Tunisian crochet Blanket CAL 2021 – Square #1

Welcome to the Tunisian Blanket CAL of 2021! This is my first CAL where I am collaborating with other designers. I am going to make my blanket / afghan with everyone and hope to learn some new Tunisian crochet stitches and techniques along the way 🙂

I am thrilled to share the first square of this CAL designed by Rachel Henri. Rachel is a very dear friend and I am grateful to her for offering to kick off the CAL with her design. She worked her square in a round and used a unique combination of stitches that I really enjoyed crocheting! Continue reading for the details of this square and for the link to the pattern.

Disclaimer: Materials provided by KnitPicks, KnitIQ, Clover USA, and Walnut Farm Designs; this post contains affiliate links.

If you are new to the CAL, click here to find all the introductory information including the schedule, supplies, and giveaways.

If you are new to Tunisian crochet, I hosted a CAL in 2020 that was designed to teach Tunisian crochet to beginners. If this one seems advanced, you are welcome to check that out and practice a few basic stitches before you come back to this one. Click here to view the beginner CAL of 2020.

If you’d like to connect with other people who are participating in this CAL, you are welcome to join my Facebook group by clicking here!

You can follow this Pinterest board to find all the squares and other information related to the CAL in one place.

Release Schedule

• January 6 – Square #1 – Scroll down for the details in this post.
• January 20 – Square #2
• February 3 – Square #3
• February 17 – Square #4
• March 3 – Square #5
• March 17 – Square #6
• March 31 – Square #7
• April 14 – Square #8
• April 28 – Square #9
• May 12 – Square #10
• May 26 – Square #11
• June 9- Square #12
• June 23 – Square #13
• July 7- Square #14
• July 21 – Square #15
• August 4- Square #16
• August 18 – Square #17
• September 1- Square #18
• September 15- Square #19
• September 29 – Square #20
• October 13- Square #21
• October 27 – Square #22
• November 10 – Square #23
• November 24 – Square #24

Square #1 – Quadrature du cercle – designed by Rachel Henri

Here is the original square designed by Rachel. She used 2 colors to make hers and it is worked in a round by using one color for the Forward Pass and a different color for the Return Pass.

Here is my square – I made it with 3 colors of the Wool of the Andes Superwash yarn by KnitPicks.

My Notes

This square is worked in a round but it is significantly different from my TITR square from the 2020 CAL in terms of the stitches used and the construction. I found the corners of this square to be neater and better defined than the one I designed last year. The offset stitches give it a very interesting look and using 3 colors gave me the flexibility to experiment with color changes.

Here are some things to note while working on this square:

1. Make sure to see the videos mentioned in the tutorial – for the twisted stitch, the magic ring, and the one that shows you how to make the first few rounds of the square.
2. I used a 8 mm hook for the Forward Pass and a 6.5 mm hook for the Return Pass from my Clover Takumi Interchangeable Set since I don’t have 2 hooks of the same size.
3. I took me some time to figure out the first two stitches of the second round. The video tutorial was very helpful.
4. I changed color (after every few rows) only in the Forward Pass. The Return Pass is made with the same color throughout the square. I interlocked the carried yarn (from the Forward Pass color changes) in the back to avoid cutting and joining every time I changed color.
5. The pattern in this square doesn’t show up until after a few rounds. Trust the counts and keep going.
6. Do NOT skip the stitch marker – and make sure to move it along after every row! This is the most important thing to remember. I ended up frogging 3 times before I learnt my lesson. It is very hard to keep track of stitches in a TITR (Tunisian In The Round) square without markers.
7. It is very easy to figure out where you are in the pattern with this square. You should NOT see rib stitches lining on top of one another – the twisted simple stitches will line up on top of simple stitches and vice versa.
8. I added a border of single crochet stitches to my square because I intend to add a border to all my squares before I join them. I switched to a 6.5 mm hook for my single crochet bind off and border.

Adjustments

Gauge does not matter too much in this square. The square can be made smaller / larger as needed easily by decreasing / increasing the number of rounds as needed. If you need more help with figuring out how to adjust the size of a block, check out this post by Tamara from Moogly.

Helpful Links and Tunisian Crochet Tutorials (Left and Right handed)

1. Tunisian Simple Stitch
2. Twisted Simple Stitches
3. Tunisian Rib Stitch
4. Tunisian Knit Stitch
5. Tunisian Twisted Knit Stitch
6. How to bind off a Tunisian Crochet project
7. How to block a crochet blanket / afghan
8. Tunisian crochet hooks’ review
9. Tunisian crochet basics

Click here to view the Playlist on YouTube that contains all my tutorials that will be helpful throughout the CAL. You can also subscribe to my channel!

My square

What I did

I used 3 colors to make my square using the Wool of the Andes Superwash yarn: White, Amethyst Heather and Cobblestone Heather.

I used a 8 mm hook for the Forward Pass and a 6.5 mm hook for the Return Pass from my Clover Takumi Interchangeable Set since I don’t have 2 hooks of the same size.

I used the stitch markers from Walnut Farm Design to keep track of my stitches and my blocking mats from KnitIQ to block my square.

Color changes –
Rounds 1 to 3: FP – Cobblestone heather, RP – White
Rounds 4 to 6: FP – Amethyst heather, RP – White
Rounds 7 to 9: FP – Cobblestone heather, RP – White
Rounds 10 to 12: FP – Amethyst heather, RP – White
Rounds 13 to 15: FP – Cobblestone heather, RP – White
Round 16: FP – Amethyst heather, RP – White
Round 17: Bind off with White
Round 18: Border round with Amethyst Heather
Round 19: Border round with Cobblestone Heather

Blocking – I wet blocked my square by soaking it in warm water and pinning it to my blocking mat until dry.

Yardage and Size

My square is 12″ x 12″ in size (along the edges) and used about 120 yards (110 m) of yarn and weighs 1.8 oz (50 gms).

Front and Back

I think the back is very pretty too! 🙂

The pattern

CLICK HERE FOR THE PATTERN OF SQUARE #1 DESIGNED BY RACHEL HENRI!

Important notes

The copyright for each pattern is held by the designer. You may ask for additional resources and tutorials from the designer of the square only. No one else can make a full tutorial of the pattern unless permitted by the designer. I have included my notes and links to my tutorials that I think might be helpful in making the square but those do not supersede the instructions and tutorials provided by the designer.

The only way for me to be able to provide this CAL for free is to monetize my blog through ads and affiliate links. Please consider making a purchase from my links because that gives me a small commission without any additional cost to you. If the ads bother you, you could copy the content of this post into a separate document and print (be aware that this page contains a lot of images which you might want to delete before you hit the print button).

Share your squares!

I’d love to see your squares! Please share them on your social media with the tags @knitterknotter,  #knitterknottertunisianblanketcal2021 and #knitterknotter so that I can find them.

You could also create a project in Ravelry and share your pictures there.

Join my Facebook Group to connect with and share your pictures with other participants of the CAL!

Thank you for joining me on this CAL! I hope you will enjoy working on your squares and that we can all learn some interesting stitches and techniques along the way 🙂

Pin this for later!

Bookmark this page or follow the Pinterest board of this CAL to be able to find this post easily later.

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Disclosure

This page may contain affiliate links where I earn a small commission. While using these links doesn’t cost you more, it helps me continue to offer patterns for free. Thank you for your continued support!

I strive to offer my patterns for free and that is possible only with your support. Please share this post and your pictures as much as possible. Every share counts 🙂

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