All the Patterns in My Book, Crochet Retro Blankets in 1 Week
Hi guys! As I write this, we are less than 6 months out from the release of my second pattern book, Crochet Retro Blankets in 1 Week (preorder it here!). How exciting!!
In this post, I’ll show you all of the projects included in the book for your perusal. This is exclusive info — social media won’t know about any of these for a while, until I start a weekly reveal series.
Each design includes a blanket & pillow pattern. Step-by-step photos are included throughout the book to help you out, no matter your skill level. Each blanket and pillow is a customizable size; if you want a baby blanket instead of a full-size afghan, it’s your call!
If you want to test out a pattern before committing to the whole book, you can currently purchase the Squiggle Me This Blanket, Whales and Waves Throw, or Cat Nap Blanket on my Etsy, Ravelry,Ribblr, or website! All other patterns are not available for individual sale right now; they will be released after the book.
Click here to find your preferred place to preorder the book.
If you have any questions about these patterns or the book itself, don’t hesitate to email me at sspstitches@gmail.com.
Let’s get straight into it!
Cat Nap Blanket & Pillow
The Cat Nap Blanket was the first I ever designed, and I fear I’ll never make a better one. Its matching pillow is equally adorable; the neutral brown and tans, mixed with a spritz of green vines and pastel flowers, will blend well in any living room.
It’s full-size, super cozy, and perfect for all seasons. I’ve successfully used it both as a picnic blanket and a wintertime throw.
Squiggle Me This Blanket & Pillow
My second-ever blanket, the Squiggle Me This Blanket, was a dud upon first release — but now, it’s my best-selling blanket pattern. Something about the two-toned squiggles are just mesmerizing, I guess! I love to see all the color combos people have dreamed up for this design, and I’m super excited to see some matching pillows pop up alongside them.
Whales & Waves Throw & Pillow
The Whales & Waves Throw was the first I made while living in Ireland, and the photos we took of it there are probably my favorite of the whole book. Just look at the sea, look at the gulls! Look at the beautiful fabric waving in the coastal wind!
I simply love a two-tone pattern, as you’ll continue to observe, and I am still incredibly happy with how it turned out in this one. Blue and white will never fail.
Daisy Dreams Blanket & Pillow
If you can believe it, this was my least favorite pattern to make from the book. Not for any real reason, of course; the pattern is gorgeous, and it is so satisfying to work up, you’ll become addicted. I simply grew frustrated when I needed an extra skein to finish it up, and shipping from the US to Ireland took— wait for it— TWO MONTHS! My other shipments took 2 weeks. A single skein, lost in the ether… but that made it all the more satisfying when I was able to finish it.
This is definitely in my top 5 designs from the book. One day, I hope to have a living room cool enough to display this design set.
Toasty Tartan Throw & Pillow
Before the Scottish come for me: I know this isn’t a true tartan. I apologize. I did not name this; most of the designs were named by my Instagram followers. I hope you can forgive me for the indiscretion. I love your country.
This one was so fun to work up. Every time I look at it, I’m reminded of the hours I spent watching poker tournaments on YouTube while I crocheted, the Irish sun shining through the window all the while.
Sleepy Sheepy Baby Blanket & Pillow
My first-ever baby blanket design! This one had an obvious source of inspiration: the clear blue Irish sky, a perfect background to endless fields of fluffy sheep.
When I first flew into Dublin, I was confused by the sheep being marked with blues and pinks. Turns out this is a technique for herd management, but for a second, I believed that the Irish just liked colorful sheep. I hope this set will bring a bit of that same silly whimsy into your life.
If these designs are tickling your fancy, you can look into your preorder options here!
Fruit Basket Baby Blanket & Pillow
Can you guess where this photo was taken? If you said “the lobby floor in your apartment building,” you’d be right! I still can’t believe how gorgeous the light was there every day.
This design is just too fun. Having each fruit motif sectioned off makes the colorwork feel super manageable, and the end result is such a gorgeous burst of color, it’s hard to look away. When I look at this set, my impulse is always to try and identify each fruit, as if I didn’t design it myself.
Kaleidoscope Blanket & Pillow
O, dear Kaleidoscope Blanket & Pillow set, how I love thee! This is my favorite in the book, hands down. Cascade Yarns was nice enough to gift me a few skeins for this book, and as a result, this blanket is 100% wool — and the perfect dense weight, adding to the pleasure that those beautiful colors bring to the eyes.
I know the title of this book is a bit of a claim — in one week, really? — but yes, I made each of these in less than a week’s time. This is the only one that I think perhaps cannot be done in a full week of crochet work. I did it in a haze of 5-6 days (finished around 2am, so the numbers are iffy) since I was so addicted to the look.
I plan on donating a lot of these blanket & pillow sets once promo is over, but I’ll be keeping this one forever.
Building Blocks Baby Blanket & Pillow
I know I just said that the title of this book might be a bit of a stretch for regular people working these patterns on a regular work schedule, but not with this one. The Building Blocks Baby Blanket took me less than a day to make, and its pillow took me another couple hours. It’s as simple as it looks, but still cute as a button (or a brick wall, I guess).
It’s hard to know which designs will be most popular ahead of time, but I can’t help but hope this will be up there. I need to see this set in a million different colorways, stat!
Bouncing Bunnies Blanket & Pillow
Spring is my favorite time of year, and the idea for this one popped into my head when I was enjoying a Guinness on a beautiful May day with my friend who loves bunnies. Why have I not designed a blanket with bunnies before?!
