Ruffled Edge Polka Dot Crochet Afghan

There’s this part of me that has to do things right. And then there is this other part that has to do things my way. Sometimes both ways are one and the same but sometimes things get a little bit muddied and I wind up doing things right because it’s my way. Does that make sense?

I totally know that there is more than one way to make a bed but if I go to a hotel, chances are I’m taking that sucker apart and remake it because whoever did it figured out the flat wrong way to make a bed. (And I mean wrong simply because it’s not my way which is the right way :) And I absolutely promise you that I have been dog-tired, after driving for 12 hours, so late that it’s technically morning, tearing apart a bed to put it back together. It didn’t matter that I was exhausted and about to fall over, it mattered that I couldn’t sleep in that poorly made nonsense :)

So when I decided that I wanted to make a polka dotted and ruffled afghan I instantly decided that I simply had to use a bulky yarn for the looks and so I could get it done quickly. I went bulky because:

1. Projects hook up faster and it was ’bout to get hot here in South Texas and I didn’t want to be sitting around with my blanket on my lap working on it when that heat index hit 106°, which it did just yesterday, by the way.
2. I found about 8 skeins of bulky white yarn I wanted to use up.
3. Bigger is always better, right? Seriously, look at that afghan. Those gigantic polka dots are the bee’s knees!

Well, I’m gonna give it to you straight… I LOVE this frilly afghan and I LOVE all of those polka dots and the bold black and white color scheme but, and this is a big BUT, this sonofagun is h-e-a-v-y. Like, my arms got tired trying to arrange this sucker over a chair for pretty pictures. And I’m not buff but I’m not so weakly that I get winded draping a blanket over a chair. But there I am a huffin’ and a puffin’ while trying to prettily hang this sucker and then I’m sweating and cursing and oh my dear word how is this thing SO HEAVY? Like, I tried to take a picture holding it and I’m kind of weak but it was still some effort, man.

You know all of those cute pictures where bloggers hold up their afghan and you ooh and aah over it? This ain’t one of them. Maybe I should have worn more stylish pants? :)

If I had to do this blanket over again, there’s a part of me that wouldn’t change a thing because it’s pretty much exactly what I had hoped for visually. It looks the part of what I wanted just perfectly. My grandma says it gives her a headache but that’s neither here nor there. But if I did decide to make it different for it to be less heavy, I’d probably stick with the bulky weight yarn for the main part of the afghan because all in all, it’s fine before you get that ruffle going around the edge.

Then I’d play around with using a worsted weight yarn to rock that ruffle because, baby, that is straight up where all of that extra heft is coming from. Now, what do you do here with what I’ve got going on? I’m telling you to make something either like I made it or maybe not the way that I made it and it’s kind of my job to tell you how to do things so this is kind of messed up, right? Well, I’m going to tell you how to make this puppy the way that I did, but I want you to have all of the facts so that you can modify this project as necessary to coincide with how much muscle you’ve got to drag this sucker around with :)

But just know everybody, with the exception of my grandma, loves this polka dot afghan.

The pets super love it.

And the dogs keep knocking it in the floor and digging at it to nest in it.

And I personally just love the drape that comes with that super frilly edge.

And in my opinion, the weight of this guy feels good on me (I like lots of blankets) and that frill up there, is SO WORTH IT.

For this project you will need:

• Hometown USA Yarn in black (10 skeins)
• Hometown USA Yarn in white (12 skeins)
• Properly sized crochet hook (I used an N hook)

First, let’s talk about the size of this throw…

What size is an afghan?

Typically an afghan or throw is around 50 x 65″ and I wanted to stick pretty closely to that. The inside, polka dotted portion of my afghan is, on the money, 50 x 65″. I figured my ruffle would be about an inch but I went SUPER Frilly and I actually added 3″ all the way around making the total size of this afghan 56 x 71″. Yep, it’s kind of a monster, sizewise.

Here are the directions for a polka dot afghan just like mine.

Chain 98. (for a width of approximately 50″)

Row 1: Double Crochet in the fourth chain from the hook and double crochet down the to the end. (95 stitches) Turn.

Row 2: Chain 3 (acts as first double crochet). Double crochet 6 times. Treble crochet 5 together (bobble) in next stitch with 2nd yarn color. *Double crochet 7 times. Treble crochet 5 together (bobble) in next stitch. *Repeat to end. (95 stitches)

Row 3: Chain 3 (acts as first double crochet). Double crochet to the end (95 stitches).

Row 4: Chain 3 (acts as first double crochet). Double crochet 2 times.  Treble crochet 5 together (bobble) in next stitch with 2nd yarn color. *Double crochet 7 times. Treble crochet 5 together (bobble) in next stitch. *Repeat to end. (95 stitches)

Row 5: Chain 3 (acts as first double crochet). Double crochet to the end (95 stitches).

Repeat rows 2-5 until you have the length you desire. I hooked up a total of 65 rows for a length of approximately 65″.

Do charts help you? I know that one up there is TINY but if you click on it it will take you to a really big one that goes over all 95 stitches and up the first 9 rows that might help you out. The chain is along the bottom and goes from left to right, just FYI.

Or maybe do you need help with working 2 colors of yarn at once for your bobbles, or maybe need a little more help with crocheting up a bobble polka dot stitch? Learn how to crochet polka dots, just like used in this afghan, here.

Add a ruffle to your afghan.

First, clean up the edges of your afghan with a simple border of single crochet all of the way around in the base color of your afghan. Learn how to add a single crochet border to your afghan, here.

To add your ruffle you’ll simply start at any point, attach your yarn and chain 3 to act as your first double crochet stitch. Go around in every stitch from your single crochet border, double crocheting in each stitch from the prior border 3 times. To form corners, double crochet twice, chain twice and double crochet twice more all in the same, corner stitch. Continue down the length, making 3 double crochet stitches per stitch in the previous row. When you meet your first chain of 3, use a slip stitch to connect the ruffle.

To continue adding bulk to your ruffle, chain 3 to act as your first double crochet stitch and then double crochet once in each stitch from the prior round, forming corners as above. Slip stitch when you meet the first chain 3 and continue as many rounds as you’d like (I have 3 rounds of ruffle). Need some help with the ruffle? Learn more about easily adding a ruffle to your crochet projects, here.

Weave in your ends as needed and this gorgeous, if a bit heavy, frilly polka dot afghan is all finished up.

And if you’re wondering, because as I sat here typing this business up I got super began to wonder, just how heavy is heavy? I ran and got the scale out of my bathroom because I really didn’t want to carry this heavy thing across the house, and I measured myself with and without the afghan and it, dundundun, found the weight to be 11.2 pounds. Holy Moly. That truly is one beefy ass blanket. But it sure is pretty, isn’t it? If you have any ideas to keep all of the prettiness of the afghan but eliminate some of the bulk, I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments!