Calling all Crocheters!
The Sunflower has been adopted as a symbol of ALS Awareness and hope for a cure in our lifetime. So it seems fitting that it is the inspiration for out Sunflower Blanket Project. I love that it’s full of color and happiness. As I was looking for inspiration I kept finding these gorgeous granny square blankets. To be honest they had never been my style, a bit to much of a 70’s vibe for me and I’m a child of the 90’s grunge era. Then I started to find crocheted flower squares. And an idea was formed.
Want to know more about Sunflowers for ALS Awareness?
With that as inspiration, I created the Sunflower Blanket Project.* If you’ve ever made a blanket by hand you know it takes a lot of those little granny squares to make a whole blanket! It takes 80-100 squares to make a sunflower blanket. While running the eCommerce side of this little business I wasn’t sure I had that kind of time on my hands!
So I decided that I would open this project up to talented crafters out there and ask for donations of sunflower granny squares. Once I have enough squares to make a blanket, they will be made into a throw-sized blanket.
All completed sunflower blankets will be donated to people living with ALS.**
Want to help? Here’s how…
The squares are great stash busting projects and can be made in about 30 mins. Review the following requirements for squares that can be used to make blankets.
- Squares must be made with brown centers, yellow petals, and green edging.
- The exact shade of brown, yellow, and green are not critical. If you have colors in your stash already feel free to use what you got.
- Squares that deviate from the color palette can not be used for making blankets and will NOT be returned.
- Squares must be approximately 5in x 5 in.
- Use the following pattern to make the granny squares. If you have your own granny square pattern you would like to use, please make sure your square matches the pictures.
- Ship squares to the following address:
- 6300 Creedmoor Rd, #170-129 Raleigh NC 27612
- Make as many as your want, from 1 to dozens!!
- Optional: if you want to include a note to the blanket recipient, mail the note with the squares to the address above. These notes are included with blanket donation.
Sunflower Granny Square Pattern
Supplies:
- Medium weight yarn (4) in brown, yellow and green
- Crochet hook size I (5.5mm) or size needed to achieve 5in x 5 in finished square
Abbreviations:
- Ch – chain stitch
- SC – single crochet
- DC – double crochet
- TC – triple crochet
Pattern:
Start with Brown yarn-
- Create a slipknot and Ch 5 stitches. Slip stitch into first chain to create a loop.
- Ch 3
- DC 8 times into the center of the loop.
- Slip st to join
- Ch 1
- SC 2 times into each DC stitch of previous round (total 16 st)
- Cut yarn and pull through to secure stitch
Attach Yellow yarn-
- Attach yellow yarn into any of the 16 st of previous yarn
- Ch 3
- Work puff stitch for 1st row of petals
- (yarn over, insert hook into same stitch, yarn over and pull through, pull hook up to loosen the yarn loop) repeat 3 times for a total of 7 loops on hook
- yarn over hook and pull through all 7 loops, Ch 1
- Work 1 puff stitch in each SC stitch of previous round
- Ch 3
- Work puff stitch for 2nd row of petals
- Work puff stitch as above by inserting hook into same chain space in between petals
- yarn over hook and pull through all 7 loops, Ch 2
- Work puff stitch into the chain space in between each petal from previous row
- Cut yarn and pull through
Attach Green yarn-
- Attach green yarn into any of the chain spaces in between 2nd row of petals
- Ch 4
- Work 3 TC into the same chain space
- Work 3 DC into the next chain space
- Work 3 SC into the next chain space
- Work 3 DC into next chain space
- Work 4 TC into next chain space
- Repeat Step 4 – Step 7 twice more
- Repeat Step 4 – Step 6 once more
- Slip stitch to join
- Ch 3
- 2 DC in each of next 2 stitches.
- DC 11
- Repeat steps 11 and 12 three more times.
- Slip stitch to join
- Cut yarn and pull through
- Weave in all ends.
Ready to join in? Get crocheting and send in those squares!
About us:
Different View Designs was founded as a way to give back to the ALS community. 10% of proceeds from the sale of our Adaptive Knitwear patterns are donatedgoes to help fund ALS research and support those fighting with the disease every day.
Disclaimers:
*The idea of a blanket made of sunflower granny squares is by no means an idea created solely by myself. The iconic granny square has been around for…honestly I have no idea how long…and people have been making it their own since then. There are crocheters that have their own sunflower blanket designs. The crochet pattern on this page was created by me and is provided free for use. Any similarities to other sunflower crochet patterns is unintentional and accidental.
**This project is designed to be completely charitable. Different View Designs (and the parent company, My Grandmother’s Old Singer, LLC, including its members), does not receive any monetary profit from the Sunflower Blanket Project. Participation is completely voluntary. Participants accept the cost of creating and shipping the squares. I donate my time and yarn to create finished blankets from donated squares. Finished blankets will be donated, free of cost, to individuals living with ALS.
