WIP
Published on January 19, 2024

Fiesta Blanket: A Colorful Crochet Work in Progress!

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Hello, lovely crafter! Today I have something special to share with you. I have been working since the holiday breaks on this new blanket pattern project. The pattern will consist of large floral mandalas which are then joined together in a hexagon placement, combining two of my favorite themes in crochet: hexagons and mandalas.

I have used Scheepjes Stone Washed and River Washed packs (yarny info below) but you can really use any gorgeous yarns you have. This would make a brilliant stash buster as well. I can’t wait to show you more in this WIP post!

These large mandalas don’t look like hexagons, but on the joining round, they fit together in a honeycomb formation. I have even created half motifs that will be joined onto the blanket to fill in the gaps at the sides. More on that later!

Full Motifs 1-3: The Pinky Reds

I could not resist creating a pink and red theme for some of the motifs. These even have sneaky orangey tones in them as well.

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Since all of these motifs are so unique and individual, I thought it would be best to take a photo of each one and chit chat about why I chose the colors that I did. Two of the motifs are missing: One half motif and one full motif, because they will be used for the step by step photos in the pattern.

This motif is super orange and fiery red – I love it!!

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Each motif has 6 colors plus 1 background color. If you look at the motif below, the background color is used for the sixth and eighth color bands, and it’s a pale minty green.

This motif reminds me of like a groovy Strawberry Shortcake.

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As you look at these mandalas, I can hear you saying “but, all those endsssssss!” Well never fear, because I have a huge blog post dedicated to blankets with a ton of ends to weave in.

Full Motifs 4-6: The Redsy Blues

These mandalas have prominent red and blue in them. This one has a gorgeous aqua band among pale and bright shades. It reminds me of a Bomb Pop!

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I think this is one of my favorites! That bright juicy red center, and the bluey-greens – it just makes me want a big watermelon slice!

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And lookie who showed up to help… Juno! Of course she just has to be involved in everything that I do.

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Moving on to another color mix with an aqua band, but this one has more pale shades and that chocolate brown center. Lovely combination!

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Yarn Information

Okay, before I move on to the next few sets of motifs, I want to take a break to show you the yarn that I used for this project!

Motifs:

  • 2 x Scheepjes Stone Washed and River Washed Colour Packs
  • 1 x Scheepjes Stone Washed full 50g ball of each of the following 6 colors: 804, 819, 814, 813, 832, 831

Joining and Border:

  • 8 x Scheepjes Stone Washed full 50g balls of color 801 or any joining/border color that you would like to add

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Now let’s continue the motif parade!

Full Motifs 7-9: The Bluey Purples!

Okay, now THIS motif has to be my favorite… Look at these bold and bright hues and that pale creamy yellow band that just sets the whole thing off. So crisp!

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I just love this next one, because I didn’t know if the black band would work right after that deep purple petals band, but it totally works. That’s what I love about these motifs is that it really doesn’t matter what colors you put together, it’s going to look great. The yarn does all the work!

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I think this mandala looks like an evil eye! A perfect addition to the blanket, in my opinion. These motifs are so relaxing to make.

I usually like to start joining my motifs as I make them, but I was so wrapped up in making these that I breezed through them. I could not stop making these mandalas. Normally I also create motifs in an assembly line fashion to finish them faster, but for these, I just enjoyed making every single one, from start to finish.

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If you love mandalas, by the way, you can check out my Namaste Chunky Blanket Pattern on Etsy. That’s the chunky yarn version, and I also have a DK weight yarn version that you can find here.

(Sneak Peek at those!)

CHUNKY

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DK WEIGHT

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Okay back to the program…

Full Motifs 10-12: The Aqua Greens!

These motifs are just a lovely mix of greens, aquas, and blues, of course with come contrast colors thrown in.

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The contrast colors give this motif such a bold personality! I love those cheeky bright yellow-green bands.

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And the calm garden motif – it just reminds me of a serene plant room with those gorgeous earthy shades.

The full motif that isn’t shown because I’m using it for the step by step photos is also in this Aqua Greens group! It was too much to resist not putting together these colors.

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Another side note: If you love giant hexagon motifs, I have a great pattern called “Hexagon Burst Blanket” and it features the largest hexie motifs I could manage. Check it out!

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Let’s look at the last color group!

Full Motifs 13-16: The Scholarly Neutrals

Okay, these last four motifs are definitely the calm ones of the group. They feature some gorgeous neutral colors, as well as a few pops of color here and there, but mostly just subdued shades.

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I love this motif. It is so cheery while having a certain preppy quality.

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Another one of my favorite mandalas, this one really stands out with the pale purple and blue, then that nice romantic wine band, and finished with black – what a combo!

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The most frilly flirty motif is up next! This one is just so cute with that minty green center!

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The Half Motifs

Alrighty, now let’s look at the half motifs. There are six half motifs total, and I made two with each coor combo since you can get a full motif with six of the 10g colour pack balls and 1 background color.

You can get two half motifs with the same amount of yarn. I didn’t want to waste, so that’s what I did! The color placement will see these motifs spread out so they aren’t adjacent.

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I wanted to make these half motifs with some of the same themes that I used in the full motifs, so as you can see in the motifs above, I used reds. and in the motifs below, I used blues and greens.

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This last set of half motifs, I tried to mix it up a bit, and of course the matching pair for this half motif is being used for the photo instructions. This color combo actual stole my heart with that bright fire-engine red!

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Putting it Together!

Now let’s look at how the motifs will be laid out. This is a sample of some work I was doing on the joining round, and I’m not quite set on how I want to create the join.

All of those strings hanging out on the left are there because I was still in the design phase of the motif as well, so I wanted to be able to frog back instead of cutting the yarn and weaving the ends.

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Here are a couple of photos that will let you know how these motifs are going to be placed in the blanket. The motif placement is random, but I paid attention to try and separate like color themes. If you want to learn more about color and placement, I have a full Creative Art Blanket Course!

With all of these colors together, you can start to see why I named it the Fiesta Blanket!

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Look how amazingly the half motifs fill in the side gaps. I’m in love with this one and I can’t wait to start the joining process! There are only 17 full motifs and 6 half motifs, so the joining should not take long – once I figure out how I want it to look, of course!

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Thank you so much for checking out my new WIP, the Fiesta Blanket, and I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Happy Crafting,

Rachele C.

The Art of Crochet Blankets (my book on Amazon)

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