Welcome to this Friday’s VTNS (Vintage Textile and Needlework Sellers) Fan Freebie!

Here’s a crochet pattern for a pretty Rainbow Afghan.

“Nothing lovelier can be imagined than a rainbow flung across the sky after a summer shower. Equally charming in a room is this “Rainbow” Afghan in coral, green and amber.”

The pattern is from a Virginia Snow Studios Afghan booklet. If you’d like to read about the history of Collingbourne Mills and Virginia Snow Studios in Elgin, Illinois, the Illinois Quilt History website has a detailed story about them.

You may have also heard of the Grandma Dexter booklets. When the Collingbourne Mills expanded to include Dexter Yarn Company, Grandma Dexter was used as a fictional character featured on catalogs and instruction booklets in the 1930’s.

Reading through the history of Virginia Snow Studios, I believe this pattern is probably from the late 1920’s.

The afghan and bolster pillow use Collingbourne’s “Lustrous” Wool Rayon yarn. Looking for something similar, I found these Knit Picks Chroma Worsted Yarn 5-packs that are a 70% Wool and 30% Nylon blend. They also come in a fingerling weight and 21 different blended colors. The colors are amazing. You could probably use these variegated yarns and end up with a beautiful rainbow afghan without changing colors.

You can see the wonderful colors the Collingbourne’s yarn came in with this chart that was included in the booklet.

Seven colors of this yarn are used in the Rainbow Afghan pattern below. Each of the balls of yarn weighed a half an ounce.

Here’s more information about the yarns used for this afghan, giving you a better idea of what you might use for a substitute.

Below you’ll find the link for the instructions in PDF format:

Rainbow Afghan Crochet Pattern

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The pattern is in PDF format so to read it you’ll need the Adobe Reader software on your computer. Most computers come with it, but it is free and can be found here.

Download Instructions: Right-Click the link and select either “save target as” or “save link as” depending on what browser you are using or simply click on it and save or print.

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Enjoy!

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