Stained Glass Wonder: crochet blanket or pillow

Stained Glass crochet is not a completed concept or a special technique. We call some crochet projects “stained glass” because they remind of stained glass windows. Because of two contrast colors: dark (usually black) for patterning and bright color for the background. I have approached stained glass crochet a few times already. My first design was a Stained Glass Mandala potholder. And later Stained Glass Lantern square/blanket was released. And today I am happy to introduce Stained Glass Wonder - crochet blanket or pillow.

Photo credit: Laura Jackson

Add this pattern to your Ravelry Queue

The pattern is available for purchase on Ravelry and Etsy with 20% discount through Monday, April 29, 2019. The price you see is discounted already, and no codes are needed. Later the pattern will be listed at a regular price. 

Stained Glass effect can be achieved with different crochet techniques: overlay, mosaic or tapestry. The patterns should not necessarily be tricky, and even with simple stitches the result would be stunning.

Variegated and self-patterning yarns in combination with solid shades work even better. The advantage is that there are almost no ends to weave, as we change yarn on every round without cutting it, but simply carry yarn up to the next round on the back side.

For Stained Glass Wonder blanket I used a kind of overlay crochet. Long stitches are "anchored" around stitches of the same color from several rounds below. Only one color is used per round, and yarns are changed in joining slip stitch. The pattern contains lots of progress pictures showing placement of every stitch.

Photo credit: Laura Jackson

My initial idea was to create a pillow with just one circle shaped into a square. I have a T-shirt with an owl drawing who has two eyes, reminding dream catchers. And once in the morning when I looked into a mirror and saw these mandalas, I thought something like that would look nice in crochet.

I chose Scheepjes Colour Crafter* and Wanderlust* yarns for a pillow. But when it was almost finished, I thought it would be lovely to maybe crochet a blanket with Scheepjes Whirl and Whirlette yarns.

By the way, isn’t my pillow a perfect match for a Stained Glass Lantern blanket?..

When I talked this idea to Laura Jackson, who was helping me to test the pattern, she became very enthusiastic and decided to create large blanket using 2 Whirl cakes and 9 Whirlettes. Her choice is Blackberry Mint Chip (769) and Rosewater Cocktail (776) in combination with Grappa Whirlette (855).

Photo credit: Laura Jackson

And I made a smaller version with just one Whirl in Jumpin Jelly (759) and 4 Chewy Whirlettes (865) - for a little bit muted look.

Whirl and Whirlette yarn are available for purchase in local Scheepjes shops and also via online retailers (affiliate links are marked with *):

Wool Warehouse*, Black Sheep Wools*, Deramores* (all in UK with international shipping), Caro's Atelier* (NL and Europe), Taemombo (US&Canada), Knotty House* (Canada)

Check out projects by other testers (sending many thanks their way). They used different yarns and color combinations.

Larger version consists of 20 mandala octagons and is approx. 136 x 170cm (53.5 x 67 in), and my smaller version has 9 octagons and is approx. 102 x 102 cm (40 x 40 in).

Spaces between octagons are filled with joining motifs: small squares, side and corner triangles. Instructions on how to make all elements are given in the pattern.

Photo credit: Laura Jackson

And just to remind that the pattern is available for purchase on Ravelry and Etsy with 20% discount through Monday, April 29, 2019. The price you see is discounted already, and no codes are needed. Later the pattern will be listed at a regular price.

Hope you enjoy :)

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