My best friend Rachel is having a baby.
It sort of terrifies me, to be totally honest, to be at that age when your friends start having babies. AND she's not the only one! But this baby is special. This baby is going to be my Godchild. I am so incredibly blessed and honoured to be an important part of this little girl's life. So as Fairy God Mother, I had to be the first to make her a baby blanket! Bring out the crochet hook! I found this pattern on the Lion Brand Yarn Website. I made a test version back in November (with help from Mum) and decided it wasn't really big enough to be a blanket. So I tweaked the pattern a bit. For this blanket I used about 2 1/2 regular skeins of Bernat Baby Blanket Yarn in Baby Yellow. And I used my 6.5mm hook (it's the largest I have).
I followed the instructions for the head, to the letter.
This is what it looks like when it's all done!
But Mum and I decided that the blanket wasn't really big enough. So I added extra stitches to the blanket/body. In Row 1of the body I did 2 half double crochets in 9 stitches, ending with 18 stitches total, instead of the original 12 (adding 6 stitches). This is the most important step. If you continue to follow the pattern, you will end up with a larger blanket. Just ignore the original total stitch counts, and remember that you added 6 stitches.
Once the blanket starts to come together you'll see the pattern, it's easy. And hey if I can figure out, I'm sure you can!
These are the "hands" (above). They are the widest part of the blanket.
This (above) is what you're going to want to look for as you start to decrease after the "hands". These last 2 stitches is where you will half double crochet 2 together (hdc2tog). This stitch will decrease your blanket. You will have more rows as you decrease than in the pattern-that's totally ok! It creates a nice point at the bottom and adds to the legnth. Just follow the pattern and your rows until you end with 2 hdc2tog. You should end up with something like this
See how much bigger my blanket is than the test one (on right)? So much better! Follow the pattern for the ears. Stuff the head with fibre fill and sew closed with matching yarn. To finish the blanket we're going to edge around with single crochet. This edging created a really nice finished look, so you don't have to be too picky about how precise you are with your stitches as you make the blanket. If the edges aren't quite right, this edging will hide them!
Here's my finished product!
Since it was my shower gift (and I believe in getting something for mommy too) I added a little something I thought was funny...not to mention I'll be needing it when my time comes!
LOL! I tucked it all together and gave it away! I love when you can use the gift as the wrapping paper!
I know I kinda breezed through this, so if you have any questions about how I changed the pattern or if you make one of your own, feel free to email me!
westcoastleslie(at)gmail(dot)com
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