New Start | Super Mario Blanket

My son is a huge Super Mario Bros. fan so I decided to crochet him a blanket featuring a bunch of the Mario characters and items. I'm using Tunisian crochet for the stitches.

So far I have 2 squares completed for the blanket: the mushroom and the star power.

This is my working pattern. I still haven't decided exactly which characters are going to make the cut.

Each image on the pattern is a 16x16 pixel graphic. I'm doubling each pixel to 2x2 as I crochet so the end result is a 32x32 stitched image (plus a 4 stitch border all the way around the image).

You will notice there are several repeat images on my pattern. Take Toad for example. It took me so long to make every image the exact same dimensions, I didn't have it in me to make a blue Toad, a yellow Toad, and a red Toad. I can just look at the blue Toad and make it red. The same thing goes for several of the Mario characters.

Right now I'm planning to crochet 28 Mario characters and 28 solid squares. That may change again, but that is the current plan.

My son is helping me decide which characters to stitch next. Hopefully this will also help eliminate how hard it is to narrow down the images. I've started stitching Goomba's Shoe (what we call "the boot"), and I think it will be one of the easier squares.

I'm using mostly Caron Simply Soft yarn, but I will use a couple Red Heart Super Saver yarns, too. The yellow I used for the star power is RHSS. I needed it to be really bright.

You can also see my plastic crochet hook in that last picture. If you are going to do a small project in Tunisian crochet, I really recommend these plastic crochet hooks. The normal Tunisian crochet hooks (that look like knitting needles) are just too long and most regular crochet hooks do not allow you to keep enough stitches on your hook. Prior to getting the plastic hooks, I was using a regular aluminum hook, but it was a nightmare trying to get my stitches over the grip bump.

These are the crochet hooks I am using:

I got them at Michael's in a set of G - K. I'm using size J for my Mario squares. The key is to find a hook that is smooth all the way down (no grips). Another great option is bamboo double ended crochet hooks.

I have a few other projects in the works, and I have to finish Hide Tide in the next month or so, but this blanket really is a lot of fun. I'm excited to see it progress, and I just love how excited my boys are about it, too.

Best stitches!