Princess Bride themed graph

My favorite movie of all time is The Princess Bride.  I remember watching it with my mom when I was a kid.  At first I thought "oh boy, another stupid romance."  I mean, what kid wants that?  But I watched.  And I became intrigued.  And by the end of the movie I was fake sword fighting all over the living room furniture, rhyming my replies to every conversation, and quoting Mandy Patinkin's famous line "Hello, my name is Inigo Montoya.  You killed my father. Prepare to die," in a bad Spanish accent to anyone that would listen.

I've watched it several times since then.  I shared my love for the movie with my son (who didn't want to watch a stupid romance movie, either), I've read the book, and I've read Cary Elwes' book about working on the movie.  For our anniversary this year, my husband bought me a digital copy on Vudu.  I've watched it twice more.  Maybe three times.  Maybe more.  Anyway, I just finished it again and thought I'd memorialize this wonderful romance/comedy/drama/adventure with a throw.  First step is to design the graph which I've done and now share with you. 

I created the graph to be a 5 x 6 throw when using a J hook and 1 sc per graph square.  To cut down on color changes I'd start on the long side and work my way across.  If you'd like a copy yourself, please email me at kendrascrochet@gmail.com and I'll send you the pdf. Use any colors you like.  If you make one, I'd love to see a picture!  Email it to me and you can possibly be shown here or on my Facebook page.  If you post it to social media yourself, please tag #KendrasCrochetedCreations and credit me with the design.  If you have any thoughts you'd like to share please comment below.  you're welcome to share this post using the links below.

How to crochet a graphghan-with FAQs

I post a lot of graphs on this blog, some free, some paid, and the questions I get asked most is how to actually create the afghan from the graph.  I try to post general instructions on each graph because there are several ways to crochet from a graph.  There's the newer C2C (corner to corner) method (no, I do not have any c2c patterns, sorry, but if you try to use this black bear for a c2c let me know how it works out and I'll try to make some! It may make a decent lapghan), you could sc each graph square, or my favorite, 2 dc per graph square.  That seems to be the confusing one.  Most graphs aren't worked that way.


Take this black bear graph above as an example. I made this graph to make my brother a pillow for Christmas a couple years ago (see photo below), so the graph is small and perfect for a practice project. (larger graph below) By the way, he loved it.  He even asked for a second one to match so he could have one on each end of his couch!

tunisian crochet pillow

Even though this pillow is in the tunisian simple stitch and that post about tunisian crochet was a couple days ago, I'm showing you this picture because it's what I made from this graph (thanks for the photo, big brother! I should have taken one before I gave it to you!).

*(the pillow seen here was made with 1 tss (tunisian simple stitch) per graph square with a size J afghan hook-the kind with the stopper at the end (see "that post" linked above).

The first thing you do is to count the number of squares along the side where you'll begin.  Some people like to work from top down, some from bottom up, and sometimes I tell you to work it from the side to avoid color changes all happening in the same rows.  On this graph, no matter which way you do it, there are 50 squares.  Double that 50 to make 100 and add one more for turning.  If you don't add that one to your total starting chain, when you dc in the third chain from the hook to start the row, you'll end up a stitch short. So we chain 101 with our tan and then dc in the third chain from the hook. Dc in each chain to the end.

FAQ: Do I put 2 dc in each chain?
Only 1 dc in each chain, a lot of people email me saying they put 2 dc in each chain stitch and it doesn't look right.  You don't need to do that.  That's why you double the chain count.  If you put 2 dc in each chain, it will ruffle and try to corkscrew. 

Now you've done the first row of dc.  That means you've also done the first row of graph squares.

FAQ: Do I double the rows as well?
 No.  This will make the afghan twice as long as you want it to be and skew the design to be tall and skinny.

From the bottom (where I like to start) there are 3 rows of tan before any color changes.  Go ahead and work three rows, 1 dc in each dc, counting the beginning chain 3 as a stitch (off topic a bit, but I prefer to chain 2 at the beginning of a row.  3 chain stitches makes my ends loose and baggy-yuck).  Now you come to a color change row.  When I get to a color change row, I start from the right and count to the left.  This makes sense to me because as I look at the work I've crocheted so far, my hook is on the right and I'll be crocheting to the left.  Left handers will probably read the graph the other way unless otherwise told.  That's fine. So there are 20 graph squares of tan before changing to black.   That means 40 dc stitches. So I will chain 2 (or 3 if you prefer)and dc 39 more because the chain stitch counts as one. The next one counts as the rest of the first graph square on that row. Then there are 11 black squares.  So you'll crochet 22 black stitches. And 19 more tan squares makes 38 tan dc to finish off the row.

