I found some Caron One Pound yarn on sale, and I picked up two colors; Robins Egg Blue and Soft Grey Mix. I was trying to find a good two color blanket to make, and in the end I added a third color (some white of the same brand I already had on hand) and chose to make the Apache Tears blanket.
My grandma made all of the grandkids one of these in their favorite colors over the years. When I looked up the pattern, I couldn’t figure out how to work each row without some head scratching. Thankfully my sister, @QueenHobo, had her blanket made by Grandma handy and I was able to figure out the pattern from there. I decided to write a tutorial, so here you go!
Apache Tears Tutorial
Materials Needed:
- Worsted weight yarn in at least 2 colors of your choice. You can use however many colors you’d like.
- H hook
- Scissors
Stitches Used
Single Crochet (sc)
Treble Crochet (Tr) - ALWAYS worked in FLO (front loop only) two rows below.
Slip Stitch (sl st)
Chain (ch)
Pattern Notes - READ BEFORE STARTING!
- You will always work with the front of the blanket facing you. You will start every row with a roughly 6 inch tail, work to the end of the row, and cut the yarn, leaving a six inch long tail.
- You will be working from one edge of the blanket to the other. This will leave your fringe at the top and bottom of the blanket once finished.
- It’s okay if the tail at either end isn’t exactly 6 inches long. When you are finished with your blanket, you will need to trim the fringe to even it up.
- All single crochet stitches are worked through the back loop only (BLO)
- All Tr stitches are worked through the front loop two rows below the current row you are on.
To begin, leaving a 6 inch tail, ch in multiples of 6 until you reach your desired height of the blanket, then ch 3 more. Example: Chain 204 stitches (6 x 34), plus chain three more, for a total of 207 chains. (In this example, I chained 45 to make a small doll sized blanket). Cut your yarn leaving a 6 inch tail and finish off.
Apache Tears Pattern
Start with first color choice
Start and end every row with a roughly 6 inch tail, and always starting on the right edge of work
Row 1: Starting at the beginning of the chain you just made, single crochet in each chain across; (you should have the exact same number that you chained (multiple of 6 plus 3) . Finish off.
Row 2: Sc in BLO across. Finish off.
Row 3: Sc in BLO across. Finish off.
Change to next color
Row 4: Join with a slip stitch (this does not count as a stitch, so be sure you don’t stitch into it when starting the next row!). (Tr, 5 sc in BLO) across to last three stitches of row. Tr, 2 sc in BLO. Finish off
Be sure you insert the hook from the bottom of the loop.
Row 5: Sc in BLO of the Tr of previous round, (Tr, 5 sc in BLO) across to last 2 stitches. Tr, sc in BLO. Finish off
You can see in this photo that the second Tr is worked one stitch to the left and one row higher than the previous Tr stitch
Row 6: 2 sc in BLO, (Tr, 5 sc in BLO) across to last stitch. Work Tr, finish off
Change to next color
Row 7: 3 sc in BLO, (Tr, 5 sc in BLO) across.
Row 8: 4 sc in BLO, (Tr, 5 sc in BLO), working 4 sc in BLO on last 4 stitches of row.
Row 9: 5 sc in BLO, (Tr, 5 sc in BLO), working 3 sc in BLO on last 3 stitches of row.
Repeat rows 4 through 9 until your blanket reaches the desired width, being sure to change yarn color every 3 rows.
If desired, cut 12 inch lengths of yarn to attach to the ends of your blanket to make the fringe thicker. Then trim fringe to even out the ends, and you’re finished!
Frankenstein and Monkey are helping with quality control I guess?
