The makings of the baby blankie...

I forgot to let you know how much yarn (skeins) I used for the blankie with each color. I updated the info down by where the colors are listed. oooops! :)

I received an email a couple of days ago from lovely Annette asking how I made the baby blankie. She was not the first I must say and for that I am sorry for not doing this sooner. :}

I am also not taking credit for the design either being I saw it somewhere on another blog (can't remember which one) and wrote down notes as I was looking at the picture. I really need to write down where the ideas come from. ooops! Please remember all the stitches where made using US stitches.

So here goes:

I used Vanna's Choice Baby in the following colors:

Duckie (4)

Goldfish (2)

Pink Poodle (2)

Lt. Pea Green (2)

Cheery Cherry (2)

True Med. Blue (2)

and the purple is Med. Purple from Red Heart super saver (1).

7 colors total

For the big squares there are eight rows.

The small squares have 4 rows.

for the big squares: (13)

I used all the colors in the big squares. Being that the yellow is only used for the last row in each square, you will be working with the remaining six colors for the make up of the other 7 rows. It worked out that what ever color I used in the very first row (center) was used in the 7th row also. And then the yellow made up the 8th row. I also did not use a traditional granny square center for the center. I made a circle (I'll explain below) and then built the rest of the square with granny stitches.

for the small squares: (48)

I used three colors for the first three rows and the yellow for the 4th.

To join all the squares together I used the single crochet joining method. This will leave a ridge on one side of the blankie and I chose the back for this to be on. So when doing this the right sides of the squares will be facing each other, as if you were sewing fabric together. Then when finished you will still see a bit of the color showing through to the front and the ridges will be on the back..

I joined the small squares first. You use four of them to make the same size as the big squares. After joining small squares you should have 12 big squares that are made up of small squares.

Then you start joining all the squares to finish the blankie.

The 1st row will be made up of:

3 big squares & 2 squares of the small ones

2nd row:

3 squares of small & 2 big squares

You can refer to the pic for the rest. :)

Then when all were joined, I did a full row of half double crochets (in goldfish) around the entire blankie.

After that I worked a full row of single crochet (in duckie) around the entire blankie and then worked a complete row of picot stitches to finish the edge.

TADA!!!

Thats it! Nothing to it! LOL!!!

Now for the center:

I have to give Lucy credit for this part of the blankie. She is so creative!

Okay, sorry, back to the subject at hand.

You will be making bobbles to make up the center.

Bobble: yarn over, insert hook through center of the ring, yarn over, hook back through the center of the ring (3 loops on hook), yarn over and pull through 2 loops (2 loops left on hook). Then yarn over and insert hook through the center of the ring, yarn over, hook back through the center of the ring (4 loops on hook), yarn over and pull through 2 loops (3 loops left on hook), yarn over and pull through all 3 loops. Chain one.

-You start out by making 4 chains and then use a slip stitch into the first chain to form a ring.

-Chain 3 (counts as the first dc) and then make one dc into the ring. This will count as the first "bobble" that makes up the circle. Chain one.

-To make the remaining bobbles use the instructions above for them until you have 8 bobbles total (to include the first chain 3 and dc). After your last chain one, join into the chain 3 stitch with a slip stitch to join the circle together. Then with the tail end at the beginning of the circle, put snuggly so that you don't have a huge space in the middle of the circle and then weave the tail in so the space doesn't open back up.

You should then have the spaces needed to start working granny stitches for the 2nd row.

Always remember though after working a row of granny stitches, give your work a little tug here and there so that it will start to take the square form. The circle in the middle wants to be difficult at first, but it will listen eventually. :)

I hope this is helpful and inspires some creative works out there. If you do make a blankie, please come back and tell so I can go have a look at your creation. :)

Have a wonderful time creating!!!!