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Madhu Blanket TCAL – Week 1

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Welcome to the first week of the Madhu TCAL!! I am so excited to see your color choices and how your blankets will turn out 🙂

This week we will make the the gauge swatch and start working on the blanket. The aim for this week is to get used to the stitches that make up the honeycomb section.

TCAL Schedule

Pattern

You can find the pattern on Ravelry and Etsy. You need to use the coupon MADHUTCAL to get a 15% discount on the pattern until October 28, 2019.

Week 1 – Gauge + Part A (Rows 1 to 13)

Gauge

This week we will first make the gauge swatch. You only need to know the Tunisian Reverse Stitch to be able to make it. I strongly recommend matching my gauge otherwise the border stitches might not align with the honeycomb section later. Switch to a larger hook if your swatch is smaller than mine OR to a smaller hook if it is larger but I recommend using a hook that is at least 2 sizes larger than the recommended hook for the yarn.

Note: During testing, some of my testers decided to go ahead with the blanket even though their gauge did not match mine and ended up not having any problems with the border stitches later but I cannot guarantee that would be the case with everyone. If you need help with this, please reach out to me.

Part A (Rows 1 to 13)

Once you have completed your gauge swatch, you can start working on the blanket. I strongly recommend viewing the video mentioned in the pattern before you start making your blanket. And, please go over the notes in the ‘Instructions’ section – they are very important.

One thing I’d like to highlight here is that your project will curl – A LOT! This is mostly because of the overlay stitches. Once you get past the first few rows, it will start to settle and it will be easier to work on the blanket at that point.

Here are a few more things that might be useful to know before you start:

  1. You may find it hard to make the initial few rows because of curling. It will help to add some weight to your project (heavy stitch markers / binder clips). One of my testers used binder clips to flatten her rows and she mentioned that it made it easier for her to get past the first few rows.
  2. There is one more tricky bit – finding the stitch that needs to be skipped after you make the overlay stitch. In my video I have mentioned how I worked around this but if it doesn’t work for you, you could try using stitch markers. Before you start an overlay row, you can mark every stitch that needs to be skipped on the row and that way you won’t have to look for it while working the row. It will take practice to figure this out without the markers but I promise it gets better after you have made a few rows 🙂

Video tutorials

I have right and left handed video tutorials on my Youtube channel. You can find all my Tunisian crochet video tutorials here.

Here is the Madhu blanket playlist on my Youtube channel that has all the videos (left and right handed) that will be helpful while making this blanket. The videos that will be particularly helpful during this week are:

  1. How to make the Foundation Row
  2. Tunisian Reverse Stitch
  3. Tunisian Knit Stitch
  4. Tunisian Simple Stitch
  5. Tunisian Overlay Simple Stitch

How to participate

  • Newsletter: If you haven’t already done so, please subscribe to my newsletter to get all important updates of this TCAL (I also send out updates after a pattern release so you won’t miss any!). If you have trouble with it, you can leave me a message using this form and check the ‘Sign-up to our newsletter?’ checkbox.
  • Join my TCAL: If you would like to officially join the TCAL, join my KnitterKnotter Hangout group on Facebook. This TCAL, along with any future CALs, pattern releases, giveaways and anything else I would like to share can be found there. It is a great place to share your progress and to ask questions. I request that you respect the rules of the group while posting. I will also schedule a live video every week there for me to be able to connect with you in real time 🙂
  • Facebook: If you would not like to join my group, you can find updates related to this TCAL on my Facebook page.
  • Instagram: If you are not on Facebook (or even if you are 🙂 ), you can follow this TCAL on Instagram. You can follow me to get updates there and if you choose to share photos of your project, please use the hashtag #madhuhoneycombblanket and #knitterknotter so that I can find them.
  • Pinterest: You can find all tutorials related to this TCAL on my Madhu blanket TCAL Pinterest board.
  • Blog: You will be able to find all updates about this TCAL on my blog as well.

Prizes!!!

And, there will be prizes!!

Clover has kindly offered to sponsor the prizes for this TCAL. There will be 3 prizes in all – two at the end of Week 4 and one grand prize at the end of Week 7 (See TCAL schedule above).

At the end of Week 4, two people will win a set of 3 hooks, 2 cords and 2 stoppers. You will be able to pick the hook and cord sizes!!

One person will win the grand prize at the end of the TCAL which will be the Interchangeable Tunisian Crochet Hook Takumi Combo Set!! It consists of nine hooks, five cords, and five stoppers that come in a portable case that’s perfect to take with you wherever you go!

How to win

Instagram: Tag your TCAL progress photos with #madhuhoneycombblanket as many times as you like. (Your Instagram account must be public for me to be able to find them.)

Facebook:  Join the KnitterKnotter Hangout Facebook group and post your progress photos to that week’s TCAL update thread.

I will look at both Instagram and Facebook and choose the winner(s) (You must have completed the parts before that week to be eligible). It’s that simple!

Resources

These tutorials will be helpful in getting a head start on this pattern.

Let’s get started…

I hope you are as excited about this TCAL as I am!! I am looking forward to joining you all on your Madhu blanket journey! Leave me a message if you need any more information or if you have any questions 🙂

You are welcome to join my Facebook group to share pictures of your work and to get any help you might need.

Subscribe to my newsletter not to miss a single post. You can also follow me on Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram.
Happy crocheting!

~Arunima

Disclosure: This page contains affiliate links marked with a *. If you use them, I will get a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thank you for your support.