Category Archives: As seen on TV

As seen on TV (It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia )

21 Friday Nov 2014

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ItsAlwaysFunnyInPhiladelphia_S06_EP08

This totally retro 1970’s colour scheme granny square blanket can be seen in Season 8, Episode 6 of It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia. Thank you Cade for sending me the screenshot!

Just like The Roseanne Show couch blanket and the blanket on Amy’s couch on The Big Bang Theory, this is a traditional granny square blanket. All the squares are the same, made up of a light yellow, dark orange, lime green, light orange and finally a brown round. I would guess the blanket is the same size as the blanket in Taxi – roughly 9 rows of 14 squares.

If you want to make a retro 70’s throwback granny square blanket like this one, I suggest these Stylecraft Special DK shades:

As for the pattern, visit my Photo Tutorials tab for instructions on how to crochet a multi colour granny square.

Don’t you just love granny square blankets? Even the TV shows know that a granny square blanket can make any house a home, no matter what the colour scheme.

As seen on TV (Gilmore Girls)

18 Thursday Sep 2014

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It’s been a while since I’ve seen crochet on TV, but luckily you fabulous blog readers email me when you spot something for me to investigate. This time it was Joanna who asked me whether I’ve seen the Blue Blanket On The Couch in Gilmore Girls. She desperately wants the same blanket for her home. Joanna said that she blanket appeared in Season 5. I watched the whole season but couldn’t see a crochet blanket anywhere. Eager to help her out and to see what the fuss is about, I did a few searches in Google Images and found photos of two crochet blankets! One appears in Season 7, and the other is the blue blanket that Joanna emailed me about. Whoo-hoo!

First off, this beautiful Red Roses throw can be seen on Lane’s bed in Season 7, Episode 16

I think the Chinese Rose In Square pattern by LubaDaviesAtelier could easily be used to create a throw like this.

In stead of one round of yellow like in Luba’s photo for her Etsy listing, make at least three rounds in white. When you join the squares together you will have 6 rows of white between each rose, which should give you an effect like the Gilmore Girls Red Roses throw.

Now for the Blue Blanket On The Couch that kicked off my Gilmore Girls crochet scout.

I can see why Joanna would want to make this blanket. It’s such a pretty throw with a vintage feel to it. To replicate it, I think the High Noon Square from the book 50 Fabulous Crochet Squares is the one to go for. Use the pattern, but do it in a duck egg blue shade.

For the wide ruffle border, I suggest Border 45 from Edie Eckman’s Around the Corner Crochet Borders book. You would have to repeat the first few rows a few times (the rows before doing the scallop edging) to get it to be as wide as the Gilmore Girls blanket.

So that’s it. The two crochet blankets in Gilmore Girls located, dissected and ready for you to replicate!

 

 

Crochet on TV (Orange Is The New Black)

05 Thursday Sep 2013

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In August 2013 Kyli Rhynalds contacted me with a plea for help. She had seen a crocheted blanket on Episode 12 of Orange Is The New Black. She emailed to say “I HAVE to recreate! I’m sure you understand that need. 🙂 Do you think you can help?” Of course I understand. The blanket is absolutely beautiful! I seriously had gooseflesh when I saw it. It looks so femine, lacy and soft. I can imagine that prison inmates would fight about this blanket. Hey, I’m a free womand and I’ll fight for it!

orange is the new black crochet blanket fullcrochet blanket orange is the new black

I don’t have a lot of photos to go by, but between Kyli and me we figured out that two motifs from Pierrot Yarns can be combined to make a very similar blanket.

For the yarn, stick to light grey and two shades of a peachy-pink in Chunky or Aran with an appropriate size crochet hook.

For the grey octagons, I found Colour the Season Coasters, which is a charted Japanese pattern from Pierrot Yarns. Click on the “direct link to pattern PDF” hyperlink in the Ravelry description to open a pdf file for the crochet chart. For the flowers I think this is the closest flower motif. It’s also a charted Japanese octagon pattern from Pierrot Yarns so it should fit it with the grey octagons. If you look at the first photo, you’ll see that the spaces between two motifs are filled with 5-chain links. These 5-chain links are used in the grey octagon motif, so just keep adding those 5-chain links around the edges of your motifs to make up the empty spaces and join the motifs together.

In the second photo you will see how the blanket is edged. You basically have to fill in the spaces between the motifs around the edges, with more 5-chain links, and use (US) double crochet / (UK) treble crochet stitches to make the sides square. I think you would have to do like they did by making wide borders, otherwise your blanket may be too floppy. The wide border is what makes it keep its shape.

This blog post is certainly not a pattern for the Orange Is The New Black blanket – you’ll have to play around a bit and figure it out as you go, but hopefully the two motifs I found can point you in the right direction.

*If you need help with reading Japanese crochet charts, I list handy websites in the last paragraph of this post.

