Tuesday 13 August 2013

Crocheting for a baby boom...

In the past three years or so, simply everyone has been having babies. Which, I'll admit, is rather marvellous! My son, Albert, has lots of playmates and cousins and it has been the perfect opportunity to get creative with baby blankets. I have made so many over the past few years, so I thought I'd show you my latest one (for my friend Debbie's baby), and look back at some of the favourites...

The latest one is a small (65cmx65cm) blanket hooked up in an ochre acrylic yarn, with a turquoise border. The main blanket yarn is Annell Rapido from Yvestown, and the border is Stylecraft Special DK. The pattern is the Granny Puff blanket, taken from Granny Chic...

I worked something like 50 rows of the blanket, with a foundation chain of 90-odd I think. For the border, I worked a round of 3tr into each space along the top and bottom, and into the ch-3 space at the end of the PUFF rows. Then I worked three rounds of dc- one dc into each st around, 3 dc into corner st. It's SUCH a fun pattern, I've already got the yarn to make a larger lap blanket version of this for myself to snuggle on my new sofa in the autumn. I chose these colours as we don't yet know the sex of the baby (who still hasn't been born!). I love love LOVE it!

It's a great pattern. Granny stripe patterns are an old favourite of mine...

 
Then there are the ripple blankets!



And of course a few square motifs...

and George's Block Colour granny square blanket

 And finally...a highly unusual and very beautiful round baby blanket!
That's TEN (yes, 10!) baby blankets! I have also made two more simple giant granny square blankets for my nephew, Theo, and my son, Albert, when they were born in 2010. So that's 12 baby blankets! I think everyone has stopped having babies now. But if you want more inspiration, look no further than my friend Erin's efforts- she's made some real beauts. Check her out on Instagram and through her blog Erinshine Stitches

If you're making a baby blanket, think about the practicalities. You can look at cot-sized or pram/crib/moses basket size, or even a small car seat blanket. Think about the yarn you use- cotton is soft, breathable and (most important of all) WASHABLE! It's lovely to use expensive soft alpaca yarns but they're not terrifically practical. I can recommend Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino, Sublime Baby Cashmere Silk Merino, King Cole Bamboo Cotton and acrylics like Stylecraft Special and Sirdar Snuggly. Colour is important too! I hardly ever use pastels, it's just a bit boring. I have a blanket board on Pinterest if you'd like further inspiration! 

Happy Hooking everyone 

xxx

4 comments:

  1. Oh so pretty Kath, I love the round one x

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  2. They are lovely....but yes, above all need to be washable! :) x

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  3. I love your blankets, Florences vintage blanket is beautiful x

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  4. What a lot of baby blankets. I haven't totted up my total but I reckon its pretty close to yours. Everyone seems to be having babies! I don't like using pastels either. I love choosing the colours for each blanket, I think that's when the fun starts. I love the look of the granny puff blanket. Think that's one to add to my selfish blanket list. I'm hoping there's going to be a bit of a lull in the babies around these parts so I can catch up on blankets for The Granny Shack!
    Thanks for the mention (again!! ☺Blushing) I must blog more. I have the next blanket story in draft form at the mo. x

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