*updated to add: the next row will be read right to left. this is a symmetric design, but in order to get an even 50 graph squares, I had to have one more tan on one side than on the other. The second row I would make 34 dc in tan, then 30 black, and end with 36 tan. Then back to reading from right to left on the next row.

Tip: Leave the tan behind instead of crocheting over it (tapestry crochet) with the black.  Start a second strand on the other side of the bear. This means you won't see the tan through the black and you will keep a crisp picture.

Recap: 1. Count the number of graph squares and double it.
2. put only 1 dc in each chain, starting in the third chain from the hook.
3. Count out 2 dc stitches (counting the beginning chain three as a stitch) for each graph square, changing colors as the graph changes.

That's it!  Can you crochet this black bear graph from these instructions?  It's just a sample so it's no matter if it doesn't work out for you, it will give you a place to start.  Let me know if you have any questions, either in the comments below, or contact me at kendrascrochet@gmail.com  Post a picture and let us see how you did!

Tunisian crochet-an overview

One stitch that I feel doesn't get enough attention is the tunisian stitch (also called the afghan stitch).  If you're unfamiliar with tunisian crochet, there is a great site for beginners here that covers the basics really well.

tunisian crochet hook with cable and stopper

In tunisian crochet, you work with a long crochet hook (the one I use has a cable attached to the end, with a stopper at the end of that) and load all your stitches on (like with knitting) and then work them off.  Sometimes when we crochet it can be confusing about which side of our work is the front and which is the back (sometimes it doesn't matter!), but with tunisian crochet, the front is always facing you.  You don't turn your work to go back across.  You can always tell which was is the right way!

There are different ways to create designs using tunisian crochet.  One is with different stitches. There are really only a few different tunisian stitches to learn.  See the link above for the different stitches used in tunisian crochet.   I recommend once you learn the basics, to check out crochetkim.com and look through her tunisian crochet section.  She also has hundreds of free patterns to look through-not just tunisian (and they're all very good!).  She's one of my favorite designers.

afghan with cross stitched design

I made a graph for someone a short time ago and she sent me a photo of her finished afghan.  She used tunisian crochet to make the entire blanket in a solid color and then cross stitched the design on it in the yarn colors on the graph (thanks for the finished photo, Charlene, I love it!). This is a fun and simple way to incorporate color work into your projects without the hassle of changing colors during the crochet process.  Less chance of a tangled up mess occurring, too!   The graph for this Texas afghan, by the way, is available for sale from me.  Email me for details.  (It doesn't have to be made with this crochet stitch.😉)

Super Mario Brothers blanket

If you're comfortable with the tunisian simple stitch (usually the first stitch you learn) and ready to  move on to color changes, what fun you can have!  I graphed out a bunch of Super Mario Brothers characters for my son for an afghan for Christmas.   Unfortunately, he doesn't like "blankets with holes" as he calls afghans, so I used tunisian crochet to create this blanket for him.  Each character is in its own block, and then sewn to the block next to it. It forms a solid, squishy fabric without gaps between the stitches so I figured it would be perfect for him.  What I didn't think about was the back of the design.  With tunisian crochet, you don't cover the unused color with your working yarn like with tapestry crochet.  It hangs behind the work and gets picked up again later in the row when you need to switch back to that color.  This leaves a strand looped behind the work.   2 problems: 1. it looks ugly and 2. it catches your toes every time you move.  Solution?  I took an old sheet we didn't use anymore and sewed it to the back. Then I covered up the edges with quilt binding.

*designs do look a bit tall and thin when worked in tunisian simple stitch.  The stitch is taller than it is wide so it doesn't make a nice square like the graph square shows. I had to adjust some of my graphs to accommodate the nature of the stitch.

close up of design on block

A couple tips for the first time you use color work in your tunisian projects: 1. twist your yarns together once before changing colors. Otherwise, there WILL be a gap where the colors change. 2. give the unused yarn a little tug to firm up the stitches or it will be loose and baggy.  Not to tight though or it will warp the fabric a bit (look at the right side of the game controller in the close up picture.  See how it dips in? My fault.  Pulled too tight.  Don't do that.

 Have fun with your crochet!  Learning new stitches and trying new methods is a great way to improve yourself and your crochet as well as keeping it interesting.  I love learning new ways to crochet.  What is a stitch you've been wanting to try?