Crochet on TV (Taxi)

25 Sunday Aug 2013

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Yesterday I received an email from Cade J. Campbell of Cleburne, Texas alerting me to another Roseanne style granny square afghan on a TV show:  the crochet afghan on Zena’s parents couch in Season 2 of Taxi, episode 13 Louie Meets the Folks.

I’ve never seen the TV show Taxi, but luckily I could watch Episode 13 of Season two on this website.  (A lot of website don’t want to play the clip as I am located outside of the US, but this one does.)

Most of this episode is set in the living room where the granny square afghan is thrown over the back of the couch. It really is a beautiful multi coloured granny square. It livens up the scenes with its bright mix of colours. I love it! I’m so glad Cade told me about it! Cade also very kindly sent me a couple of screenshot. Thanks Cade!

Taxi crochet afghan on couch

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To recreate this granny square afghan you would need 4-round traditional granny squares in a mix of bright colours. I think the square are arranged in 9 rows of 14 squares each, so that would be a total of 126 granny squares.

The squares look quite big for 4-rounds granny squares, so I think they used a Chunky yarn.

What makes this afghan different to, for instance, the Roseanne crochet afghan is the way the squares are joined. In the Roseanne blanket the black yarn was used as the last round of each square. From what I can see the black yarn in the Taxi afghan was only used to join the squares. I think they did a slip stitch through the chain 1 space of both squares, then chained 3 and did a slip stitch through the chain 1 space of both squares again and so on. Where four squares connect, the centre looks quite dark. This would happen when there is a slip stitch in each corner shell of the four squares – the four slip stitches, seen together, will make a tiny black square.  The border for the afghan looks like a row of shells, done in dark green.

You can have a look at the Photo Tutorials tab of this blog to download a pdf document that shows you step by step how to make a multicoloured granny square.

Don’t you think it’s amazing what a difference the way you join granny squares, can make to the overall look of an afghan or blanket? The Roseanne and Taxi couch afghans are both done in traditional granny squares, both in bright colours arranged in no particular order and in both blankets the squares are framed in black – it’s just the amount of black that differs and yet the two blankets look totally different.  And this is why I love granny squares – the possibilities are endless!

Mabel the pug and her crochet hat

20 Tuesday Aug 2013

Posted by in As seen on TV, Etsy, Other people's crochet

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crochet pug hat

Mabel is the spokesPug for Three‘s Pug321 campaign.  Only a pug can carrry off a crocheted birthday cake hat and gangster chain and still look this cute – choosing Mabel was perfect casting by Weiden & Kennedy London. Three says they used a pug for this campaign because “pugs are charming creatures that embody the spirit of the internet: serious, but with a just a little bit of silliness.” I think I’m going to start calling the internet, Mabel from now on.

If you want to dress up the pug in your life with crocheted birthday cake hat, have a look at PugsnGiggles’ Etsy shop here.

 

More Mad Men

09 Wednesday Jan 2013

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Continuing with the Mad Men theme of earlier this week, check out the cast of Mad Men in crochet amigurumi!

Every figure is custom crocheted in order to capture the special details that make each character unique.  From Peggy’s ascot to Cooper’s suspenders to Joan’s *ahem* curves, each Mini Mad Men doll is a tribute to one of the best shows on TV.

It’s the work of an American crochet artist called Smapte, who sells on Etsy under the name Xanadoodle. You can see the full listing for the six amigurumi dolls here.

I think my favourite doll is Peggy, although I really like Joan’s hair. Did you notice that Don is the only one without a big friendly smile? Probably because he’s the character who says things like “What you call love was invented by guys like me to sell nylons.” Real life, or amigurumi – Don doesn’t do friendly.

Which Mad Men mini doll is your favourite?

Crochet on TV (more Mad Men)

06 Sunday Jan 2013

Posted by in As seen on TV, My ramblings, Other people's crochet

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Shortly before Christmas I received an email from Charlotte asking me whether I know how to make the crochet blanket that is draped over the couch of the Draper’s living room in Mad Men. (Did you see what I did there…? Draped over the Draper’s couch. Genius.)

Charlotte said she has spotted this crochet blanket in scenes from Mad Men Season 1 through to 3. How did I miss  that?!  Oh yes, I know. Mr. Draper himself was usually in the scene with the crochet blanket so my attentions were a tad diverted….

Mad Men blanket

Focus on the blanket ladies. Eyes to the right.

Upon closer inspection of this scene from Season 3, Episode 1 above I can safely say that the crochet blanket in Mad Men is a classic Catherine Wheel design in black, red, lemon yellow, mint green, white and beige with a deep red / maroon edge.

It looks like the blanket in Mad Men is the same as the one in another TV series, Breaking Bad. Sarah London explains in this blogpost exactly how to recreate the Breaking Bad blanket by using the Catherine Wheel crochet stitch, in other words, also how to create the Mad Men blanket seeing as it’s the same pattern!

The only slight difference I see is that in the Mad Men blanket, they sometimes have two rows in the same colour (like the lemon yellow in the photo at the top of this post), but apart from that, it’s very similar.

