Sharon Blignaut’s Crochet Block a Week CAL 2014: The Free Along That Changed How We Learn Crochet
There are crochet alongs, and then there are crochet alongs that leave a lasting impression on the crafting community. Sharon Blignaut’s Crochet Block a Week CAL 2014 falls firmly into the second category. Years after it originally ran, crafters are still searching for it, still working through the blocks, and still sharing their finished blankets with pride. If you have stumbled across a reference to this beloved project and want to know everything about it, or if you are ready to dive in and start crocheting yourself, this is the complete guide you have been looking for.
What Is a Crochet Along?
Before we get into the specifics of Sharon Blignaut’s project, it helps to understand the format. A crochet along, commonly abbreviated as CAL, is a community event where crocheters from around the world work on the same pattern at the same time. The designer releases the pattern in installments, usually weekly or monthly, and participants follow along at whatever pace suits them. People share their progress on social media, in dedicated groups, and on personal blogs, creating a sense of shared creativity even though everyone is sitting in their own home with their own yarn.
CALs have become one of the most popular formats in the modern crochet community precisely because they combine the joy of independent crafting with the encouragement of a group. You are never alone in your project, even on the evenings when the pattern is giving you trouble and you feel like frogging the whole thing and starting fresh.
Sharon Blignaut’s Crochet Block a Week CAL 2014 became one of the most celebrated examples of this format, partly because of its accessibility, partly because of the quality of the blocks themselves, and partly because Sharon made the entire thing completely free.
Who Is Sharon Blignaut?
Sharon Blignaut is a South African crochet designer whose work has been warmly received by the international crochet community. Her designs are known for being beautifully constructed, clearly explained, and genuinely achievable for crocheters who are still building their skills. She has a gift for taking techniques that might seem intimidating and breaking them down into steps that make sense.
Her blog and social media presence built a loyal following of people who trust her patterns and appreciate her teaching style. The 2014 Block a Week CAL was not her first project, but it became the piece of work that introduced her to a much wider audience. Crafters who found her through the CAL often went on to explore her other designs, and many have cited her as someone who helped them grow significantly as a crocheter.
The Concept Behind Block a Week
The premise of the CAL is beautifully simple. Every week throughout 2014, Sharon released a new crochet block pattern. Participants would make each block as it was released, collect them over the course of the year, and eventually join them all together into a large blanket or throw.
This structure had several advantages that made it particularly appealing. First, working one block at a time meant the project never felt overwhelming. You were not staring down the barrel of a 52-block blanket all at once. You were simply making one block this week. That single block might take an evening or two, which is entirely manageable for someone with a busy life.
Second, the weekly cadence meant that over the course of a year, participants were essentially working through a crochet education. Each block introduced different techniques, different stitch combinations, or different structural approaches. By the time you had completed all 52 blocks, you had touched on a remarkable breadth of crochet knowledge. It was a masterclass disguised as a blanket project.
Third, the community aspect meant that help was always nearby. If you were struggling with a particular block, someone in the group had probably already figured it out and was willing to share their insight.
What Makes the Blocks Special
One of the most frequently praised aspects of the CAL is the variety and quality of the individual blocks. Sharon did not simply repeat the same granny square 52 times with slight color variations. Each block was genuinely different from the others, with its own character, its own technical demands, and its own visual appeal.
Some blocks used traditional granny square construction. Others explored textured stitches like bobbles, popcorns, and puff stitches. Some were worked in the round from the center outward, while others were worked in rows. There were blocks with floral motifs, blocks with geometric patterns, blocks that played with color in interesting ways, and blocks that focused on creating interesting surface texture.
This variety served a dual purpose. It kept participants engaged throughout the year because there was always something new coming. And it built a genuine skill set. Working through the full CAL, you would practice increases and decreases, learn how to keep squares square as you add rounds, experiment with how different yarn weights affect the drape of a block, and develop an intuitive understanding of how crochet fabric behaves.
Yarn and Color Choices
Because the CAL was designed to accommodate a wide range of crocheters, Sharon made the yarn and color guidance flexible rather than prescriptive. Participants were encouraged to choose their own yarn and color palette, which meant that every finished blanket looked completely unique even though everyone was working from the same patterns.
This creative freedom became one of the most celebrated aspects of the project. When people shared their finished blocks online, the visual diversity was extraordinary. Someone working with soft pastels and a fine-weight cotton yarn produced a completely different aesthetic result than someone using bold jewel tones and a chunky wool blend, even though both were technically making the same block.
Many participants used the CAL as an opportunity to work through their yarn stash. The block-by-block structure was perfect for this because you could assign different colors to different blocks without needing to plan the entire blanket in advance. The result was often a wonderfully eclectic, scrappy blanket full of color story and personality.
For those who preferred a more cohesive look, choosing two or three coordinating colors at the start and rotating them throughout the blocks produced a more unified finished blanket. Both approaches are entirely valid, and the pattern supports both.
In terms of yarn weight, most participants worked with a light to medium weight yarn, typically labeled as DK or worsted weight, paired with an appropriate hook size. This produces blocks at a comfortable size for blanket-making without the project becoming too heavy or taking too long.
The Community That Grew Around the CAL
One of the things that elevated Sharon’s CAL from a simple pattern project to a true community experience was the way participants connected with each other. Dedicated groups formed on platforms like Facebook, Ravelry, and various crochet forums, where people shared their progress photos, asked questions, offered encouragement, and celebrated each other’s milestones.
These communities had a genuinely warm atmosphere. Because the CAL attracted crocheters at many different skill levels, from beginners attempting their first granny squares to experienced makers looking for a structured long-term project, there was a spirit of mutual support and generosity. More experienced participants were patient with beginners. Beginners brought fresh enthusiasm that energized everyone else.
