Over the last year, I’ve developed a habit of blanket spotting in TV programmes and films. They can be tucked away in the background but I always spot them. This usually results in me pointing and shouting “crochet blanket!” at the TV.
I don’t watch many TV shows but I sometimes catch the odd bit of Call the Midwife switching between channels. In Sunday’s episode (series 2, episode 8) the midwives and nuns were blanket making.
On a side note, they appeared to be making crochet granny squares with knitting needles (rather than a crochet hook). This blanket is a crochet blanket not a knitted blanket. Perhaps this little detail was overlooked 🙂 Not that important really, the blanket is still great! Hopefully it will inspire lots of people to make crochet granny blankets for their homes.
Want to make one for yourself?
You will need a crochet hook and granny square pattern – if you’ve never crocheted before, you can find a video tutorial here.
I googled knit and crochet because I caught that right away – “knitting” a crocheted afghan! Thanks for noticing too!
Hi!
I like to think that crochet it’s a way of knit!!
In spanish you say (in a very bad and literally translation) that you knit by crochet, you say that something is knitted in crochet!
“esta tejido a crochet””esa persona teje a crochet”
I love Call The Midwifes, all about feminine world… and a feminist…and when I saw that sceane I was so moved!!
Thank you for shareing!!
Best Regards,
Vale
Haha! So many people have been talking about this error on Twitter too! I put the title of my post as ‘knitted’ in the end because people might not have known it was really crochet 🙂
Dear Gemma: I am an avid knitter. While watching the season finale of Call the Midwife, I too was struck by the beauty of the blanket, and would love to reproduce this item. Would you be able to provide a pattern for this blanket.
Thanks
Hi Judy. Sure! Do you crochet already, or would you be learning whilst making this blanket?
I ended up here after googling in search of a pattern for that beautiful blanket online. Hope you have something to offer. I have basic crocheting experience but the squares looked pretty simple to me.
Hi Gemma, I actually Googled about the crocheted blanket from Call the Midwife as I recently watched that episode in Perth Australia. The very first link I clicked directed me to your blog. I am so happy to see your blog about this episode. Like Judy who commented before, I would also love to replicate this gorgeous blanket and it would actually be quite humorous an Afghan crocheting an afghan! I am a beginner and have only been taught the basic chain and crochet by my mother but I’m afraid her memory of it isn’t that well and I may have it wrong. So I would be learning whilst making the blanket, especially the terminology. I also have a query as to the yarn type used. Previously, I have used wool from the craft department of a store. But from the blanket on this episode as well as from images, I have seen the granny squares that seem tighter and with less spaces. Would you recommend a particular yarn type to achieve this result, crochet hook size or even a certain store or website that sells better quality yarn. I realise the extent of my message and apoligize but when I become interested in a topic I usual can’t move on until my queries are answeres.
Thanks.
@Emily I would suggest using Crochet Geek’s granny square tutorial (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11Wh7IOT9BI) for your blanket – just work however many rounds you need. The Call the Midwife squares look to be 6 or 7 rounds. Good luck 🙂
@Madina Hi Madina! Thanks for your comment. I’m going to email you about this as it will be easier to for me to answer all your questions 🙂
What struck me most about this blanket was the beautiful pallet of colors. Any info on the colors?
Hi Janet. I don’t have any specific colour information but most seem fairly muted. I think they look similar to the colours in the Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino range: http://www.debbieblissonline.com/Yarn.asp?yid=12
Haha, blanket-spotting, that’s a game I need to try!
Hi Gemma,
Your blog is wonderful! And especially this post is very helpful as I wanted to make a bedspread as shown in Call the Midwife. But what yarn type should I use? And can you recommend a website which sells good quality wool/yarn, but is not too expensive?
Thanks and please excuse my English! I’m from Germany
Thanks very much Catharina. I’d say the best type of yarn would be Double Knit (DK) with a 4mm crochet hook. That will give you a strong, warm blanket. I use Stylecraft Special DK to make most of my blankets – not very expensive, good quality, lots of colours and it can be machine washed. You can buy it from http://www.deramores.com/. They seem to ship everywhere 🙂 Good luck with your blanket!
Wow! That’s so funny!! I found your page when looking for pictures from these series, to post on IG, I just finished the last episode, where this blanket plays a big role:-) And yes, I noticed the knitting needles with the crocheted squares, that’s the kind of things I notice, too:-) such a coinsident that I found this, thank you:-)
From Norway:-)
Thank you for clarifying this. I have been going crazy looking for knitting granny squares.
Thank you! Just watching the series for first time and caught them knitting the crochet afghan! But remember, this was also supposed to be busy work for the old nun, maybe this was intentional;) bought the finished blanket from someone else. My grandmother knitted, I never progressed much:( miss her.
I loved that episode of call the midwife and fell in love with the blanket. I too noticed the knitting needle error as a keen crocheter would 🙂 I have to say I too find myself noticing crochet blankets on tv programmes and am often pausing the screen to get a better look. I have just watched an episode of little house on the prairie (season 9 ‘a child with no name’) and spotted a lovely granny square blanket over the back a of a chair. It was made up of plain squares of various colours all joined together with black and looked lovely. I guess this style must have been current to the era it was set in. So many beautiful blankets but which one to do next!
No, they did NOT appear to be making granny squares with knitting needles. They had finished crochet pieces in their laps, while the actual yarn craft they were actively DOING was knitting, and they were not in any way, shape, or form, even TRYING to make it look like granny squares – the scene I saw, the knitting was coming out as garter stitch. There’s no “apparently” or “appear” to it – they were very obviously knitting, while the object in question was very obviously crochet.
What struck me most about this blanket was the beautiful pallet of colors. Any info on the colors?
Thank you for posting this, I’ve been wondering how they made a knitted blanket in squares!