If you make a Catherine Wheel crochet blanket in black, red, lemon yellow, mint green, white and beige you will basically have recreated the blanket from two TV shows: Mad Men and Breaking Bad give or take a few colours! Score!

If you need more help, I found a video by the Crochet Geek on youtube that shows you exactely how to make a Catherine Wheel, also known as the Harlequin stitch.

 

On the Berocco website you can find a free pdf pattern for a Catherine Wheel blanket. They call it “Greenway” and it’s really pretty.

If we drape a Catherine Wheel crochet blanket over our couch, do you think Mr. Draper will drape himself over same couch? One can only hope…. and hook.

Crochet on TV (The Guardian)

13 Thursday Dec 2012

Posted by in As seen on TV, Other people's crochet, Pattern

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On the 11th October Anita left me a comment saying that she had spotted a crochet throw on The Guardian, Season 2, Episode 10. I just had to investigate.

The episode’s name is “Sacrifice” and the crochet blanket is to die for!!! Betsy, played by Ashley Johnson, wraps herself in the crochet throw. Sorry Ashely, but the throw steals the show big time!

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Each square is made up of four of tiny granny squares. (Steps 1 to 8 of this granny square photo tutorial.)

You join your the four tiny squares together with this method to make one big square.

Then, join the big squares together with this zig zag scallop join method.  It’s not exactly the same as the throw in the show, but it’s as close as I could find and it will give you the same effect.

To get the same colour effect, make sure you use one colour for two of the tiny squares in each big square as well as for your scallop join. This will be your main colour. If you do it this way, the other colours you chose for your tiny squares will stand out and give a visual rhythm to the throw.

Now that I think about it, this design can be used for scarves, throws, cushions and even sweaters….. I’m off to Ravelry to add yet another project to my queue.

Crochet on TV (The Roseanne Show)

12 Thursday Jul 2012

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Yesterday I got an email from one of my lovely blog readers thanking me for doing these Spotted on TV posts. She mentioned the afghan / blanket that appeared on the couch in almost all the Roseanne show episodes. Initially I had no idea what she was talking about, but a quick Google search later I was in crochet-on-TV heaven!

I had actually forgotten about that beautiful granny square blanket – guess I watched Roseanne in the days when I was not eagerly searching for anything crocheted on TV. (I hear that’s the way most normal people watch TV. Normal has obviously gone out the window once the hooky bug bit me. )

Just like the afghan on Amy’s couch in Big Bang Theory which I blogged about here, this is also a traditional granny square blanket. Amy’s blanket is made up of 4 rounds (the 4th round being black), but Roseanne’s blanket has 120 squares of 5 rounds each (the 5th round being black). If you want to make one yourself, you can learn how to crochet a traditional granny square here.

I like the colour arrangements of the Roseanne blanket more than the Big Bang Theory blanket because the colours of the first 4 rounds, and the placement of the squares, are more random which makes it more interesting I think.

Diane, who emailed me about the blanket, said that she read somewhere that the blanket use to get stolen a lot off set. I just had to investigate (the rumour, not the theft).

Vintage Spinster says on her blog:

True story: that particular afghan was stolen off the set a couple times and eventually had to keep being remade and stitched to the couch. Version #3 now lives on the prop couch in the Smithsonian.

I tried to find references to the Roseanne show couch and/or blanket on the Smithsonian website but without success. I also emailed them to ask if this is true – haven’t heard back from them yet, but if I do, I’ll let you know.* I can however totally see why someone would steal the blanket twice – it’s such an iconic part of the show and let’s face it, it’s beautiful!

Episode 10 of the last season of the show is called Home is Where the Afghan is. Yes, that’s right! …where the afghan is!!! The writers of the show obviously also realised what an important part the afghan has played on The Roseanne Show. Considering the show started in 1988 and the last season was aired in 1996, that afghan must have been seen by millions of people and become just as iconic as Roseanne herself.

Imagine that: a crocheted afghan being the star of a TV show episode! And not only that, it proves what we hookers have known all along: a crocheted afghan will turn a house into a home.

*I got a reply from the Smithsonian:

We do not have the couch from the Roseanne tv show in the collections at the Museum of American History.  Dwight Bowers Curator, Entertainment Collections, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution

**A comment by John Lamantia on 15 February 2014 on the Facebookpage Where is the “Roseanne Couch” sheds more light on the couch and the crochet blanket sewn onto it:

About 9 years ago, I almost bought the couch and afghan (now sewn on to it). Garvin Eddy, the shows set designer had ownership of the couch and some other pieces from the show. He posted it on Ebay for $10,000. I wanted to purchase, but really had no room. We talked and he was going to drop the price to $4,500, again having no room, I had to decline, but offered money for the afghan. He said that he didn’t want to separate the two and that it had been sewn on near the end of filming since he thought people were trying to take it. Its probably best they stay a pair since they are so recognizable together. No idea where it is today. Dan’s matching chair and dogs playing poker pictures were also up for auction at different times.