People shared tips and tricks for particular blocks, posted photos of their color combinations for inspiration, offered modifications for those who wanted to adapt the pattern, and generally created an environment where the craft felt joyful and communal. Many participants reported that the friendships they made through the CAL community were as meaningful to them as the blanket itself.
Even years after the CAL originally ran, these communities continued to welcome new participants who discovered the project after the fact. The attitude was always that it doesn’t matter when you start. What matters is that you’re working on it.
Working the CAL at Your Own Pace
One of the questions people ask most frequently about this project is whether they can still participate even though 2014 is long past. The answer is an enthusiastic yes. Because the patterns were released for free and remain available, anyone can work through the blocks at whatever pace suits them.
Some people choose to follow the original weekly schedule, making one block per week to stretch the project over a year. Others prefer to work more quickly, making several blocks in a weekend crafting session. Some work the CAL as a relaxed ongoing project, picking it up whenever they want a satisfying meditative crochet project that does not require too much mental engagement.
There is no wrong approach. The CAL was always designed with flexibility in mind, and the community that surrounds it has always been welcoming to participants at any stage of the project.
If you are starting fresh, you might enjoy the weekly rhythm simply because it prevents the project from feeling too large. Making 52 blocks can sound daunting, but making one block this week and one block next week is entirely manageable. Before you know it, months have passed and you have a stack of beautiful squares to show for it.
Joining the Blocks
Once you have made all 52 blocks, or however many you have completed, the question becomes how to join them together. There are many different joining methods available to crocheters, and the choice of joining method can significantly affect the final appearance of the blanket.
The flat slip stitch join and the single crochet join are two of the most popular options. The single crochet join creates a visible seam on the right side of the work, which some people deliberately use as a design element because it adds an additional graphic line to the finished piece. The flat slip stitch join creates a less visible seam that lets the blocks themselves remain the focus.
The join as you go method is another option that some participants prefer. Rather than making all the blocks and then joining them, this approach has you attach each new block to the previous ones as you finish it, eliminating a separate joining step entirely.
For a blanket with a more decorative finish, some crocheters use the granny join, which creates a small square of open chain stitches at each joining point, adding visual interest to the seams themselves.
Sharon’s community shared a wealth of guidance on joining options, and you can find discussions of these methods in the various groups and blogs associated with the CAL.
Adding a Border
After joining your blocks, most crocheters choose to add a border around the entire blanket to give it a finished, polished look. The border serves both a practical and an aesthetic function. Practically, it evens out any slight irregularities along the edges and creates a clean frame. Aesthetically, it pulls the entire piece together and gives it a completed, intentional appearance.
Border options range from the very simple, such as a single round of single crochet worked in a contrasting or matching color, to the elaborate, such as a shell stitch border or a picot edging. Many participants shared their border choices in the community groups, which gives you plenty of visual reference for making your own decision.
The key consideration when choosing a border is how well it complements the blocks themselves. A busy, textured border might compete with highly textured blocks, while a simple, clean border would let those blocks breathe. Conversely, a plainer set of blocks might benefit from a more decorative border that adds a final flourish.
Why This CAL Still Resonates Today
More than a decade after Sharon Blignaut first began releasing these patterns, the Crochet Block a Week CAL 2014 continues to attract new participants and generate enthusiasm in the crochet community. This longevity speaks to something deeper than just the quality of the patterns, though that certainly plays a role.
The CAL resonates because it offers something increasingly rare: a genuinely free, genuinely generous creative resource that asks nothing in return except your enthusiasm and your time. In an era when so much crafting content has moved behind paywalls or requires subscription fees, there is something refreshing and almost radical about a designer simply offering 52 weeks of carefully crafted patterns because she loves the craft and wants to share it.
It also resonates because of what it represents as a learning tool. Working through all 52 blocks is, as mentioned earlier, essentially a comprehensive crochet education. The skills and techniques you encounter along the way will serve you in countless future projects. Many crocheters have reported that completing this CAL gave them a confidence and a technical fluency that they had been unable to develop through other means.
And it resonates because of the community it created and continues to sustain. The warmth and generosity that characterized the original 2014 community has not dissipated. If anything, the community has matured and deepened over the years, welcoming wave after wave of new participants who bring fresh energy while longtime members provide continuity and wisdom.
Getting Started Today
If you are ready to begin Sharon Blignaut’s Crochet Block a Week CAL 2014, here is what you need to know to get started. Begin by locating the pattern collection, which has been made available for free and is accessible through Sharon’s blog and the various community groups associated with the project. A simple search will point you in the right direction.
Once you have the patterns in hand, gather your supplies. You will need yarn in the weight and colors you prefer, an appropriate crochet hook, scissors, a yarn needle for weaving in ends, and stitch markers if you use them. Having a dedicated project bag or container for your blocks is helpful as they accumulate.
Start with block one and give yourself permission to take your time. If a particular block feels challenging, that is entirely normal and also entirely the point. The challenge is where the learning happens. The community groups are full of people who have worked through every block in the collection and are happy to help if you get stuck.
Post your progress. Share your blocks online and connect with other participants. The social dimension of the project is genuinely enriching, and there is something particularly motivating about seeing your work acknowledged and celebrated by fellow crocheters.
Most importantly, enjoy the process. A project this long is ultimately about the journey as much as the destination. The finished blanket will be beautiful and deeply satisfying, but the weeks and months of making it, the quiet evenings with yarn and hook, the gradual accumulation of blocks, the slow emergence of a color story, that process is itself the reward.
Sharon Blignaut’s Crochet Block a Week CAL 2014 is the kind of project that stays with you long after the last block is joined and the border is complete. Pick up your hook, choose your colors, and find out for yourself what makes it so special.
