I wanted to make this yarn into a sweater or a bed cape. But it breaks super easy and it doesn’t frog well. Breaks when you try to frog and it sticks to itself even though it’s supposed to be superwash. Note to self - never buy this stuff!

Trying lace weight instead of worsted to make the afghan baby sized.

hook choice
I tried an E (3.5 mm) hook with my yarn but it just didn’t slide through this wool as nicely as the F (3.75 mm) hook does. I think the post stitches show up better with the F hook, too.

smaller size
My first row was about 29 inches wide. That will change a bit as I work on the afghan. This blanket should be longer than it is wide. But it should be significantly smaller with the lace weight yarn than with worsted weight. My only concern is that the post stitches will show up enough with the lace weight. The reason I am making this as the baby blanket is because I want the trees to show up.

Most important row for set up is Row 5.
I counted all of my chain stitches and my stitches on the first couple of rows so carefully. Sigh, but somehow, I have 1 extra stitch at the end of Row 5. I am going to live with it. It means I have 8 dc on one side, before the trees, and 9 dc on the other side, after the trees. I don’t think anyone will ever notice.

Info is in pattern, you just have to search.
The order that she has her pattern is a bit strange. I had to read farther into the pattern to figure out which row she wanted the post stitches anchored on. I have been doing post stitches for years, but usually they tell you where to place them in the stitch definition or right where you start making them. At least the explanation is there …. you just have to look for it further along in the pattern.

ETA - It seems the only time she doesn’t tell you where to place your post stitches is in Row 5 - the first time you make them.

Once you understand how the instructions work, they are not difficult to follow. When I got stuck, I realized I had skipped a row by looking at the chart. It would help immensely if she had numbered the rows on her chart.

Row 17 is tricky. I only figured it out by looking at the picture of the full afghan on the website. She doesn’t have this picture on her pattern page here on ravelry.

There is a set of instructions for the 2nd tree, because it will be the shortest in that row, that tells you how to set up for the tree top. This is in the middle of the instructions and so is confusing. Technically, it’s right where it should be. I think formatting is why it’s confusing.

I copied the instructions into a document and separated them out line by line so I could figure out what was going on. I colored the tree top instructions and grouped them by themselves. Then I started trying to bold and color the brackets so I could get that sequence of instructions straightened out in my head.

Technically, if you follow her instructions literally, you are fine. But that’s difficult to do with them all bunched together in a huge paragraph and a period after every step. I highly suggest doing what I did to help them make sense to you. The instructions are sound - just not formatted to be easily understood. Again, once you understand what she has written out step by step, you are good to go.

I may have to do this on other rows. I do like that her instructions are well written. I just have to sort them out so I can see what she has written. Each time I realize I have made a mistake it’s because I have been crocheting along, THINKING I understood but I was wrong.

I think one of the tricks to this pattern is to keep comparing your work to the full afghan picture on the website. It really helps. The chart only helps a little bit because it’s not complete and it doesn’t show row numbers. The chart shows only the general idea of the pattern.

1/3 of the way through the blanket at Row 41.

I am going to put 3 rows of dc instead of just 2 rows between the tree sections. I think there needs to be some spacing.

The instructions deteriorate after this. You have to be careful and see what makes sense.

Various Rows - watch out for leftover repeat brackets and asterisk from copy/paste. They should have been removed in some of the instructions.

Error Row 73
Row 71 ended with a tree topper popcorn. When you end Row 73, you end with the instructions - Dc in next 51 sts. This puts you exactly at the end of the row.

Delete the last instructions of Row 73 after that.

Repeat from [ to ] once, Dc in the last 5 sts.

Error Row 77
The count is 77 dc instead of 75 dc.

2/3 of the way through the blanket at Row 81.

It seems at this point, there is an error in the pattern at the beginning of each row. Each row is 1 dc short of what it should be to begin. These are my corrections.

I still get the required stitch count of 138 sts per row.

Error Row 101
At beginning of row - dc in next 4 sts.

Error Row 103
At beginning of row - dc in next 7 sts.

Error Row 105
At beginning of row - dc in next 9 sts.

Error Row 107
At beginning of row - dc in next 11 sts.

Error Row 109
At beginning of row - dc in next 28 sts.

Error Row 111
At beginning of row - dc in next 30 sts.
At end of row - dc in next 30 sts.

Error Row 113
At beginning of row - dc in next 32 sts.

Error Row 115
At beginning of row - dc in next 34 sts.

Error Row 117
At beginning of row - dc in next 101 sts.

Error Row 119
At beginning of row - dc in next 103 sts.

Border
Round 1 - turn slightly to aim down the side.

I added one more round on the border but then I stopped because it was so boring. lol … I had plenty of yarn to add a few more rounds but geesh, one can only do so many sc stitches.

I LOVE how this blanket turned out. I have to do the finishing of weaving in the ends and washing it. Once I take a picture then it’s good to go! I have 1 week before the baby is born. Her father is going to LOVE this blanket. Hopefully, her mom will love it, too.

The yarn may have been super difficult to work with but the color was perfect. I wouldn’t recommend this yarn to anyone to purchase.

I am really happy with how the blanket turned out. Pictures will happen eventually.

Dimensions
width - 28 in
height - 33 in

Note - I added 2 extra rows and 1 extra border round.

ETA - My granddaughter gave the blanket to her parents for her upcoming sister. I got it made in time! The blanket was really liked by her parents and my toddler granddaughter kept the secret from her parents. She was bouncing off the walls at how happy she was to give it to them. I almost thought she was the one who crocheted the baby blanket.

Her sister’s name is Juniper and so the tree theme is perfect. The yarn may have been frustrating to work with, but it’s the perfect color and very soft. An unusual baby blanket but perfect for who it is intended.