Beloved J
This toddler-sized blanket features a fancy letter “J” surrounded by a decorative heart design. This is another one of my Beloved Alphabet series.
Interlocking & Mosaic
Beloved J comes with the fully written pattern and charts for both of my preferred colorwork techniques: interlocking crochet and overlay mosaic crochet.
The mosaic version is solid because it uses a chart that was adjusted from the interlocking version. Learn more about these techniques at https://ashleeslint.com/tutorials/interlocking-and-mosaic-crochet/.
Right- & Left-Handed
This design comes with the fully written pattern (in both techniques) for left-handed crocheters so they don’t need to read every line backwards to get the letter legible.
See the collection of patterns with a left-handed option on Ravelry.
Get the Pattern
You can purchase Beloved J on my Webshop, Ravelry, or Etsy.
If you’re interested in the whole alphabet, check out how you can save almost 60% by visiting https://ashleeslint.com/2024/07/09/beloved-alphabet-series/#fullset
Are you crocheting one of my designs? I’d love to see it. Tag me on social media or join one of my groups!
The first Facebook icon takes you to my public page, the second Facebook icon goes to my private group.
Wrong Side of Beloved J
Because both sides of a blanket will be seen you might be curious about what the back of the blanket will look like.
The wrong side will be different depending on which technique you use.
Interlocking crochet is two layers of mesh, so the wrong side shows the opposite stitch. This makes straight lines turn into dashes and the background color becomes the design color and vice versa.
With mosaic crochet the wrong side is just striped but you’ll often see a faint illusion from the way the two stitches pull on the previous row a little differently.
Take note, there are some variations in how you can do mosaic crochet that will let you lock down the flaps or make it reversible but those are not techniques I usually use and those are not shown here.
Mosaic Crochet’s Envelope Border
When you use the overlay mosaic crochet technique you’ll need to cut your yarn at the end of each row and join new yarn at the beginning of the next row.
This process creates a fringe on the two sides of your project.
You can keep that fringe as a design feature. You can braid it, twist it, make it long, cut it short, weave all the ends in, etc.
One of my preferred options is to create an envelope border that hides those cut ends.
You can create an envelope that goes around all four sides of your project and therefore acts as a nice visual frame or you an just put the envelope border around the sides with the fringe (leaving the top and bottom raw).
I haven’t yet created any fancy envelope border designs, but it is possible and there are a few designs out there from other designers.
I’ve just stuck with the simple envelope because I put a lot into the art in the main project instead.
YouTube Video Support
Envelope borders can feel tricky!
I include a photo tutorial in each of my patterns, but sometimes it helps to see it in action.
The first video I created for the envelope border is called Envelope Border for Mosaic Crochet, Ashlee’s Lazy Way.
I show double crochets in that video but I actually prefer to use single crochets. I think the double crochets work up faster but I prefer the solid fabric created with the singles.
You can also see how I sometimes don’t put the border around all four sides in Summer Direction CAL – Mosaic Crochet: Final Lines & Border. Use the timestamps to skip to the section that interest you.
Important Details for Beloved J
As always, Beloved J comes with the fully written patterns and charts for two colorwork techniques: interlocking crochet and overlay mosaic crochet.
Every letter in the Beloved Alphabet series comes with written instructions for both the right- and left-handed crocheter!
Interlocking crochet / LFM crochet file includes:
- line-by-line written pattern (view key)
- instructions on reading a chart (view)
- a one-page chart (good for viewing on a screen)
- a nine-page chart (better for printing)
Interlocking Crochet Details
- Chart: 161 x 161
- 4.5 mm hook (US7)
- Gauge: 8 (dc, ch) x 8 rows = 4”
- 40″ / 102cm square
- Worsted weight yarn (2050 – 3300 yards total)
- Main Color (MC), the letter – 1050 yards plus 250 yards for optional border
- Accent Color (AC), the background – 1000 yards
Interlocking crochet sample of Beloved J crocheted by Nancy McKain.
Overlay Mosaic Crochet
The mosaic crochet version of each Beloved Alphabet blanket uses an adjusted chart. This means I’ve removed the interlocking mesh dots and unneccessary border lines. Read more about the differences at https://ashleeslint.com/tutorials/interlocking-and-mosaic-crochet/.
Click here to learn more about the options for dealing with the cut ends at the end of each row when doing overlay mosaic crochet.
Overlay Mosaic Crochet file includes:
- line-by-line written pattern (view key)
- instructions for optional envelope border (view)
- instructions on reading a chart (view)
- a one-page chart marked with X’s (good for viewing on a screen)
- a nine-page chart marked with X’s (better for printing)
Mosaic Crochet Details
- Chart: 157 x 157
- 5mm hook (H-8)
- Gauge: 14 sc in BLO x 15 rows = 4″
- 42″ x 45″ / 106cm x 114cm
- Worsted weight yarn (2300 – 2800 yards total)
- Main Color (MC), letter – 825 yards
- Contrasting Color (CC), background – 1475 yards
- Plus, optional envelope border – 500 yards
Overlay mosaic crochet sample of Beloved J crocheted by jjabie.