Gilmore Girls Crochet

I’m so excited to share this Gilmore Girls crochet post! It’s a mix of crochet observations from the show, a virtual tour of Stars Hollow and a free Lorelai Square crochet pattern.

One of the joys of lockdown has been discovering the Gilmore Girls. I don’t know if I was living under a rock or maybe it wasn’t that big a deal in the UK but I hadn’t even heard much about it. Once I started watching it I quickly realised that this show is a crochet gem! So far I’ve spotted sofa blankets, scarfs, hats, head scarfs, skirts and jumpers. And I want to make them all!

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Stars Hollow

Gilmore Girls is set in Connecticut in the small fictitious town of Stars Hollow. I have to be honest, aside from the crochet, the town set is one of my favourite parts of the show. I love to watch them walk around while I make mental notes of where all the buildings are in relation to the town square.

The Gilmore Girls set has since been used in other productions so unfortunately there are no set props. I don’t watch Pretty Little Liars but I believe several scenes were filmed here.

You can start your virtual tour in the town square and have a wonder around from there trying to work out where all your favourite buildings are but if you get into trouble finding somewhere I’ve got some pointers below.

Lorelai and Rory’s house might be hard to find unless you already know a little secret about it. Sooki and Lorelai’s houses are the same house! To see the Gilmore Girls house take a walk through Sooki’s house! Yes that’s right, you can take a virtual tour inside the Gilmore Girls house! There are several other buildings you can look around too, Mrs Kim’s antique shop, which incidentally is also Emily’s house exterior in Pretty Little Liars, the highschool, where Rory and Dean meet, the church, and Doose’s Market.

Unfortunately we can’t go inside Luke’s dinner but we can walk around the exterior. The dinner has been repainted for Pretty Little Liars. Across from the dinner is Miss Patty’s dance studio and the location for all of those town meetings. Next door to the studio is where we would occasionally see Lorelai pick up a magazine or newspaper and maybe a little bit of gossip. Across from the newsstand is Weston Bakery. From the side entrance of the highschool look across the road and you’ll see the garage where Luke stored his boat, next door to the garage is Lane and the bands apartment.

The location of Gypsies garage had me stumped for a while, we can always see the square when we see scenes at the garage yet I never seemed to notice the garage during scenes in the square. Eventually I realised it’s behind Mrs Kim’s house and the church. The music shop is down the little side street next to Doose’s market. And lastly to find the Stars Hollow Gazette look out for the open red door.

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Crochet Blankets

Now, moving onto the Gilmore Girls crochet blankets!

There are several crochet blankets featured throughout the seven seasons and they all have a cosy homemade feel to them.

Lorelai, Mrs Kim and Sooki’s blankets are either draped over furniture or used to snuggle up on the sofa with.

The first crochet blanket I noticed on the Gilmore Girls is the black trimmed granny square blanket folded over the back of some furniture in Mrs Kim’s antique shop. We see another of these blankets in Babettes house.

My favourite crochet we see Sooki use are a three tone pink harlequin stitch blanket and a green granny square headscarf.

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The Blue Blanket

I think all Gilmore Girls fans who crochet have spotted the blue blanket on the back of Lorelai and Rory’s sofa! Initially I tried to find a pattern for the blue blanket but have so far only found corner to corner tribute blankets or blankets inspired by but not the same as the blue blanket. I decided I’d have a go at creating something similar myself. To begin recreating this blanket I searched google and photographed stills from the telly.

What we know from visually studying the blanket photos:

• it’s a patchwork blanket of granny squares.

• the granny squares are one design repeated.

• the design has a circle within a square.

• The squares have a join-as-you-go granny stitch join.

• The joins are 6 groups of granny square stitch per square.

• The last round of each square is 5 groups of granny square stitch.

• We can count 16 spokes between two solid circle sections.

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The Large Lorelai Square Pattern

Here’s my final Lorelai Square design. There is a small version of this pattern available to watch on my YouTube channel

https://youtube.com/channel/UCHUjMBCU9Vxg8lavTlvltCA

To recreate the blue blanket from the show I will be using a join as you go corner to corner method. If you’re new to making crochet squares I recommend you start with my traditional granny square pattern first.

Materials

DK yarn – I’m using stylecraft special DK in Bluebell. I can make 13 squares from a 100g ball of yarn.

