10 Secrets to Perfect Planned Pooling Crochet!

When you look around at the current trends in crochet you will see two that are popping up all over. One is the Planned Pooling Argyle obsession and the other is Corner-to-Corner (C2C) Blankets. I had already designed a C2C blanket for Valentine’s Day, my Heart Throb blanket which is a FREE pattern from Red Heart Yarns, and knew I wanted to make something beautiful for Christmas. I have always been drawn to patterns that use charts and that is where my Holiday Snowflake Corner-to-Corner Blanket started.

After drawling the chart on my computer I printed out multiple sections in a large size to make the full blanket. Then I sent it out to one of my wonderful contractors, Mildred, to create the sample for me. The chart that you see pictured here is included in the FREE pattern. You will notice that the colors are opposite from what you see in the finished project. I created the chart this way because it was easier to read the chart with more white space. You can choose whichever two colors you like to complete the blanket so just make a note for yourself on what the colors mean before starting the project.

When planning out this pattern I decided to use half double crochet stitches vs. the traditional double crochet stitches found in C2C patterns. I did this because I felt it looked more appealing in this particular pattern and it worked better with my gauge. You can change any C2C pattern to use double crochet stitches but remember this will cause you to use more yarn, make sure you swatch first!

The Snowflake Afghan is a true labor of love and is designed to be an heirloom piece to share for generations in your family. In full disclosure, there are a LOT of ends to be worked in for this pattern. We are talking looking like a shag carpet by the time you are finished amount of ends to weave in. My tip is to work them in as you go, this will take away the daunting task of weaving in the ends at the end of your project. The reason that there are so many ends is that the pattern is not conducive to carrying the yarn as you go. If you wanted to carry the yarn you could, but I feel the results are more streamline if you break the yarn at the different color changes.

I chose to use Red Heart Super Saver because it is an affordable yarn, which you will need a good amount for this project (7 skeins of your main color and 6 of the secondary color). The pattern calls for red and white but this could be made in any color combination that fits your style. That was another plus to using Red Heart Super Saver as it is available is 132 colors, the possibilities are endless. You could also add more than two colors to really change the look of the finished piece.

For those of you who have fallen in love with this afghan but are hesitant about trying out the C2C construction, have no fear I have put together a step-by-step video tutorial to help you along the way. You can watch the video below about this blanket and you can view a C2C basics tutorial video on my YouTube channel. I hope that you love this project as much as I did while designing it. You can get the FREE C2C Snowflake Afghan pattern, including the chart, at Red Heart’s website. If you make the afghan please be sure to add it to the Snowflake Blanket Ravelry page.