Saturday, May 19, 2018

Crocheted Baby Blanket

Crocheted Baby Blanket
Today, I completed the baby blanket I have been crocheting.  It is for one of my colleagues who is having her first baby.  Since she doesn't know if she is having a boy or a girl, I decided to make the blanket with neutral colors for a unisex baby blanket.  Lemon yellow, white, and mint green are some of my favorite colors for unisex baby blankets.  To make it a little more challenging, I decided to use the yarn I had in my yarn stash.

In my yarn stash, I had half a ball of multicolored baby yarn, which was white with bits of yellow, pink, blue, and mint green, half a ball of white yarn, some pink yarn, a little pale blue yarn, and three partial balls of lemon yellow.   Not enough of any one color for an entire blanket, but perhaps enough if I combined them.  I decided not to use the pink or the blue yarn and to use only the multicolored, white and yellow yarn.  I am not a very skilled crocheter.  I know a few basic stitches and I can manage a granny square.  I decided to base the blanket on a granny square and just go round and round, building on the central granny square.

Start of a Granny Square

The size of the blanket was going to be determined by the amount of yarn I had, with the option of buying more yarn, if needed.

I decided to start off with the multicolored yarn I had, then, bordered that with the white yarn.  Finally, a wider border with the yellow yarn.  Apparently, one of the balls of yellow yarn I had was from a different dye lot than the others, because the color is slightly paler than the others!  It is not very noticeable (I think), unless you know what to look for, but, if you look closely, the paler yellow yarn is in the middle of the yellow border, with the darker yellow on either side:

Completed Blanket with Leftover Yarn

Close up of the different yarns
The majority of the blanket is made in a stitch known as double crochet in the US and triple crochet in the UK.  Since I learned to crochet when I was in Sri Lanka, which is a former British Crown Colony, the British terms are what I grew up learning, but I've lived long enough in the US to be familiar with the American terms, as well.  In my opinion, the exact stitch used to make a blanket such as this doesn't make a lot of difference.  But, it you are following a pattern, then, it is important to know if it is a US or UK pattern, otherwise the length of the stitch will differ and that might make a difference in the finished item. 

After I crocheted as many rows of double crochet (US)/triple crochet (UK) as I could with the amount of yarn I had, I crocheted a row of stitches known as half double crochet (US) or half triple crochet (UK) all the way around.  I think it gives the item a more finished edge.  The blanket is approximately 40 inches square.


Close Up of the Finished Edge

I hand-washed the finished blanket in some warm soapy water and lay it flat on a rack to dry.  Once dried, it will be wrapped up and kept to be given whenever the baby shower is scheduled.  I will make a card to go with it, next.

This is the yarn that was leftover from the baby blanket project:

Leftover Yarn

Each ball is less than 2 inches in diameter.  I was able to use the multicolored yarn and the yellow yarn to make one granny square for the granny square blanket I am planning to make with all my odds and ends of leftover yarn.  That was the end of that yarn!

Granny Square made with some of the leftover yarn

I think I managed to make good use of my yarn stash, don't you?   Obviously, I bought the yarn at some point, for some other project.  But, because I used the leftover yarn, this was a very frugal gift to make.  Do you crochet?  Are you able to make anything other than granny squares? 

18 comments:

  1. The baby blanket is so pretty. I love the colors.

    Many years ago I tried learning to knit, but didn't continue. That's something I'd like to start again. Mom used to knit & crochet baby stuff for us, but doesn't anymore.

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    1. Thank you, Nil. I hope you'll be able to learn to knit and crochet. There are lots of very helpful tutorials online, if you are interested.

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  2. The blanket is so sweet Bless. I love the pastel shades. X

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    1. Thank you, Jules. I'm rather pleased with how it turned out, myself. :)

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  3. I really like the colors you used for the blanket and the fact that you used up old yarn is a bonus. I always feel good when I'm able to do something like that.

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    1. Thank you, Live and Learn. I am always happy when I can use up the yarn in the stash! I had a big bin of yarn and now, I am down to less than a quarter of it!

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  4. What a lovely blanket and the colours are perfect for a boy or girl. I make a few of these blankets and they are a great way of using up odds and ends of wool that I wouldn't know what to do with otherwise. I'm sure your friend will love it and it's all the more special because it's hand made. xx

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    1. Thank you, Suzanne. You make some lovely things, yourself. I do hope my colleague will like the blanket. :)

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  5. I love new babies, especially when wrapped in blankets! I have basic crochet skills and find it relaxing to make these square blankets

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    1. The nice thing about this type of crochet is, one doesn't have to think about it, too much. No complicated pattern to follow and it works up fairly quickly, too.

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  6. I like the blanket! I'm sure the family will treasure the home-made gift for their new baby. My autistic niece still carries around her "blankie" that someone made for her when she was little. She's not allowed to take it everywhere, since she is older, but she still loves it! My mother has had to fix it several times over the years. You just never know:)

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    1. Thank you, Becky. I do hope they like the blanket. My cousin's daughters, too, were quite attached to their baby blankets until they were quite old!

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  7. Very pretty! I think it is smart to do unisex colors. For my babies' first three months of clothing, I always did unisex colors as I didn't know the baby's sex until he/she was born and I not only wanted to duplicate clothes for those first months, but I wanted to be ready for either sex! Andrea

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    1. Thank you, Andrea. The neutral colors will make the blanket useful for either a boy or a girl. When I was pregnant with my daughter, before I knew I was going to have a girl, I knitted yellow and mint green outfits for her. A pair of yellow pants and matching sweater and mint green overalls with a matching sweater, so, could be worn by either a boy or girl. After she was born, I knitted her a little blue dress and my mother crocheted her a pink dress. :)

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  8. I love the yellow. It is so cheerful. One of my sons took a blue crocheted blanket with him to Kindergarten to keep in his cubby for nap time. I taught myself how to knit, but could never get the hang of crochet. I think I would need to have someone with me, as I cannot make sense of the Youtube videos. Knitting and crochet seem so entirely different from the other.

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    1. Thank you, Susan. I made my daughter a quilt to take to daycare for nap time! Crochet is easy in the sense that it is just one loop to keep track of, but, I think I am better at knitting than I am at crochet!

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  9. Lovely blanket, perfect to snuggle around a sweet baby!

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