Exciting news! New crochet-a-long is in the town. For almost two years I have been patiently waiting for Baby Henry’s Heirloom Afghan pattern to be released. Jessica Wifall, the designer, first introduced it in 2017 and after a huge positive response she kindly agreed to put all notes together, so that everyone who wanted could create their own beauty. And after two years of hard work (pattern writing, testing, organization) the pattern is ready to meet the world! The CAL, crochet-a-long, will begin in just two days – on August 1st, 2019. Phot credit: Jessica Wifall Introduction Although this fantastic blanket was designed by Jessica Wifall, this project is precious for me personally as a designer in several ways. First of all, because my own pattern – Dandelion Border – was used as a part of this design. Secondly, because Baby Henry’s Heirloom Afghan is based on the Overlay Crochet Mandala No 6 by Carola Herbst of CAROcreated. My own designing journey began 5 years ago with overlay crochet mandalas. I bought one of the Carola’s designs on Etsy, made my first ever overlay crochet mandala, and fell in love with this technique. Over a hundred designs have been created since then, but I remember very well how it all started. And I can’t thank Carola enough for giving me a huge source of inspiration and confidence in my own designing skills. Phot credit: Jessica Wifall And thirdly, this CAL is special for me because it also uses a part of Sophie’s Universe blanket designed by my dearest friend Dedri Uys of Look At what I Made. I was very lucky to become a part of Scheepjes Bloggers team, meet Dedri and make friends with her in real life. She is my forever crochet mentor. As you have guessed already, Baby Henry’s Designer Heirloom Afghan CAL incorporates three patterns from different designers: Overlay Crochet Mandala No 6 by Carola, Sophie’s Universe Part 4 by Dedri and Dandelion Border by me. Two of these patterns including mine are paid, so to join the CAL you will need to purchase them, either on Ravelry or Etsy. Jessica Wifall put all three patterns together (and I can’t believe she could adapt mandala pattern so well!) and wrote her own notes which are available as a free download (HERE or HERE). Phot credit: Jessica Wifall General Information Infromation: Baby Henry’s Designer Heirloom Afghan CAL will be hosted in Facebook in CAL – crochet A long group where you will connect with other makers from all over the world. You can ask questions and share your pictures there. Pattern: All notes can be downloaded either from Ravelry HERE or from CAL – crochet a long blog HERE. Instagram: If you share photos of your Henrys, please use #babyhenrysdesignerheirloom Yarn and Colorways There are no official yarn packs for this CAL. You can either use your stash or buy the yarn in separate skeins. Baby Henry’s Heirloom Designer Afghan comes in three colorways. The original was made with Catona yarn by Scheepjes (100% cotton sport weight yarn) and 3mm hook. Phot credit: Jessica Wifall The size of the finished blanket will depend on the yarn and hook you use and also on your personal crochet style. Jessyca’s afghan turned out 114cm/45”. You can purchase Catona yarn in local Scheepjes shops or via online retailers (affiliate links are marked with *): Wool Warehouse* (UK, international shipping), Black Sheep Wools* (UK, international shipping), Caro’s Atelier* (NL and Europe), Knotty House* (Canada), Taemombo* (Canada and US). Here are the colors and yardages for the original version: Jet Black (110) – 7 x 50g balls Bridal White (105) – 5 x 50g balls Champaign (248) – 4 x 50g balls Dark Olive (387) – 4 x 50g balls Light Silver (172) – 3 x 50g balls Metal Grey (242) – 3 x 50g balls Black Coffee (162) – 2 x 50g balls Mercury (074) – 2 x 50g balls Charcoal (393) – 2 x 50g balls Anthracite (501) – 1 x 50g balls Root Beer (157) – 1 x 50g balls Caramel (506) – 1 x 50g balls Phot credit: Jessica Wifall Another colorway is called Henry’s Voyage. It also uses Catona yarn, but in fewer colors: Ultramarine (124) – 9 x 50g balls Champaign (248) – 8 x 50g balls Light Navy (164) – 8 x 50g balls Dark Olive (387) – 6 x 50g balls And you can also choose your own colors. To help you visualize the look of the finished blanket, the organizers have created colouring pages for you. Print them out, take the pencils and color your own blanket in any palette you like. If you rather wish to use DK or even aran yarn, please, check yardages in the Official information post HERE. Phot credit: Jessica Wifall Techniques This Afghan pattern uses overlay crochet technique. If you have never tried it, the patterns might be a bit difficult to read and follow, at first. But after you are used to the pattern style, everything will become smoother. All three patterns contain heavy photo-tutorials with loads of progress high quality pictures. If you are still unsure, please check general information about overlay crochet HERE on my blog. And practice with one or two squares from Circles of the Sun CAL. Timeline Baby Henry’s Designer Heirloom Afghan crochet-a-long will begin on August 1st, 2019 and will run for 16 weeks, with parts being released weekly on a Thursday. Enjoy! Subscribe to a newsletter not to miss a single post. You can also follow me on Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram.