Welcome to the Hooked and Locked CAL 2021 – Log Cabin (HAL CAL 2021)
<Edit May 3 2021: The pattern is no longer available for free. You can buy it from my Ravelry shop (https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/sources/the-craftsteachers-ravelry-store). The parts for the tutorials are still available.>
After the previous two CALs of the fall of 2018 and spring of 2020, it was about time for a new CAL. Interwoven crochet again, but just a little bit different this time. We will be making a blanket in the Log Cabin technique, where blocks are crocheted together right away in a ‘circular’ way.
What’s special about this log cabin technique, is that I figured out how to crochet the blocks together without having the colors ‘bleed’ into a previous block, and that the blocks get a nice border, both at the front and the back side.
Another thing that is also very nice about this blanket, is that each pattern is very simple to crochet. The repeats within the pattern rows are quite short, so easy to remember, Which makes that you can crochet very fast.
The technique
I assume you already know how to do interwoven crochet. If you’re new to this, then first follow the tutorials that are available on this website with the accompanying videos. Click here for the startpage for super beginners. Or see the menu under Crochet, Crochet tutorials, Interwoven or locking crochet.
I’ve designed a new practice piece for this CAL that will also be used as a gauge swatch, the Love, Hope, Joy practice piece. I’ve also made a couple of videos to show the technique in a quick way. I do show a bit in the tutorials and the videos, but it’s better to master the technique first. You can find the pattern here on this page: click here.
The pattern for the blanket is available in both English and Dutch. Go to https://www.dehandwerkjuf.nl/ for the Dutch version.
General information
For this blanket I used Scheepjes Colour Crafter in 6 colors. 5 Different colors for the foreground and 1 color for the background.
I used Barneveld (1005, white) for color 1 (the background). For color 2 I used Zwolle (1082, purple-ish), Texel (1019, light blue), Eelde (1422, aqua), Almelo (1316, light green) and Leiden (1020, light yellow).
I have added a chart with how much yarn each block uses, and how much yarn you need in total. You could use my choice of colors, but you could also choose your own colors and how many colors you want. I recommend using just 1 color as a background color (color 1). All information can be found on this page, together with a chart that you can color in with your colors: click here.
The balls are 100 grams and have 300 meters working length. It is a 100% Premium Acrylic (Anti Pilling).
I used hooksize 4.5 mm.
The size of the blanket is 157 cm x 215 cm.
Do the Love Hope Joy practice piece as a gauge swatch. The measurements without the border should be approximately 30 cm wide and 24,5 cm high. You can find the pattern here on this page: click here.
What I will give to you
Website
I have made elaborate tutorials on the website with lots of pictures and text, to guide you through the special steps that are necessary for the log cabin technique, and for the border. The starting page of the tutorials is here: click here. Or look in the menu under HAL CAL 2021. The tutorials will stay here after the end of the CAL!
With the tutorials you will also get the links to the videos that I have on YouTube.
For each part I made a seperate page on this website with pictures and downloads. After the CAL only the page with the first couple of blocks will remain on the website.
YouTube
On YouTube I have an English channel (The Craftsteacher, click the link) and a Dutch channel (De Handwerkjuf, click the link) where all my videos are. For this CAL I made a separate playlist for all the videos: click here. Please subscribe to my YouTube channel (or channels), and check that bell, so you will get a message when a new video is published. This really helps me enormously. And if you like a video, please give it a thumbs up, this way you can show your appreciation for the work I put into it.
I have facebook groups that I also used for my previous CALs. For English: https://www.facebook.com/groups/HookedAndLockedCALEnglish/ and for Dutch: https://www.facebook.com/groups/HookedAndLockedCALNederlands/. You can ask questions there, so others can help you, and of course you can help others by answering their questions. I will also be there a lot for help. I will also announce there when a new part is published. You can also show pictures of your version of the blanket there.
Availability of the pattern
During the CAL the pattern parts will be downloadable for free from the website. I will also offer this as a paid pattern on Ravelry. There you will get the entire(!!!) pattern right away, so you could make the blanket full speed 🙂 . With the paid version you will also get all the tutorials and all information you can find here on the website. So you will have everything available in 1 document. During the CAL this will be for a highly reduced price.
If you buy the pattern, then I would like to ask you to wait with showing your pictures on Facebook until the ones that joined for free also have come to the point where you are. So, for example, only post pictures of your blanket that is done until block 16 until I have released that part.
After the duration of the CAL the downloads will be available for a while for free, but I will remove them May 1st. After that the patterns will only be available on Ravelry at the regular price.
Don’t loose your files!
I’ve seen with the previous CALs that people lost their downloaded files, and for a while I offered the parts on request. This time I will not do that anymore because of the growing number of participants, so please don’t loose them! Put it on your computer in a place where you can easily find them, or save them in the cloud, like on Google Drive, on OneDrive or in Dropbox.
Release schedule and links to the pages
I will publish the parts on the following dates. Click on the links with each part to go to the page. The links will be added as soon as the release date has arrived.
Februari 11 2021: The practice piece and the information about the yarn. Also the tutorial videos for the practice piece will be released then.
Februari 18 2021: Introduction (click here), blocks 1 to 5 (click here),
The following parts are no longer available for free. See the information earlier on this page how to purchase the pattern.
Februari 18 2021: Blocks 6 to 10
Februari 24 2021: Blocks 11 to 16
March 3 2021: Blocks 17 to 20
March 10 2021: Blocks 21 to 24
March 17 2021: Blocks 25 to 28
March 24 2021: Blocks 29 to 31
March 31 2021: Blocks 32 to 34 and the border
I am wishing you lots of fun with crocheting this blanket!