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Published on July 10, 2025

The OG Vibrant Vintage Blankets: A Bright Walk Down Memory Lane!

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Hello, lovely crafter! Today I was thinking about my next VVCAL (2026) and I started reminiscing about how my love for “vibrant vintage” started. Folks have asked over the years, what does “VVCAL” stand for? Well, it stands for “Vibrant Vintage Crochet-Along”, and before the CALs ever came to be, I was deeeep in a phase of creating vintage looking crochet pieces, but with wildly bright and funky yarn colors. I just could not get over taking those traditional grandmother type pieces, and making them in technicolor.

I made quite a few of these very bright pieces and I wanted to share them with you today! OGs will remember these from way back when CypressTextiles was “BabyLove Brand” in like 2012-2013, but in case you haven’t been following for that long, you’re in for a treat.

Let’s take a look at these pretty pieces!

Lacy Hexagon Blanket

Yes, the demo from the free Lacy Hexagon Blanket pattern that I wrote up is made with some very muted tones, but the first ones that I made were super vibrant.

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I just could not get over using these bright, long color change yarns for such a classic and traditional lacy design. The dainty little treble scallop picot border is just the cherry on top! Find that edging pattern free here.

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This blanket is like radioactive in its utter blinding brightness. Reminds me of the heat seeking vision on the Predator movies! Absolutely delicious!

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And here’s another one that I made. Just so lush. This shot really shows the lacy motifs and the pretty border.

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Another view of that one. You can see the motifs and texture very well here too. My favorite part about this pattern is the lacy join as you go, because when you lay the blanket out, the lace is so neat and tidy where the motifs meet. Sharp corners!

Lacy Hexagons is one of those blankets that I could make again and again. The motifs are hypnotic.

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Framed Garden Blankets

Okay, y’all this was like one of the very first blanket types that I made for selling when I did custom blankets. Maybe you didn’t know, but before I was a pattern designer, I used to sell custom blankets. During about 3.5 years from 2012-2015 I made over 300 blankets – mostly baby/crib sized.

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This retro design was one that got popular. Look at the stacks of little bright motifs! I just loved making these. Once you do the center panel of motifs, the granny border just flies by.

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I don’t think this would do well today with so many complex blankets out there, but I’ll say sometimes its amazing to go back to basics, especially if you are stuck or in a creative rut, or burned out.

Are you feeling burned out? Check out Part 7 of my Creative Journey Series to read more about creative burnout and how to beat it.

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PS: Side note – I also made this Framed Garden Blanket with pinks and greens, and it’s just so pretty, I couldn’t help but share. I know its not as bright, but I just wanted to add it as an honorable mention.

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This was so fun to make, and I loved working up these squares in an alternating layout.

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The granny stitch border is pristine and lovely with the crisp white at the edge. I recommend adding that 3 round combo to any granny edge blanket.

Pick a color, like the bright white, do a round of the granny stitch, then a round of double crochet stitch, then a picot round. It just frames the blanket so nicely. Chef’s kiss!

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Oof, it’s so pretty, I could make this again today and enjoy every moment.

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2016 VVCALs – The Original VVCAL!

When I started doing the 2016 VVCAL, I really did not know that I would do one every two years, and I didn’t have a theme or anything. I just decided to host a square motif CAL that used bright colors to make these traditional mix of squares, and I named them after people in my life. Then it blew up!

Aren’t these blankets just the sweetest?

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These motifs are edged with yarn that I harvested from a thrifted sweater, in keeping with the Vibrant Vintage theme.

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Of course, since the first VVCAL was so popular, I ended up deciding to host it every other year, and I also added in the themed squares element. The themes have like fun facts or little poems for each motif.

  • 2016 VVCAL – The first one! Squares named after family and friends.
  • 2018 VVCAL – Squares named after y’all’s favorite trees! I asked in the Facebook group for everyone’s favorite tree, and then used them as the names.
  • 2020 VVCAL – Squares named after locations around the world.

Then, I bundled those patterns into a value pack, and started doing hexagons.

  • 2022 VVCAL – Hexagons themed after outer space objects.
  • 2024 VVCAL – Hexagons themed after flowers.

Those 2 hexie VVCALs have a value pack too, but once I make the 2026 Hexagon VVCAL, I’ll add all 3 together to make another pack. Then, from there, I don’t know the future of the VVCAL! We’ll see what I decide to do.

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When I was making the 2016 VVCAL, I used all of my messy bright stash yarn. The pattern has about 35 squares, but I made so many of each one when I was tweaking the patterns, so there ended up being a huge amount of squares and I worked them up into demo blankets.

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Literally the best color palette.

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And yes – the most popular part of the 2016 VVCAL – that insane border!

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Another one of my favorite demo blankets – I took the vibrant vintage theme to heart and used that cool turquoise for the join, and then added a white lacy scallop border to make it look like as if you would edge a quilt with sewn on lace.

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VVCAL is the hugest project I take on in CypressTextiles, and I love it so much!

Textured Circles Blankets

You recognize these squares as “Circle of Friends” by Priscilla Hewitt – my crochet idol in the early years. Well, I made 26 of these blankets when I did custom blanket work, and I never got sick of them.

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These bright squares are a delight! I just love how you can hide any obnoxiously bright color in these squares.

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And boom! The lacy white join ties it all together.

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I especially like these extended, larger squares. I added more rounds to the design to make it larger, and then I did the join and border in a creamy tan color.

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Truly this is one of my faves! I would make this today with remnants for sure.

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Another one in progress here – just can’t help but show off these brights.

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And the layout. I used my join as you go flat braid join here.

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Final product! You can can see all of the ones I made on my old website, BabyLoveBrand.net.

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Definitely thinking of updating this design for a new pattern!

Striped Panel Blankets

These blankets were worked up using a baby blanket book by Leisure Arts. The blanket is there in the photo as a pale baby pink solid color piece. But I had other ideas lol

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Obsessed, y’all.

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The precious colorful border really makes it!

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10 out of 10 – probably my favorite vibrant vintage piece.

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So neat that I made another one! But this time I extended the border to make the blanket larger. LOVE!

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I need to revisit this concept…

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Closeup of the extension. Those purples and teals are just so pretty together.

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Don’t be surprised if I’m inspired by these for my upcoming patterns lol…

Babouska Rose

Babouska Rose (or English Rose) is like one of the cutest things I’ve ever made. The flowers are stunning, and the red join is just precious.

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Yessss – y’all it’s so pretty.

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The eyelet border with the picot finish takes the whole thing over the top.

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Thank you for so much for reading about all of my Vibrant Vintage pieces! It’s just a slight obsession of mine… Hope you enjoyed it, and until next time.

Have a great week, and happy crafting!

Rachele C.

Order my crochet pattern book: The Art of Crochet Blankets

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