Blankies

A few weeks ago my sister began working on a baby blanket for a friend of hers. I didn't have anything I was working on at the time, and watching her made me want to make one (why? I have no idea). So I stocked up on some baby yarn and began hooking. And hooking. I've got one more in the works, but I've got some other work to finish first so right now I only have these two to share.

First up is a corner-to-corner blanket. I have never made one of these before, but now that I have I realize why it is my grandma's go-to blanket pattern. So fast, so easy, but really quite beautiful and much more complex looking than complex hooking (see what I did there? Hahahahaha). 

This is Bernat Baby Coordinates yarn in the Funny colorway. That delicate little thread spun through the yarn gives it a little bit of dimension. The stitch itself works up in a way that there is no right or wrong side to it, and gives it an openness without it being lacy.

This blanket is worked on the diagonal so I kept going until it was a yard wide, and then decreased. Sometimes on blankets the edges get a little wonky looking, but not this one. They actually looked fine on their own, but I had a good bit of yarn left over so I threw on a very narrow slightly-scalloped border. 

If you haven't tried this pattern yet, I highly recommend it (just google corner-to-corner crochet and you'll get links to tutorials and videos to make this either as a square or a rectangle). It's all double crochet stitches and chains, and once you get the hang of how the little blocks connect you'll be doing this in your sleep. 

I still didn't have this out of my system (and still don't) so I made another. This one was supposed to be yellow and white flowers but after numerous efforts leading nowhere I had to rethink my plan. I drew a total and complete blank, so I went with a giant granny square in alternating widths of stripes.

I love that shade of yellow! This one is made in Bernat Softee Baby in Lemon and White. No reason for using Bernat yarns, other than they were on sale. 

Even though this one is all double crochets as well I did start to lose it towards the end. It all just seemed so never-ending. I have no idea how some folks make gigantic bed-sized afghans that are gigantic granny squares. Each round is larger than the one before and just keeps going and going and going. Once this one was one yard as well, I put on a wee scalloped border to offset the squareness of it and soften it a little. 

Even though this one came out so very very different from my original plan, I absolutely love it, and I think it's because of the border. It reminds of the ripply edges of a cupcake, or some delightful rick rack. 

So that's what I've been busy doing. And here's a shameless (shameful?) plug--these are both for sale in my shop in case you know of any wee ones on the way who will need some coziness to be wrapped in.

I so enjoyed making these that I hope to keep going with it. I do love working in baby colors--soft and delicate, just like wee 'uns. If you're interested, the blue is listed here, and the yellow is listed here.