Here is my finished blanket:

When I photographed it on the bench I realised that I would make a sturdy outdoor blanket, so I expect plenty of use from it this spring.

The final part of the pattern for you is the border I used.  But of course you may use any border you like.

I made the border a couple of weeks ago, in fact I made 3 borders.  At first I tried a simple one, but I didn’t like it.  Then I tried something more substantial, but that looked odd.  So I had to frog it all back twice.  I realised one of the reasons I didn’t like the border was the colours I used – originally blue and orange.    The orange worked well next to the squares but the blue was totally wrong.   So I looked at my remaining yarn scraps, chose some colours I preferred then ordered more yarn – no good trying to make do with what I had.

My border used a just under 4 balls of Drops Nepal (aran weight, 75m per 50g ball) – I used 2 of Goldenrod (yellow), 1 of Orange and 1 of Green.

Here’s the pattern:

ABBREVIATIONS
The pattern is written in English crochet terms.
St = stitch
Ch = chain
Tr = treble (US dc)
Htr = half treble (US hdc)
Dtr = double treble (US tr)
Ss = slip stitch
Sp = space
Ch-sp = chain space

Round 1 – using Orange, starting one stitch to the right of a corner, ss in the back loop of each stitch around, join the round with a ss. This gives a nice firm and crisp edge to work the rest of the border from.

Round 2 – again you should start this round one stitch to the right of a corner and ensure you work through the ss from round 1 and the back loop of each square for a good firm finish, *(1htr, 2ch) in this st, (1dtr, 2ch) in next st, then work (1htr, 1ch, miss 1 st) repeated along the side edge to the stitch just before the next corner; repeat from * until end of round, join the round with a ss to the top of your first st, break yarn and fasten off.   NOTE: I had 85 htr and 84 1ch-sps along each side and (2ch-sp, 1dtr, 2ch-sp) in each corner.

Round 3 – using Yellow, work 1htr in each stitch around (counting each htr and ch as a st and working into the ch not the ch-sp), in the corners I worked (1tr, 2ch, 1tr) in the corner dtr st, join the round with a ss, break yarn and fasten off.  (NOTE:  I had 175 sts along each side and a 2ch-sp in each corner, ideally you should have a multiple of 6 sts plus 1 along each side).

Round 4 – using Green, start in the tr just to the right of a 2ch-sp corner, 1dc in tr, *(2tr, 2ch, 2tr) in 2ch-sp, 1dc in next tr, [miss 2 sts, (2tr, 2ch, 2tr) in next st, miss 2 sts, 1dc in next st] repeated to next corner 2ch-sp; repeat from * until end of round, join the round with a ss, break yarn and fasten off.

Round 5 – using Yellow, work (2tr, 2ch, 2tr) in each dc and 1 dc in each 2ch-sp around, join the round with a ss, break yarn and fasten off.  Sew in all loose ends.

I blocked my blanket, taking up the most of the floor space in the spare room for a couple of days!  With the border (which is about 6cm/2.5″), it ended up at about 140cm/55″ square.

I hope you have enjoyed this CAL.  I have enjoyed sharing it with you 🙂

For me, most of the pleasure is in seeing your finished blanket, so please share a photo.

Happy crocheting xxx