Little squares blanket no. 2

I have had another go at a Little Squares blanket, this time in a sport weight yarn:

Made in Scheepjes Stonewashed Moonstone (801), Crystal quartz (814), New Jade (819), Amazonite (813), Green agate (815) and Smokey quartz (802) om a 4mm hook. It is 63 x 50cm in size and weighs 285g. I suspect that was 1 ball of each of the five colours, plus 2 balls of Moonstone. I made the border by doing 3 (UK) double crochets into each cluster (so 12 per square) and finished off with a round of (UK) half treble crochet. 

I am not always the biggest fan of thinner yarns, but this grew very quickly and I think the stonewashed palette suits the blanket well.  

Colour recipes

It is a bit of a bug-bear of mine that so many crochet posts on social media are simply pictures, with no accompanying information about yarns, stitches, colours or techniques. Presumably the intention is for the reader to be impressed with the author’s skill or colour choice, but then what? What is to be learned by knowing that other people are making things that you admire, and no more than that?

Long-term readers of this blog will know that I always end a post by giving details of how the project was made. My initial reasons for this were quite selfish – I wanted to use the blog as a personal log, so that if I needed to repeat a project I would have a place to come back to with enough detail written down for that to be possible. I do still use it for that purpose quite often.

The second reason was more public-spirited – I am a teacher by training, and a learner by inclination, and I wanted to share my learning so that other people could benefit from it too. So here, for anyone who is interested, are the colour recipes for my granny rectangle baby blankets. If you find them useful I am glad, and if you do use any of them I would be delighted to know.

colour-recipes-2021Download

Sophie La Giraffe baby blanket

This was a request from a family friend, for a baby blanket with mustard in it, and I was sent the picture here as an inspiration

The stitch has quite a few names – I have seen it called moss stitch, linen stitch and woven stitch in various places, and an Internet search tells me it is also called seed stitch and granite stitch too! Despite the complexities of naming it, it is very simple to do, and there is a good tutorial, and chart, on the ‘Look at What I Made’ blog here. It is stitch number 18 In Sarah Hazell’s book 200 crochet stitches, for those of you who have it.

Made in Rico essentials soft merino Aran, colours silver grey (096), saffron (066) and cream (061) on a 6mm hook. Mine is 70 x 55cm, it weighs 310g. It is 100 stitches wide and 16 stripes long, each stripe is 8 rows. it used 3 balls each of grey and cream, and one ball of mustard, with a bit of each left over… I would happily make another one. Commissions anyone?

Quiet but not idle

It seems to have been a while since I have blogged, but I have not been idle! I have reverted to my old friend the granny rectangle, and have been busy making (lots of) baby blankets:

These ones have been safely received by pramdepot and will soon be part of their magnificent baby boxes which are put together from new, recycled and gifted items to support vulnerable mothers.

For these blankets I start with a chain of 21, which gives me a 5 granny cluster mini-rectangle, then build up 28-30 rounds of granny clusters to make a blanket of roughly 60 x 50cm.

The octopus is a little extra – pattern from crochetforbabies here.

Debbie Bliss ombre spin your granny blanket

It was always my intention to try another spin your granny blanket in rather nicer yarn, and this is it:

Made in Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino Apple (002) and Citrus (018), and Ella Rae Cashmerino Sport Goldenrod (06) and Ivory (13) on a 4.5mm hook.

Mine took 2 balls of dark green, 1 ball each of mid green and yellow, and 3 balls of ivory. It measure 67 x 48cm and weighs 275g. I used the same layout as my first spin-your-granny blanket, so this was a rather quicker project with less frogging!

When in doubt make a charity blanket

My default project has been baby blankets for as long as I can remember, and it seems fitting in these difficult times to make some for charity.

The pink blanket is made in James C Brett Stonewash shade SW5, and Drops merino extra fine colours 40 (powder pink) and 01 (off white). The blue blanket is made in James C Brett Stonewash shade SW10, King Cole Majestic dk shade 2650 (duck egg) and Drops merino extra fine colour 01 (off white). Each blanket used 1 ball each of the Stonewash wool and 2 balls of the other colours.

Just in case anyone hasn’t come across it yet, the Granny Rectangle pattern is by Crochet again, and there is a very good tutorial for it here. Mine start with 5 granny clusters and are 30 rows round. I start with the plain pink or blue, then the Stonewash, then the white, and 30 rows allows you to end in the white.

And finally – my chosen Charity for these blankets is pram depot, a charity that gives recycled baby clothes and equipment to vulnerable new mums and their babies.

We miss you Debbie Bliss

It seems often to be the case that when I hit upon a yarn I really like it is discontinued. And as that is exactly what has happened with Debbie Bliss baby cashmerino, this blanket is probably the last of a line:

Made in Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino Teal (340203), Duck egg (340026) and Spearmint (340303) with Scheepjes Merino soft Raphael (602) on a 4.5mm hook.

This is another Bertie baby blanket. Mine started with a chain of 92, so is 91 stitches wide which is 9 pattern repeats, and 28 pattern repeats long. It measures 71 x 52cm and weighs 300g. It took 2 balls of each of the three blues, and three balls of cream.

April challenge – beating the blues

You might remember my pink waste-not-want-not blanket here. Well I have now branched out into blues.

