New Project Spotlight: Canyon Moon Crochet Blanket

Today’s New Project Spotlight shines the light on the Canyon Moon crochet blanket by Susan Kennedy of Pretty Peaceful. So let’s get started.

Raccoons. What is it about raccoons that they like the next shiny object in front of them? And what does a raccoon have to do with crafting or crochet? Well, aren’t you glad you stopped by today to find out!? And yes, you’re still in the same article for Canyon Moon, just stick with me.

You know how I’m a bit of a Renaissance woman when it comes to working on projects — multiple projects at any given time? Well, I was working on one of my multiple projects when I took a break and pulled up Facebook. There, in one of the Facebook crochet groups, was a pattern of an absolutely gorgeous blanket. Something I had never seen before. Totally intriguing!

Like a raccoon, I stopped what I was doing and like any good critter, went hunting down the path of this shiny new pattern, supplies, dimensions, and techniques. The pattern was Canyon Moon by Susan Kennedy of Pretty Peaceful. (she sells the pattern on Ravelry)

I had seen her initial post showing a picture of the blanket after she was several rows in and I had been gobsmacked with the design. Holy crochet hooks! I saved the post and went on about my day.

Days later she posted the finished blanket and there just aren’t words. I find this blanket so beautiful!

She had crocheted hers using a Lion Brand Mandala yarn in the Dragon colorway. Like the name of the blanket (Canyon Moon) it had such a Southwestern vibe. I had never seen Dragon in person in my part of the world, but I did have Sphinx, which is very close. Mostly the same colors with a little more blue than green. (Update: I’ve now seen Dragon in-person so everyone can breathe a small sigh of relief, lol.)

The pattern is beautifully written, easy to follow, and produces such a unique blanket. The technique is not new, but could be used for any number of designs. I fell in love with this one.

What You’ll Need (or what I used) for Canyon Moon crochet blanket

Her pattern covers all of the supplies and hooks and dimensions and other goodness and the link to her pattern on Ravelry is below. I’ll just tell you what I used as another perspective.

3.5-3.75 skeins of Lion Brand Mandala yarn (590 yards/skein, 3-weight) in the colorway Sphinx
Lion Brand Pound of Love in a cream/ivory colorway (I don’t have exact information on this skein of yarn because it was already opened and the labeled removed)
US-G hook
yarn needle
scissors
Canyon Moon pattern by Susan Kennedy at Pretty Peaceful

The final dimensions of my blanket were: 66”L x 39”W.

The pattern calls for 4 skeins of Lion Brand Mandala yarn. I actually used about 3.5-3.75 skeins, and that included a single row of border.

The Mandala yarn is a 3-weight yarn and I juggle between using a G hook or an H hook. I started with an H hook but the contrasting color (see next paragraph) was showing through too much. So I ripped it out and started over with a G hook. I could have possibly gone down one more hook size, but I was concerned about the final dimensions. I wanted something of substance and knew I only had 4 skeins of Sphinx.

The pattern also calls for a contrasting color. In this case a creamy color. I used an open skein I had inherited from my mom. I’m guessing it was Lion Brand Pound of Love.

The yarns are carried throughout. When you’re using the main color, you’re carrying the contrasting color as you stitch over it. And then vice versa. When picking up and dropping yarns, I found keeping one color towards the front and one color towards the back helped to prevent the yarns from twisting. This was life-saving.

Additional Notes

The only modification I made to the wonderfully written pattern was the chains at the beginning of each row. I went with one less than what the pattern called for. I found the beginning row chains in the pattern created too much of a ripple effect on the sides. Probably my tension/gauge. So you’ll want to do what works for you.

I allowed my colors to just flow. I did not plan colors or cut colors, but you could. For me, the fewer ends to tuck the better! So flow we did!

My husband loved it! Said it was one of his favorite ones that I’ve made. And I agree. It’s easy to work on (you do need to follow some instruction to keep the pattern going, and I did frog a few times because I didn’t pay close enough attention — ie. Didn’t count my stitches within each color) while watching TV, or on car trips.

It sits in our family room on the back of one of our oversized chocolate brown chairs. It looks like it was made for the room. And having watched Yellowstone (TV series), it pulls in that southwestern vibe….something my and husband and I were inspired by Yellowstone to bring into our family room. Voila!

Final Thoughts on the Canyon Moon crochet blanket

If you would like a moderately easy blanket with a heck of a design punch, you might want to channel your inner raccoon and go hunt down this shiny gem of a pattern. I could see working it up in any number of Mandala yarns. Oh, the possibilities! Thank you to Susan Kennedy of Pretty Peaceful for sharing the Canyon Moon crochet pattern.

Did you like today’s New Project Spotlight? If so, check out these other projects:

Wanna learn more about this series? Read my New Project Spotlight series welcome article.

Have a pattern you’d like to see featured? Drop me a note in the comments!