The first time I laid eyes on Bear’s Rainbow Blanket by Purl Soho, I knew I had to crochet it. The bright, bold design, and the brilliant spectrum of yarn drew me in at first glance. The original pattern calls for Koigu yarn, an absolutely stunning 100% merino wool yarn, whose hand-painted colors are to die for. But its price tag was too steep for me, considering that there are 41 different colors used in the pattern. I shelved the idea for some time, until I happened across DROPS Alpaca, a 100% alpaca yarn of the same weight, that comes in almost 60 different colors. It’s incredibly soft, with fabulous drape, and best of all, when on sale, is about one-fifth the cost of the Koigu. (Garn Studio, makers of DROPS yarns, place their different yarns on sale at least annually, through all retailers.)

I’m in the process of crocheting Bear’s Rainbow Blanket now, and I couldn’t be happier with how the DROPS Alpaca is working up. I thought I’d share the colors I’m using, and my progress on the project, so that you can get an idea of what the blanket looks like in these colors, and the amounts of yarn you will need to create the same blanket.

I’ve chosen 30 colors for the squares, all of which are bordered in white. Each skein of DROPS Alpaca is 50 g, and 167 m, which is more than enough for 3 or 4 inner squares of each color. I plan to make a total of 99 squares. Before blocking, I anticipate the total size of the blanket to be approximately 45″ x 55″. I am using a 3.25mm hook.

Here is the list of colors I am using (1 skein each):

Light Pearl Gray, Light Gray, Light Brown, Light Beige, Wheat, Goldenrod, Orange, Rust, Light Maroon, Red, Red Purple, Tomato, Dark Pink Pink, Medium Pink, Light Pink, Pearl Gray, Purple/Violet, Purple, Gray Purple, Dark Purple, Dark Indigo, Navy Blue, Dark Blue, Light Blue, Light Grayish Green, Turquoise, Dark Turquoise, Teal, Dark Lime, Dark Olive

I anticipate I will need 9 skeins of White to border all of the squares, as each skein is sufficient to border 12 squares.

I love the meditative nature of crocheting this pattern. Now that I have the pattern memorized, the stitches fly off my hook in round after round of joyful hooking! I’ve completed 63 of 99 squares, and can’t wait to dive back into the process. I’ll write a new post once I’ve finished the project.

Who else has worked on this beautiful project? I’ve been perusing the #bearsrainbowblanket tag on Instagram, and loving all of the gorgeous images!