Great Canadian Landscapes CAL: Week Seven!

Hello and welcome to week seven of the Great Canadian Landscapes Crochet Along! Today we continue our journey across Canada through the beautiful province of Manitoba!

Welcome to Manitoba, the center (sometimes called the “heart”) of Canada! Manitoba has a very varied landscape and home to 1.3 million people.

(An areal view of Snow Lake, Manitoba.  Photo by Julia, used with permission.)

Some Fun Facts:

I must confess that my knowledge of Manitoba is seriously lacking! So in preparation for this post I spent some time looking at some fun facts about the province.  What did I find?

• “Manitoba” means “where the spirit lives.”
• The province has four provincial symbols which includes the prairie crocus, bison, white spruce and the great grey owl.
•  One of the best places to see the Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis) is in Manitoba! In the small remote town of Churchill which sits on the edge of the Hudson Bay at the north end of the province.  From Churchill you can also see beluga whales and polar bears BUT there are no roads to the town and it is only accessible by a two and half hour plane ride or a 48 hour train ride from Winnipeg.
• Finally, Manitoba is home to extreme temperatures!  Winnipeg has both the highest temperature ever recorded in Canada (42 degrees Celsius), and the lowest ever (-47 degrees Celsius).

(Photo: Duck pond at the Leo Mol Statue Garden Assiniboine Park.  Photo by Jeanette, used with permission.)

The Panel this Week:

As mentioned above, Manitoba features a very varied landscape including vast forests and lakes along with prairie planes.  So the panel this week features textured tracks set to a subtly textured background.

You will have practiced some popcorn stitches over the past several weeks, so this week you will be comfortable with the clusters of popcorn stitches that you find here.  The popcorns are made using half double crochet stitches, which is one of my favourites!

The CAL – Intro to Week Six:

This is week seven of this crochet along, if you missed the first several weeks of the CAL, you will find them through the links below. Again, each week also includes a video tutorial and a glimpse into the province that we explored!

Introduction: Canadian Landscapes Crochet Along: Introduction and Materials

Week One: Great Canadian Landscapes CAL Week One!

Week Two: Great Canadian Landscapes CAL Week Two!

Week Three: Great Canadian Landscapes CAL Week Three!

Week Four: Great Canadian Landscapes CAL: Week Four!

Week Five: Great Canadian Landscapes CAL: Week Five!

Week Six: Great Canadian Landscapes CAL: Week Six!

Let’s Connect!

Other than that, please head over to my Facebook Page (https://www.facebook.com/richtextures/) and from there you can join the community group where you will be able to share photos and see other’s progress!

Also, you are invited to subscribe to my YouTube Channel (it’s updated weekly @ https://www.youtube.com/c/RichTexturesCrochet/ ) where you’ll find all of the pattern videos for the CAL as they become available.

Finally, thank you so much again for joining this crochet along! I look forward to meeting up again soon!
Sarah

The Pattern:

This panel measures approximately 43 x 9 inches. Should you wish to change the size, use a chain multiple of 8 + 2.

For this project I used a worsted weight yarn by Mary Maxim in the colour Dark Denim. You may use any worsted weight yarn! (For more details, see the “Introduction and Materials” for the CAL linked in this post above.)

Hook: 5.5 mm

This pattern is worked in rows.

Stitches and Abbreviations:

Ch – Chain
Hdc – Half Double Crochet
Lp – Loop
Lps – Loops
PC – Popcorn (work 3 hdc in the next st, remove hook from lp, insert hook from front to back in top of first hdc in the group.  Insert hook into the dropped loop and pull through.  Note when working a popcorn on the opposite side, you will insert your hook from back to front.)
Rpt – Repeat
Sc – Single Crochet
Sk – Skip
Sl st – Slip stitch
Yo – Yarn over

Pattern Notes:

– Pattern is written in American English
– Ch 1 at the beginning of the row does not count as a stitch.
– Weave in ends as needed.

Let’s Crochet!

Ch 146.
Row 1: Sc in 2nd ch from hook and in each st across. Turn. (145 sts)

Row 2: Ch 1, hdc in the 1st st and in each of the next 2 sts, * ch 1, sk 1, PC in the next st, ch 1, sk 1, hdc in each of the next 5 sts; rpt from * across ending with a hdc in each of the last 3 sts.  Turn.

Row 3: Ch 1, hdc in the 1st st and in each of the next 2 sts, * PC in the ch-1 sp, ch 1, sk next PC, PC in the next ch-1 sp, hdc in each of the next 5 sts; rpt from * across ending with a hdc in each of the last 3 sts. Turn.

Row 4: Ch 1, hdc in the 1st st and in each of the next 2 sts, * ch 1, sk next PC, PC in the next ch-1 sp, ch 1, sk next PC, hdc in each of the next 5 sts; rpt from * across ending with a hdc in each of the last 3 sts. Turn.

Continue to repeat rows 3-4 until work from the beginning measures approximately 9 inches or a little less. Fasten off and weave in ends

Edging:

Note: If you have changed the size of your blanket your will have to adjust the edging stitch counts accordingly. What matters most is that each of your panels has the same number of stitches along the edges. This will make it much easier to join them in the end! Also note that the starting chain for many of the panels is different, however they will all turn out the same size (as long as your gauge is the same) in the end.

Therefore when you work the edging you will not necessarily place 1 sc in each ch along the long edge, occasionally you will skip stitches, or even work 2 sc in a stitch. What matters is that these stitches are spread out evenly across the panel.

The edging for each panel is a simple round of sc stitches.

Proceed as follows:
With the right side facing, join yarn with a sl st in the top right corner.

Rnd 1: Ch 1, evenly work 144 sc across the top of the panel, 3 sc in the corner st, evenly work 29 sc along the short edge, 3 sc in the corner st, evenly work 143 sc across the bottom of the panel, 3 sc in the corner st, evenly work 29 sc along the next short edge, 2 sc in the final corner st; join with a sl st in the first sc. (356 sc)

Fasten off, weave in ends. Block if desired.

Video Tutorial:

Set this panel aside and get ready for next week! We will join them all together the final week.

Check out this video tutorial for the panel below:

 

 

The photographs and pattern contained in this document are the property of Rich Textures Crochet.
This pattern is for personal use only.
No unauthorized reproduction, in whole or in part, or distribution of this pattern or content is permitted. ALL FINISHED PRODUCTS from this pattern can be used for local sales and sold online.
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