For about five or six years, my husband and I were parts of various groups that played the board game Settlers of Catan on a regular basis, anywhere from once a week to once a month. If you’ve never played it before, the rules are a little complicated to explain the first time, but once you catch on, it’s a fun strategy-based game that you can play with a lot of variation.

For my husband’s birthday this year, I decided I was going to make him a Catan blanket in secret. The secret project only lasted for a day before he figured out I was making something, but I was able to keep the blanket itself a surprise for the three weeks it took me.

The idea for the project came from Cthulhu Crochet and Cousins’ Settlers of Catan ‘ghan. I selected a Turkish brand yarn, Kartopu Resital, a 100% Acrylic yarn similar to Red Heart Super Saver.

Based on the colors I could find in the same brand, I made a few adjustments from the original, but settled on the following hexagons:

Wheat: mustardy gold
Wood/Lumber: dark hunter green
Sheep/Pastures: light green
Sea/Border: royal blue
Ore: dusty grey blue
Brick: light reddish brown
Desert: sandy tan

To confirm how many I would need of each color, I pulled out the board and set it up. I ended up setting up the 5-6 player expansion version so that I could make the blanket a bit bigger.

Then, I set to work making the hexes, using a 6.0mm (US J) hook, following the hexagon motif pattern. 52 hexes later, I had almost memorized the stitch counts for each round, but still kept my cheat sheet nearby. Once you know how to sc and start a magic circle, you’ll be golden. I also used stitch counters for the first time with this pattern, which I found to be a little tricky at first, but are easy to get the hang of with a little practice.

Once all the hexes were completed, I assembled them with the mattress stitch/invisible weave. Once they were all connected, I used a yarn needle to weave in all the little ends (which were way too many). For the border, I again followed the instructions from Cthulhu Crochet and Cousins, other than doing round 1 in the desert color, and then round 2 in blue. As a warning, it is very important to skip the stitch at the inside of the V where each hex connects. If you do not, the blanket will be all wavy and not lay flat, and you may find yourself pulling it out and redoing it at midnight the night before your husband’s birthday.