Rainbow Granny Square Blanket with Flower & Fringe

After seeing her sister's new blanket with interlocking rings, my niece, Mariella put in a request for a blanket with "lots of colors!  And fringe!  And a flower!"  And being the awesome aunt that I am, I said "yes," of course.

For this project, I used a size G crochet hook and the following yarns:
- Lion Brand Homespun, Mimosa - 2 skeins, 185 yards each
- Red Heart Super Saver, Aran - scrap

While beautiful, the texture of the Lion Brand Homespun yarn can be a bit tricky to work with-- the layers pull apart and it can be hard to see and count stitches.  So, I chose the granny square pattern for its simplicity.  As I have for past projects, I continued to follow the clear and easy instructions for Lisa's granny square crochet pattern.  After 19 rounds of the granny square pattern, the blanket measured 24 inches by 24 inches, and there was only a small scrap of the blended yarn remaining.

For the flower applique, I followed the 3-part video tutorial by epicabundance.  As you can see in the picture, I used the beige yarn for the first and third layers, and the last bit of blended yarn for the second layer.  Once the flower was finished, I secured it to the blanket using the tail of the blended yarn to help it blend in seamlessly.

After that, the fringe was the only step left to do.  I used the beige yarn again, cutting a lot of 7-inch long strands and looping three at a time through the spaces on the final row of granny squares.  Fringe included, the blanket measures 30 inches by 30 inches.

This was a very simple project with a few extra touches to make it special.

Hope you're feeling inspired for your next project... Happy hooking!

Jilliane


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Vintage Fan Ripple Stitch Baby Blanket

This blanket is a gift for a cousin and his wife who are expecting their second child in March-- how exciting!

For this blanket, I was inspired by a beautiful, multi-colored blanket that I saw on Chiaki Creates. Thankfully, the blogger included a link to the original pattern from Ravelry called the Vintage Fan Ripple Stitch pattern.

I used a size H crochet hook.  For yarn, I used one skein each of Red Heart Super Saver in Soft White and Turqua-- 364 yards per skein.

This pattern begins with a chain in multiples of 9, plus 1 extra chain.  For every 9 chains, you will get 1 fan. I started with a chain of 127 to make this blanket 14 fans wide.

The stitch is very unique yet easy to follow.  I'll warn you, though, it's not one of those "mindless" stitches-- you'll be counting and paying attention the whole time.  Something else interesting about this pattern:  because the stitches are made through the back loops only, it creates a slightly different look on each side of the blanket.

Front

Back

The pattern involves creating 3 ripple rows followed by 1 fan row (what I will call a "set"), and then repeating these steps.  To create the striped look, I switched colors after each set.  To finish, I continued with blue yarn to stitch the final 3 rows/edging.

Altogether, the blanket measures about 36 inches wide and 30 inches long.  It feels very soft and thick-- perfect for snuggling!

I hope this gives you some ideas for your next project.  Happy hooking!

Jilliane


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Never-Ending Granny Square Blanket

This was a fun project for our niece, Isabella, who I hope will love to cuddle with her new blanket.

I followed The Crochet Crowd's video tutorial for the Never Ending Granny Square.  I used a size H crochet hook and 1-1/2 skeins each of following Red Heart Super Saver yarns:  Soft White, Perfect Pink, and Glowworm.

About 22 minutes into the video tutorial, the instructor talks about splitting one of the shells.  For that shell, I decided to crochet four double crochet stitches, so that it wouldn't be noticeable that one of the double crochets was covered up by the next color yarn.

For edging, I did a single crochet stitch all the way around the blanket.  I crocheted three single crochets into the top of each shell and one single crochet around the yarn in the spaces between shells.

Altogether, the blanket measures 38 inches by 37 inches.  As the video instructor said, this blanket isn't perfectly square because of the "never-ending" aspect of the pattern.  If you study it real hard, the center looks a little cockeyed but honestly-- it's not too noticeable.

Hope this gives you some inspiration for a new project.  Happy hooking!


Jilliane


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Granny Square Baby Blanket with Scallop Edging

This blanket was fun to make and was a gift to a second-cousin, Shalaney, who is the big sister to the recipient of the Striped Baby Boy Blanket, actually!

I was inspired by the look of the granny square stitch with scalloped edging that I saw on Craftmumship's blog (and I'm definitely feeling inspired by her kid's poncho tutorial... adding it to my to-do list!).

For this project, I used a size K crochet hook and the following yarn:
- Red Heart Super Saver, Monet (3 skeins - 244 yards)
- Red Heart Super Saver, Orchid (very little)

As I have in past projects, I followed the tutorial for Lisa's Granny Square Afghan Crochet Pattern. Altogether, I crocheted 26 rounds of the granny square stitch.

After that, I switched to the solid purple yarn and crocheted one round of single crochet stitch.  Then, I crocheted one round of shell edging.  For the scalloped edging, I followed these instructions for the small shell edging.

The blanket measures 30 inches by 30 inches, and is definitely one of my favorites!

I hope this gives you some inspiration for your own projects.  Happy stitching!

Jilliane


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Thick & Quick Baby Blanket

This adorable baby blanket was whipped up in just a few hours for our friends' first child, Lauren Alyse.  It is a simple, single crochet stitch using three strands of yarn simultaneously.  I was inspired by the Chunky Crochet Baby Blanket Tutorial and used those instructions to get started.

Something I really like about this pattern is how creative you can get with the possibilities-- color combinations, yarn weight, number of strands of yarn, etc.  I've used this pattern/stitch once before to make a Pittsburgh Steelers scarf using a strand each of black and yellow yarn, and it turned out great.

For this blanket, I used a size P crochet hook and the following yarn:
- Red Heart Super Saver, Perfect Pink (2 - 364 yards)
- Red Heart Super Saver, Orchid (2 - 364 yards)
- Red Heart with Love, Pewter (2 - 370 yards)

I purchased two skeins of each color to be on the safe side, but ended up using only about 1-1/2 skeins of each.  The blanket measures 30 inches by 40 inches-- the perfect size to use as a winter-time blanket, as a crib mat, or for tummy time.

I hope this gives you some inspiration.  Happy stitching!

Jilliane


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