Most designs I make go through at least half a dozen revisions before I get to the final look, and this one was no exception. It was originally black and white, then brown and green, in a totally different pattern… I’m glad it ended up this way! This set is simply adorable, and nearly made it to the cover of the book.
Miles of Tiles Blanket & Pillow
Remember all that talk about two-tone blankets? Clearly, I couldn’t resist adding another to my collection. The Miles of Tiles set is absurdly cool for how low-effort it is; half of the fabric is just made of granny squares! The patterned tiles scattered throughout add some great visual interest.
My roommate in Ireland was the one who did the photography for the book— if you couldn’t tell, she’s a professional! I am so happy with the photos!— and this was her favorite blanket out of all of them. If shipping costs aren’t too terrible, I hope to send this set over to her once all is said and done.
Puppy Party Throw & Pillow
Woof woof! My first-ever blanket was the Cat Nap Blanket, then a few designs later, I tried to make the Dog Days Blanket. It was a flop; I’m not a dog person, I don’t know what they want! Thankfully, though, I think I’ve hit the nail on the head with this one.
The checker colorblocks are SO much fun to work, and the patchwork-ish style of the blanket makes this super easy to work up, even just in a few days. I had so much fun designing and making this one — I hope the dog-loving community appreciates it just as much!
Sicilian Summer Throw & Pillow
If you can’t tell already, I love muted tones and granny squares. This chunky-weight blanket combines both to highlight the beautiful bold red of the tomatoes and the pale yellow of the lemons in a fabric ode to Italy, where I saw lemon trees for the first time.
This blanket is so cozy due to the yarn weight, and I am already frothing at the mouth imagining using it as a picnic blanket. Especially while eating heirloom tomatoes with mozzarella on some crostini, laying my head on the matching pillow and napping in the sun after… oooh, I am so excited!
Vine & Shine Throw & Pillow
Few things sweeter than a fenced-off sunflower field, am I right? This beauty deviates from my typical designs: it uses bold yellow, orange, and green, and its pattern draws your eye up the blanket instead of across the blanket. Because of that, I think this set stands out from the rest of the designs in the book in the best way possible.
Fun fact: I’m reading This is How You Remember It by Catherine Prasifka in the photo, who I met when deciding to go to a book festival in Cork on a whim. The book was good, and she’s a really great writer; she also covers Irish and European news for Irish newspapers.
Butterfly Garden Throw & Pillow
Easily one of my top 5 designs in the book, the Butterfly Garden set is so simple yet so beautiful. It’s ridiculously easy to work up— granny square after granny square means you can make it mostly while watching TV— and the end result is a delicate beauty.
I designed this blanket mostly to be a picnic set, but I plan on decorating our couch with it when the weather warms up even more. The purple tones are just too good for spring!
Forest Floor Throw & Pillow
Listen. Though I am not a member of the LGBTQ+ community myself, I find myself with a lot of friends who are, and all of them seem to love this blanket more than any other in the book. Something about the frogs and the moons and the mushrooms appeals to people with good taste!
This one uses the same construction style as the Puppy Party set, so it’s easy to work up with very few ends to weave in once all is said and done. I can just imagine how good this set will look in living rooms worldwide — forest lovers rejoice!
Busy Bee Baby Blanket & Pillow
You know what I said about designs going through a lot of different iterations before I even start working them? Well, this one went through many revisions, even after I’d finished it the first time. Those sweet little leaves weren’t there originally; I had added surface slip stitches in green to imitate vines instead, but it looked too messy. Add that to the sheer amount of time I spent messing with the design of the bee, and deciding between a colorwork flower or a granny square flower, and this was probably one of the most time-consuming designs in the book.
I think it was all worth it, though! This set is sweet as honey, and could easily be made more gender-neutral by changing the pink to a different pastel of your choice.
Snowed In Throw & Pillow
This was one of the last designs I crocheted for the book, and to say I was a little burnt out by that point would be an understatement. Despite that, though, I loved this design so much that I didn’t even care too much when I had to completely restart it halfway through because I realized I didn’t have enough yarn… always check your yardage labels, folks.
The resulting blanket is far more gorgeous than it was with the original teal blue I was using for the background, though! All’s well that ends well, and I am writing this post with this blanket on my lap. This set’s a keeper.
Tulip Fields Throw & Pillow
When I was writing this book, I got really into watching live tennis. Crocheting requires a lot of attention, but with repetitive patterns, you can offer some of your attention elsewhere — and tennis is just the perfect level of don’t-need-to-watch-every-second-but-it’s-interesting-enough.
Because of that, looking at this blanket reminds me of Wimbledon. I made all of those tulip squares in quick succession on a warm summer day while watching some coverage on our balcony, and what a sweet experience it was all around. The resulting blanket is just so dreamy, and I am so happy with how the set turned out.
Lounging Lobster Baby Blanket & Pillow
This is another top 5 set in the book, in my opinion. I am a sucker for designs with a vertical striped background and a repeating motif overlayed, and wanted to save that idea for a special design. When I thought of this color combo with the lobsters, I knew I had to make it, and I still get giddy looking at the result.
My sister plans to start having kids soon, and I think I’ll make more of these sets for my future nieces and nephews. It’s just the perfect color combo, so easy to work up, and so fun to look at for the rest of your life!
Well, this concludes the overview of all the designs included in Crochet Retro Blankets in 1 Week! I’d like to think it’s a beautiful collection of patterns which will serve your crafting needs throughout your life; anytime you need a quick gift or long-term project, you can turn here.
Click here to see all your preordering options.
Thanks for reading this post!