Now I look at it the colours are remarkable similar to my 4-ply bluebell blanket of some time ago, but this is a rather more practical make in dk.
Made in Sirdar snuggly 100% cotton DK in Rhino (759), Spearmint (767), Light grey (757), Ice blue (765) and Cream (761) on a 4mm hook.
My blanket is 51 ‘crosses’ wide and 49 pattern-repeat rows long. It measures 74 x 58 cm and weighs 375g. I used 2 balls of each colour plus 3 balls of the cream.

October challenge – waste-not-want-not blanket

I bought some Sirdar snuggly 100% cotton a while ago, made some swatches to try a ripple blanket with it, then decided it just wouldn’t do and left it in my stash unused. I really hate waste, so I made myself go back and re-work it into a new swatch – with this result:

Made in Sirdar snuggly 100% cotton in cream, rhino, light grey, mauve and powder on a 4mm hook. The stitch is ‘crossed trebles’ and you can see a chart for it here.

Mine weighs 360g and took 3 balls of cream, 1 of rhino and 2 each of mauve, light grey and powder. It measures 73 x 58cm and is 51 ‘crosses’ wide, which I think means I started with a chain of 105. I’m quite keen to have a go at one in ‘boy’ colours now…

When pink or blue won’t do

I had a commission recently to make a baby blanket that was ‘not in baby colours’ and what fun I had completing it;

Made in Drops cotton merino off white (01) and medium grey (18) and some precious discontinued Rowan wool cotton clear (941). I think they work really well together, and hopefully the new mum will agree too.

I started with a chain of 101 which gave me 7 repeats of 14 stitches plus 3 and used Attic 24’s neat ripple pattern. My blanket measures 69 x 59cm and weighs 300g. It took 2 balls each of off white and clear, and 3 balls of medium grey, as I used that for the border too.

One for the boys

Couldn’t resist the temptation to make another Bertie baby blanket in Drops cotton merino, and this time it’s one for the boys:

The colours are cream, ice blue, light grey and jeans blue and I used a 5mm hook, starting with a chain of 91 stiches to make a 9 motif wide blanket. The final blanket measures 77 x 60cm and took 4 balls of cream, and just over 1 ball of each of the blue colours, and weighs 350g.

And I managed to take a photo in some spring sunshine!

Sirdar no. 1 baby blanket

Teddy is back, and this time with a Granny rectangle blanket made in Sirdar no. 1 yarn:

I found it a little thicker than my normal baby yarn, and it definitely has less twist in than I would like, but the colours are pretty and the finished blanket is wonderfully soft.
Made in Sirdar no. 1 spearmint (205) and wishbone (202), and Rico baby classic dk ice blue (023) and turquoise (025) on a 4.5mm hook.

Sitting pretty

I had been saving this one until we had a fine day to take a photo, but I decided to just go for it!

Made in Rico baby classic powder, light grey and dusky pink with Drops cotton merino white, which gives the blanket just that bit more weight, and warmth.
It is a granny rectangle (of course!) starting with five clusters of three stitches, and I used a 4.5mm hook.

Charity blankets 23 and 24: There and back again

Two long train journeys at the start of the school holidays saw the production of these:

Still working through my friend’s stash!

Charity blanket no. 21: so nice I made it twice

I was so pleased with the colours of my ‘Orla’ blanket that I set to and made another one almost straight away.
This time I did have to buy some yarn as I had run out of the orange tones.

I went with Sirdar snuggly 451 ‘mousse’ for the lighter orange and Debbie Bliss Rialto dk 23088 ‘apricot’ for the rust colour. I think the rust lifts the whole blanket….

Charity blanket no. 17: Raspberry ripple

So this is it – my seventeenth (and last?) charity blanket for 2017:

Made in Hayfield double knitting with wool ‘blush’ and Sirdar Crofter ‘Flora’, and photographed (quite fittingly) on one of our flowering raspberry bushes.

Where there is a need

I really don’t know why I have never made this connection before but I have come across a most worthy home for my Charity baby blankets.

It is an organisation called Birth Companions that supports women giving birth in prison, and other vulnerable women in the community. I should say at the outset that we have a family member who works for the charity, which is why I can’t believe it has taken me so long to match my blanket making needs with theirs. However the connection is now made and this week’s blanket is on its way to them…

This one is made in Rico baby classic dk in light blue, light green, lilac and cream on a 4.5mm hook. It has 27 rounds of granny rectangle, weighs 165g and is 58 x 49cm. Next time I will aim for 30 rounds to make it a bit bigger.

Bluebell blanket

I said a while ago that I wanted to try a crossed trebles blanket in a blue colourway and here it is:

The yarns are Scheepjeswol cotton 8 (4-ply) in grey, grey-blue, light grey and jeans blue, and Rowan summerlite (4 ply) in high tide.

I had hoped to finish it in time to take a photo with the bluebells in flower. I didn’t quite manage it but I have kept the name anyway!

Candy crush blanket

I should say at the start that I have never actually played the game this blanket is named after, but the bright colours remind me of sweet wrappers, and the name seemed to stick in my mind.

Made in Drops cotton merino dk on a 4mm hook, using Coral, Lilac, Powder pink, White, Light grey, and Pistachio.
I love the colours, and will happily use this combination again. It was nice to have some sunshine to photograph it in too:

The squares were no trouble at all to do, but the joining up was a trial, and I really must learn to join as you go….

Present for a baby girl

A friend of mine has just had a new baby, and I am delighted to have found a good home for one of my favourite blankets:

It is made in a mitred squares pattern (which I borrowed from Sue at Crochet again) using Rowan wool cotton in antique, grand and frozen, and Rowan baby merino silk in rose and dawn, on a 4 mm hook.