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“Rock Garden” Crocheted Afghan

Posted on January 11, 2009May 21, 2018 by Martha

This pattern was called “Rock Garden” because the instructions called for gray yarn between the granny-type flower motifs. I think the gray looks good in the magazine, and I’m not sure why I decided to use an off-white instead. Mine doesn’t really look much like a rock garden.

I made this in 1977 and I ended up spending a lot more money on yarn than I anticipated. The project began because I had some skeins of Persian wool tapestry yarn that I think someone gave me. I made a few motifs and liked the way they looked, so when I ran out of that yarn, I bought a few more skeins. Each little skein (which cost about $1.00) was just enough yarn to make one motif. Of course, I had to crochet 182 of those motifs to make the afghan, but it didn’t seem that bad since I would only buy a dozen or so at a time.  I had a lot of fun changing the colors around in the motifs — that’s why mine looks scrappier than the original.  After completing all of the flowers with tapestry yarn, I decided to use a more economical wool knitting worsted to crochet them together.

I like the way it looks, mainly because it has so many different colors of yarn.  Although the afghan is very warm, it’s not particularly soft and also it’s extremely heavy. Probably nobody has ever thought about making an afghan out of tapestry yarn, but I wouldn’t advise it.  A link to the instructions is provided below.

Rock Garden Afghan
Martha Dellasega Gray, 1977
crocheted – wool yarn
51″ x 63″

rockgarden1

rockgarden2

McCall’s Handcrafts
Volume II, Afghans
1975
rockgarden3

Click to enlarge instructions, or right-click in the instruction image to save the file.

rock-garden-instructions-2

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16 thoughts on ““Rock Garden” Crocheted Afghan”

  1. Jan says:
    January 11, 2009 at 10:12 pm

    It is very beautiful! I think I like it your way better with white instead of the gray. I think the colors “pop” a little better with the white to offset.

    Reply
  2. Linda Martin says:
    February 23, 2009 at 5:04 am

    What beautiful afghan!!!

    Reply
  3. Gina says:
    March 1, 2009 at 4:55 am

    I agree, the white is a good choice. I have a single hexagon pattern but would love to see all of the one’s on this afghan – could you share these?

    Reply
  4. ashley says:
    March 12, 2009 at 7:42 pm

    Thanks for sharing! Your afghan is lovely.

    Reply
  5. Lori C says:
    September 23, 2013 at 6:48 pm

    Your quilt is very beautiful!

    Reply
  6. louise says:
    June 22, 2014 at 2:55 am

    Ialso made this rock garden 1977 my son was around 7 years old at the time i remember i would leave the motifs around and he would bring them to me and say ” i found one of your rocks for you” he would sit by me and watch me crochet he is now 44 years old and I still have the afghan and when I bring ot out I can still see him by my side watching me

    Reply
  7. Betsey says:
    July 20, 2014 at 11:48 am

    Thank you for posting this pattern! Your afghan is beautiful, and the pattern brings back lots of memories.

    Reply
  8. Sally Anne says:
    July 20, 2014 at 1:41 pm

    I was not offended by your comments. I just wanted to see what a rock garden…. Looked like. Knew I would not have the patience to complete it so did not download. I will however look further on your blog.

    Reply
  9. Buddy44 says:
    July 20, 2014 at 2:44 pm

    Thank you for this beautiful pattern. Will be definetly making it soon.

    Reply
  10. Kathryn VanDine says:
    July 20, 2014 at 5:12 pm

    Love it! Way to use up my scraps!.Thankyou very much…Huggs….Kitty

    Reply
  11. Heather Burson says:
    July 20, 2014 at 5:38 pm

    Thank you for the rock garden down load. I had this pattern free in the 70’S and love it for the “scraps” afghan when I do not want to do the same old granny square stuff. Every one of my kids had one, some with the gray some with their favorite color to join, it looks great with dark brown or white, I even used up all my baby weight yarns in one of these by doing two strands at a time. However we lost everything, it is all gone, nothing I made, or they made is left to us.
    So I start over with other peoples scraps as that is all I can afford and I have to do something with my hands or go a bit more nuts. My hope is to have one for each of my kids by Christmas.

    Thank You
    Heather

    Reply
  12. Glenda Walbert says:
    July 20, 2014 at 8:04 pm

    I am glad to comment on your rock garden I think its lovely and I also think its wonderful that you had this pattern to share (for free) with the lady who needed it Bless you, Glenda

    Reply
  13. brenda gill says:
    July 21, 2014 at 9:09 am

    this is such a nice pattern and it is greatly appreciated that you chose to share it, thank you so much and God bless!!

    Reply
  14. Gayle says:
    July 21, 2014 at 12:44 pm

    Just saw the KP post about your wonderful website! I did see your comment there and thought absolutely I should thank you for all of your great posts. I have looked through your archives and you really have some great patterns. I have downloaded the Rock Garden pattern which I had never seen before. It’s beautiful.

    Reply
  15. Mye says:
    July 22, 2014 at 6:31 am

    Love your afghan too. Hard to believe they are the same afghan.

    Reply
  16. Becky Kalchik says:
    February 14, 2015 at 5:34 am

    Thank you for posting this pattern. I made this back in the late 70s also. Pattern and blanket are now gone and I would like to make and updated one using Red heart Boutique Treasure.

    Reply

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