set.
I'm looking forward to making another one of Betty McKnit's 6-Day patterns in the future.
This post has been linked to HIH, Busy Monday, Senior Salon, Inspire Me Monday, WITS, Wonderful Wednesday, The Stitchin' Mommy, Thursday Favorite Things, and Create-It!
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