Baby Blankets

My last post covered crochet blankets and now I'd like to showcase baby blankets. When I found out our daughter was expecting her first child almost 4 years ago now, I immediately got busy and hand quilted a baby blanket. My grandmother taught me how to quilt when I was a teenager. I have quilted a few panels over the years, nothing sewn from scratch but still nice. This baby quilt was the first thing I made for our grandchild and I was really quite happy with it. My daughter loved it too. She sent me this photo of the quilt in use and apologized for the the pink wrap. All the blue and green wraps were in the laundry that day.

Hand quilted baby blanket for our grandson

 After our grandson was born and I rediscovered my love of crochet, I found some beautiful crochet patterns for baby blankets. One of my favourite free patterns was called Ruffles and Dots Baby Blanket posted by blogger Maybe Matilda here. The first version I made was green with a blue ruffle and a row of white in between. It was meant to match our grandson's room in California which was painted green on the bottom 2/3 and blue on the top 1/3 with a white stripe in between. Our daughter selected the colours and my husband painted the room when we visited.

First version made for our grandson

I loved the look and feel of this blanket so much, I made a few. One for a friend who was having a baby, another for my grandson (in Mod Ombre not shown) and two more to have on hand for gifts as needed. These blankets measure approximately 36" square and were made using two large balls of Bernat Handicrafter Cotton yarn plus a bit for the ruffle trim. I think I will stick to solid colours for future versions as it makes a less 'busy' backdrop for baby photos.

My math for this bobble baby blanket: Starting Chain 104 (13 bobbles) and 3 rows of single crochet (sc) before first bobble row and between each bobble row. 3 sc before first bobble and after last bobble, 7 sc between bobbles. Every other bobble row has 7 sc before first bobble and after last bobble (12 bobbles on these rows). Note - the bobble rows are offset from each other. Bobble = pull through when 5 loops on hook, see explanation here. Frill border R1 - sc around, R2 - 2 double crochet (dc) in each sc around, R3 (optional) alternate 2 dc and 1 dc around. I used a 5.5 mm hook with worsted weight cotton yarn for these blankets.

Neutral yellow made for friend at work

Two spares in Beach Ball Blue Ombre and Tumbleweed Ombre

I saved my favourite baby blanket pattern for last. I love the interplay of colours in this blanket made with Lang Jawoll Magic Superwash Sock Yarn and another comparable yarn. Sorry I honestly can't remember the name brand of the other yarn. I couldn't find the yarn recommended on the pattern so I chose sock weight yarns in colours I thought would work well together and look similar to the photos of the pattern. It took me over a year to finish two blankets as I was working on many other projects in between each square. There were 9 squares for each blanket plus a sizable border. Each blanket ate up 6 skeins of yarn. I bought the yarn for ~$17.00 per skein from The Yarn Factory Outlet. I felt lucky to have bought it for $17 as I saw the same yarn in London for $22. 

This version adorns our orange leatherette sofa in home gym

This is my favourite colour combo

Close up of stitches

I kept both blankets and like to tell people they cost $150 each ($22 x 6 + 13% tax) but they really only cost me ~$115 each. That still sounds like a lot for such a small blanket, doesn't it? Oh well, I love the look so much it was totally worth it.

You may have noticed this blanket is displayed on my blog banner. I truly do love the look. If you would like to make one too, the free pattern can be found on Ravelry here. It is called Chameleon Baby Blanket and was created by Tracy St. John. Have fun with it.

With all this talk of baby blankets, I've neglected to mention my daughter's baby update. She posted a comment on Facebook yesterday "It's official... I'm going to be pregnant forever..." that means we're Still Waiting.