Scrap Yarn Blanket

Where we currently live has no vent system. Luckily, we live in a relatively temperate climate, but it gets cold at night in a trailer with no insulation and no heater. Last year our space heater went out. We have a small one we turn on in the bathroom while we shower and get ready, but the large one bit the dust. It's probably a good thing though as it was expensive and got warm enough we (or one of the dogs) could have burned ourselves.

I love to knit and crochet. It also means I have an insurmountable pile of yarn - or I did. After using up as much yarn as I could for my scrap blanket I can now fit all of my yarn into one big tote, and I have this blanket:

Picture on our Queen size bed, but would fit a King.

I even added a cute border to use up more yarn!

Cute border

This is actually a modified granny square pattern (as some may be able to tell from the border). Instead of building out from a center point, it's done corner to corner in diagonal. I don't learn well from videos, so I used directions from Crochet Spot. Great pictures, easy to read directions, and photos for both left and right-handed hookers. What could be better?

I did mine with three strands of yarn, and a large mystery hook I found in my car. It has no identification markings on it. It's larger than a K (the larges hook I have that has markings), but not much. Regardless, I wasn't following a true pattern so I just grabbed it because it seemed like a comfortable size for three strands of yarn. As for the weights of my yarn, they're all over the place. It was just whatever I had. As I ran out of one strand, I would just tie another right on (hence the random stripe width). It worked out nicely, and I'm actually really pleased with how the finished piece looks.

For the border, I once again used three strands, cream, tan (or variegated browns) and dark brown. I hadn't included any of those colors in my blanket so I thought it'd make a nice contrasting border. I did a traditional granny square pattern (3dc in each space around) and no modifications needed to be made. It was really simple, just like adding on to any regular granny square. To finish the edge off, I single crocheted three rounds along the edge to give it a nice defined edge. It also gave the blanket a little firmer shape, so it isn't as easily stretched and misshapen.

The nice open weave of the granny squares has made this a nice light blanket for the cool evenings we've been having. It's actually a really heavy blanket (weight wise). I think this winter it will be nice because it will weigh down the rest of our blankets and not be as likely to slip off without us noticing. I hate when my top blanket slips to the floor and I  don't realize it. With how heavy this one is, we'll know.

On an ironic note, I actually had to buy one cream skein and one tan skein to complete the border. I did use 85% of both skein at least. I also went and bought new yarn the day I finished this blanket. In my defense, I am planning to sell what I make with the new yarn.