Janus Blanket Crochet Pattern

When my newest blanket design came into being--with plenty of playing on my hook--I was in a pickle of a jam. Why? Because I couldn't figure out which side was the "right side". When I realized that they both were equally as beautiful, it was easy to choose the name Janus. Let me explain...

Janus is a Roman God with two faces--one looking to the future and one looking to the past--hence a face on the front and a face on the back. I'm thinking that this blanket looks fabulous with either side facing. So, Janus Blanket it is! As I was designing it, the next big question was which way should the "right side" of the border face. I finally decided on this one...

But, oh, this side...

I love the texture. I love the brilliant rainbow against the white contrast. And I love that you can pick any colors that you choose. I, of course, ended up with a rainbow set of 27 colors--because who can leave out golden yellow? or that mint blue? or the orchid purple? See my problem. I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings.

But let me show you a couple samples from my testers.

(c) Denise Brown; photo used by permission

(c) Courtney Knorr-Warriner; photo used by permission

(c) Sandra Veneman; photo used by permission

The sample made above by Sandra, was made with Scheepjes Stonewashed*. I recently made a hood out of this lovely yarn and highly suggest it. You can find my thoughts about this yarn here, and get the free Petrichor Hood pattern here.

Isn't it crazy how changing up the color can transform the whole look of the blanket? I'm thinking this design would be a lovely stash-busting blanket, too. 

I chose Loops & Threads Colorwheel yarn for my blanket--a super soft worsted/aran with a broad palette, but I also think a superb choice would be Scheepjes Colour Crafter* that comes in over 90 colors. It's DK rather than aran, but makes a perfectly weighted blanket. The balls are 3.5oz (100g) instead of 1.75oz (50g) like the Colorwheel, but it's still a very affordable yarn and you could either make two blankets, or make this one much larger. (I include a multiple in the pattern for adjusting the size.) I recently designed this Around the Corner Blanket using the same Colorwheel yarn I purchased--only buying more white for the Janus Blanket. So, in other words, make more blankets with your extra yarn! Haha!

So back to the Janus Blanket...

The sample is a perfect crib-sized blanket at 34” X 50” (87cm X 127cm)--but remember you have plenty of yarn to make it nearly 50% bigger--it only used 1360-1400 yards (1244-1280m). 

It uses basic stitches (sc, hdc, dc in US terms), but there are some interesting stitch placements and a couple of special stitches detailed in the pattern. The border instructions are also included along with a dozen pictures for additional help, if needed, but you don't need to print them.

You can find the pattern in all of my shops:

Etsy

LoveCrafts

Final thought: I think the Janus Blanket would be a brilliant temperature blanket project--maybe with each stripe being a weekly average temperature. If you want to know more about my Felted Button Temperature CAL group, you can read all about it here, or join my Facebook group here.

If you make a Janus Blanket--or any other Felted Button pattern--please feel free to share on my Facebook page here. Or simply keep in the "Button" loop with Instagram here (@FeltedButton) or Pinterest here.

I'm off to play in the garden! Be well. Hugs and Happy Hooking!

| On the Board | -- You are my blue crayon, the one I never have enough of, the one I use to color my sky.                         ~~A. R. Asher

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