repairing a crochet blanket

                                                                                       

Wrapped up inside this lovely vintage crochet throw is this:

and this:

Some friends of mine at church asked if I would take a look at this throw that his grandmother had made for him and try to repair it.  He is a Labrador-lover, and his dog apparently loved on this blanket one day while "mom & dad" weren't home.  I'm not sure how old the blanket is, my friends are in their mid 50s, so I'm thinking this throw has been around at least 30 years or more especially after looking at the variances in the yarn color in the top picture.  I have been procrastinating for about a month to get this done and decided today was the day to git er done.  Here is the process I used (and made up as I went along!)

1. Clean the wound, i.e., remove any loose fibers and tie off any loose ends

from this:

to this:

making sure to keep one of the longer loose ends unclipped to tie into.

 

  2.  Tie loose end of crochet blanket to yarn that is being used to repair blanket with a sewer's knot:

and start crocheting with pattern as much as possible.  This will be difficult to do and somewhat fiddly since your tension and yarn size may be different from the original.  Make sure to slip stitch wherever needed as you crochet to close the gaps up as you go.  Your ending repair will not be perfect, but much better than a hole in your much loved blankie that tends to get bigger and bigger! 

Here are the holes and their before and after shots:

and

Happy crocheting!

~Penny

 

Comments

[Amy]

Very impressive! Good Job!!!!!

[Melis]

Thank you for posting this. I have a baby boy on the way and I have the blanket my great grandma crocheted for me over 30 years ago! It does have some holes and want to fix it. Now I know it is possible... I just need to learn how to crochet!

[Stephanie in MN]

Really, a nice job! I've repaired quite a few afghans for others. Sometimes you can use yarn from the outer part of the afghan to fix the inner damage. Makes the repair less noticeable if the yarn, at least, matches. Then use anything current that goes with the afghan to redo the area where you took yarn. If the original is variegated, try matching 2 of the colors with a thinner yarn, and crochet with both colors together. It will almost always blend in better than using a modern variegated

[Gloria in TX]

My dog also chewed a hole in a blanket my mom made for me. I have been trying to find a good site with step by step instructions on how to repair it. The pictures really helped! Great job, by the way.

[Lovely Linda]

Thanks, Penny, for your informative post about repairing a crocheted blanket. I have a cotton thread doily my Mother made for me several years ago. Somehow, it also got a hole in it. By using your post, I may be able to repair this lovely doily. Although, the repair will be visible it will still be better than a hole. Again, thanks.
Linda

[יין ישראלי]

Great job done by you here. It is not a simple and easy task to repair crochet blanket. It is inspire to me to do such work.

[Donna James]

Please can you help, I live in the UK and desperately need to find someone who can repair a crochet blanket for me. It belongs to my best friend who lent it to me many years ago when I had my daughter. Unfortunately it became damaged and now she is awaiting the arrival of her first grandchild and would like it returned. I desperately need to have it repaired. Can anyone out there help me?

[Tamara - Moogly]

Great post! I had someone asking my how to do this the other day, so I'm so glad I could point them at your site! I linked to you on my blog: http://www.mooglyblog.com/unpinning-pinterest-for-march-2013/

Thanks so much for sharing!

[Cerise]

Thank you, thank you, thank you! My grandmother crocheted a beautiful blanket and my pup got a hold of it. I've kept it safe for years unsure of how to repair it. I am SO SO happy that I can finally fix it. Yay!

[Mary Doukakis]

Great job!

[A Olster]

Thanks for taking the time to prepare and post this.
Repairing something special will almost always take a fair bit of time and effort -so this is an example of the importance of swatching before starting.
Taking the time to analyze the pattern and swatch it will contribute to creating not just a way to prevent further deterioration, but possibly a way to add your own footnote to a piece that will continue to serve your family for many years into the future.

[Vanessa Blanchard]

I have this giant afghan that was made by someone's mother. My dad knew the guy and rescued the blanket as the guy was trying get rid of it. He then turned around and gave it to me while I was pregnant with my son. My dad and I did not get along back then and this blanket was not only a peace offering, but also the perfect present for me. I have used it constantly for years, but my cats snag it up a lot. I've rescued it from a few small holes but one of them was starting to get away from me. I chanced upon this blog right at the point where I would need to retire the blanket for its own good. Thank you for taking the time to post this and give me the tools I need to keep the best present I have ever gotten wrapped around me and my family.

[rae ann dye]

I live in wooster ohio is there anyone that can do a crochet afgan repair please contact me R Dye rradye@sssnet.com thank you

[Debbie Roberts]

Thank You so much for this information!My sister who is deceased made me a beautiful afghan and the moths had lunch! I've kept it in a tightly closed bag for years waiting for someone to explain how to repair it! Again Thank You so much!!

[Diane G.]

Thanks for this post. I made a queen size afghan in tunisian crochet of the John Deere logo for my step-son, and one of my daughter's put a cigarette burn in it. He and I were so mad we could have screamed. I searched the internet and found your post and the information and inspiration to try repairing it, and I'm so glad I did. It isn't a perfect match, but is much better than anything I could have imagined doing without your tutorial here - Thank You!
P.S. pics of my repair can be seen on my ravelry project page for the afghan I repaired - the last two pics of the project show the burn and after repair.
http://www.ravelry.com/projects/playhooky/john-deere-afghan