A Blanket for Ted

A whole two weeks since I last blogged! C'est terrible. Sorry- I haven't had too much to blog about. I'm 30 weeks pregnant now, getting bigger by the day it seems. And as I approach the last nine weeks of my pregnancy I'm hoping to slow down, take things a little easier and relax a bit. I've been super busy with workshops, and preparing for the Spring Knitting and Stitching show that takes place at London Olympia II this weekend. Make, Do & Mend will be teaching a number of workshops there, and I'll be teaching some of them! If you're free on Saturday, come and learn how to make Granny Squares with me at 10.30am, or if you want some nice ideas I'll be teaching Vintage Crochet Edgings and trims at 11.45am. After that I'll be free for browsing the stalls and getting inspired! Expect a photo-heavy blogpost next week...

Anyway, everyone has been having babies lately, so I've been busy making little gifts for the precious new arrivals. This particular blanket was made for baby Ted- the beautiful little son of my friend Stassia. He is utterly gorgeous so he needed something gorgeous to accessorise with. 

I chose to make the 'maude' motif from our book 500 Crochet Blocks. I added an extra round of trebles to the edge to make the block bigger and more 'squared'. I used Annell Cotton 8 yarn and a 3mm hook, so the blocks were coming out rather small.

I made 25 squares in total, and joined them with the contrasting blue yarn. My method for joining was double crochet, placing the squares wrong sides together and only working into the inner two loops when working the dc. 

For the edging, I worked three rounds of dc in the blue, before working my ruffle border in cream. To create this ruffle, just work 3tr into every stitch around. 

Ta-DAH! It's not huge, the perfect size for a crib, pram or car seat, and it folds up nice and small for journeys. The cotton yarn is beautifully soft and light, too, so it'd be ideal for spring and summer...if winter ever buggers off. 

I even had enough yarn left to make this little chappie...

The pattern is from I Love Buttons by Emma and he made a delightful baby gift. 

So, in summary:

Pattern- 'Maude' from 500 Crochet Blocks

Yarn- 5 x 50g balls of Annell Cotton 8 in Off white, 1 x 50g ball of Annell Cotton 8 in Light Cyan

Hook- 3mm 

Ted= warm and happy. 

I'm now working on my next baby blanket- to be blogged next week! Another gift, then onto some bits for my own bubba. Hopefully. 

Happy hooking!

xxx