4mm hook

Scissors

Written Pattern (US Terms)

Stitches and techniques

Apart from the basics of slip knot, slip stitch, chain and single crochet, you will need to know:

Half double crochet: yarn over and insert hook, yarn over and pull yarn through, 3 loops on hook, yarn over and pull through all 3 loops. To start a round with the a half double crochet, chain 1, single crochet, chain 1 (counts as one half double crochet).

Treble crochet: yarn over twice and insert hook, yarn over and pull yarn through, 4 loops on hook, yarn over and pull through 2 loops, 3 loops on hook, yarn over and pull through 2 loops, 2 loops on hook, yarn over and pull through both loops. To start a round with a treble crochet chain 1, single crochet, chain 2 (counts as one treble crochet).

Key

Ss = slip stitch

Ch = chain

Ch sp = chain space

Sk = skip

Tr = treble crochet

Hdc = half double crochet

Rnd = round

Rnd 1: slip knot and ch 7, Ss to 7th chain from hook to create a loop. Into the loop, 16tr. Ss to first stitch to join (16 stitches).

Rnd 2: *tr, ch2* 16 times. Ss to first stitch to join. Ss to ch sp (16 stitches, 16 chain spaces).

Rnd 3: starting in the *ch sp from rnd 2, 2tr, tr into next stitch* repeat from * 15 more times. Ss to first stitch to join. Ss to the next stitch not in a ch sp (48 stitches).

Rnd 4: *hdc, ch3, sk2. hdc, ch3, sk2. Tr, ch5, sk2. Tr, ch3, sk2.* repeat from * 3 more times. Ss to first stitch to join. Ss to ch3 space (16 stitches, 16 chain spaces).

Rnd 5: all stitches in Rnd 5 are worked into the ch3 spaces from rnd 4. *3tr, ch1. 3tr, ch1. Into the corner space [3tr, ch3, 3tr, ch1] 3tr, ch1. * repeat from * 3 more times. Ss to first stitch. Cut and tie yarn. Jiggle stitches and block. (60 stitches) The square will measure approximately 13cm.

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Written Pattern (UK Terms)

Stitches and techniques

Apart from the basics of slip knot, slip stitch, chain and double crochet, you will need to know:

Half treble crochet: yarn over and insert hook, yarn over and pull yarn through, 3 loops on hook, yarn over and pull through all 3 loops. To start a round with the a half treble crochet, chain 1, double crochet, chain 1 (counts as one half treble crochet).

Double treble crochet: yarn over twice and insert hook, yarn over and pull yarn through, 4 loops on hook, yarn over and pull through 2 loops, 3 loops on hook, yarn over and pull through 2 loops, 2 loops on hook, yarn over and pull through both loops. To start a round with a double treble crochet chain 1, double crochet, chain 2 (counts as one double treble crochet).

Key

Ss = slip stitch

Ch = chain

Ch sp = chain space

Sk = skip

Dtr = double treble

Htr = half treble

Rnd 1: slip knot and ch 7, Ss to 7th chain from hook to create a loop. Into the loop, 16dtr. Ss to first stitch to join (16 stitches).

Rnd 2: *dtr, ch2* 16 times. Ss to first stitch to join. Ss to ch sp (16 stitches, 16 chain spaces).

Rnd 3: starting in the *ch sp from rnd 2, 2dtr, dtr into next stitch* repeat from * 15 more times. Ss to first stitch to join. Ss to the next stitch not in a ch sp (48 stitches).

Rnd 4: *htr, ch3, sk2. Htr, ch3, sk2. Dtr, ch5, sk2. Dtr, ch3, sk2.* repeat from * 3 more times. Ss to first stitch to join. Ss to ch3 space (16 stitches, 16 chain spaces).

Rnd 5: all stitches in Rnd 5 are worked into the ch3 spaces from rnd 4. *3dtr, ch1. 3dtr, ch1. Into the corner space [3dtr, ch3, 3dtr, ch1] 3dtr, ch1. * repeat from * 3 more times. Ss to first stitch. Cut and tie yarn. Jiggle stitches and block. (60 stitches) The square will measure approximately 13cm.

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Photo Tutorial

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Crochet Diagram

I hope you like the Lorelai Square as much as I do! It’s a large square compared to many 5 round squares so it works up quickly making it the perfect gift for a Gilmore Girls fan!

Blog post for joining and the border coming soon!

If you share on social media you can use the hashtag #Lorelaisquare

I hope in the future to share more Gilmore Girls crochet with you. I especially want to make Paris’s jumper!

Happy crocheting,

Sam 💛