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.
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….
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.
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!
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.
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).
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.
Roughly 3 minutes 35 seconds into this clip you’ll see Darlene take out THE granny square afghan, which turns the modern couch into a snuggly family couch.
My heart raced a little bit. Honestly it did.
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
Just a rumour then. Investigation complete, file closed.
Last night I was lying sprawled out on the couch under the Identity Crisis blanket getting my final fix of Mr. Don Draper in Mad Men.
Geez, I love Mad Men! The smoking in the office, the drinking in the office, the unashamedly sexist comments, the fashion, LSD trips, everything! I love it so much I didn’t even crochet in front of the TV, just so that I could give the season finale my undivided attention.
As a reward, the Gods of Crochet rewarded me with a granny square blanket right there on Beth’s hospital bed!
The blanket is a basic granny in the typical late 1960′s colours of brown, olive and orange. It’s done in big squares of orange or brown, the last round of each being olive green. I think the squares are about 10 rounds each with the olive as the last round. When you join up all the squares, the olive round of one will lie next to the olive of the square next to it, forming a grid of olive which sort of frames the orange and brown squares.
If I remember correctly, the edging was done as a row of brown with a scalloped edge in olive. Something like this.
If the Season 5 Finale was a let down for you, you can always count on your granny square afghan to bring you comfort. It may not be Don Draper, but it’s just as easy on the eye.
It’s been a while since I’ve spotted any crochet on TV. In fact, I still haven’t seen any crochet since my last post. Where do the images in this post from Big Bang Season 5 Episode 18 come from then, you may ask.
They were taken by my dear Hubby. He was watching Big Bang in his Man Cave, while I was crocheting in my usual spot on the couch, watching Desperate Housewives. (He has been known to say things like “I can feel brain cells dying” when he is unfortunate enough to catch a glimpse of Gabby/Bree/Susan/Lynette fretting over missing dead bodies/poisoned brownies/run-over PTA members).
He may be waaaay to cool for Desperate Housewives, but luckily not so cool that he wouldn’t take a photo of a granny square afghan for his crochet mad wife. Love you Hubby ♥.
But enough gushing for now, back to the hooking.
My very first “Spotted on TV!” post was about this very afghan in Amy’s apartment. You can see it here. These photos however give us a much better picture. It looks like the afghan is made up of 4-round granny squares, with the fourth round of each square in the traditional black.
Usually the squares for an afghan made up of different colour combinations, are put together very randomly, but here the red-and-black squares are grouped together in clusters throughout the blanket. I can see at least three clusters of red-and-black squares. There’s also a diagonal line of white-and-blue squares. I can’t decide whether I like these groupings or not…. I wonder whether this was intentional? What do you think?
No matter whether you like the placement of the squares or not, no-one can deny that Sheldon looks so sweet and comfy under his blanky. Covered with a granny square afghan is like getting a hug from, well, your granny. Got to love it!
A few weeks ago in The Middle Season 3, episode 12 I fell in love with yet another crochet afghan. This show really is a treasure trove of crochet blankets!
I love the zigzag, retro, colourful look of the blanket on Sue’s bed.
I’ve been searching high and low for something even remotely close to this zig zag pattern and today I found it in Robyn Chachula’s Crochet Visual Encyclopedia. I paged through the book in my local Waterstones during my lunch break. When I saw it, I almost screamed out loud – on the inside I was punching the air. I had a feeling that a stitch dictionary / encyclopedia would contain the stitch and it did! I then, very sneakily, tried to take a picture of the page so that I could post it on the blog for you. I returned ran back to the office, eager to download the photo from my camera phone only to find it wasn’t there! Covert operations are obviously not my forte….
But fear not ye hookers, the Gods of Crochet were on my side: a quick Google search produced the exact pattern, and more!
This link takes you to the US Amazon page for the Crochet Stitches Visual Encyclopedia. The bonus is that at the bottom of the page, there are sample patterns for you to try, and it includes “Malawi” which I think is the closest match to Sue’s blanket!!! How cool is that!?
I’m also going to update my post of 22 December to include a link to the “Double Crochet Track Seam” and ”Chain Space Seam” sample patterns, as more ways to join the grannies like in the Dooms Day Killer’s victim’s blanket.
In the same episode of The Middle, Mike is sitting under a grey and red crochet afghan. Unfortunately I haven’t been able to locate the stitch used in this one. In my defence, the blanket doesn’t appear for very long so I can’t get a very good look at it. If however you think you know what pattern they used, please let me know!
I think I’ll have to invest in the Crochet Stitches Visual Encyclopedia in the very near future (it really is a brilliant book!). Covert phone operations and Google searches won’t snip the mustard yarn* for much longer….
In the latest Smurfs 3D movie there is a crochet afghan and a circular tablecloth in the livingroom. Have you seen? Isn’t the blanket just totally amaaaaazing?!
The blanket definitely has a distinct Babette blanket look to it. You can recreate it with the free Babette pattern on Interweave’s website.
If you don’t feel like crocheting the blanket, you can buy the blanket here. The link comes from a comment by Regina Graves, who was the set designer for the movie, on the Knit One Knit Two blog, so you know it’s the real deal.
As for the circular tablecloth, try Crocheting with Raymond’s pattern for a circular granny mandala and just keep on going until it’s the right size. To get the shabby look like in the movie, use a too big hook for your yarn, for instance a no. 6 with DK, or a no.4 with fingering, that way it will be very open and drape nicely. When you’re done crocheting the circle, add pompoms. Sarah London recently blogged about her pompoms here.
So there you have it – you can buy or recreate the blanket and you can recreate the tablecloth as used in a Smurfs movie.
Who would have thought that the Smurfs and crochet would ever be mentioned in the same sentence?!
More crochet spotted on TV: a very pretty, brightly coloured granny square cushion in the advertisement for the digital switchover Help Scheme.
I wish I could find a better image of the cushion, because it really is very pretty and sweet (but only half as sweet as the lovely lady sitting next to it).
This very pretty granny square afghan is in one of the Dooms Day Killer’s victim’s houses in Dexter Season 6, Episode 12.
I really like the off-white and shades of blue, with just a touch of yellow. Whoever made this afghan also chose not to join the squares in the traditional way where the squares are seamed together, but rather used an open, lacey way of joining the squares. I think they used Crochet Cabana’s Lacy joining method which you can find here.
Le Monde Sucrette describes a similar method here, although hers is a single row of zigzag.
You can also create this effect with rows of shells to join, like Carina does on her Craftblog.
You can also have a look at Robyn Chachula’s sample pattern from her Crochet Stitches Visual Encyclopedia for the written and diagramatic pattern for joinging grannies.
I’ve had an off-white-with-bright-colours project on my To Hook list for a while now. After seeing this beautiful afghan, the project has moved up the list! Traditional joining methods have however moved down the list somewhat…
I had a feeling that a stitch dictionary / encyclopedia would contain the stitch and it did! I then, very sneakily, tried to take a picture of the page so that I could post it on the blog for you. I 
