Blanket for Baby
This is the blanket I have just made for a new arrival in the extended family. Its losely based on this shell afghan pattern
14 Oct
2006
This is the blanket I have just made for a new arrival in the extended family. Its losely based on this shell afghan pattern
Oooh! That’s really nice! :D
I have been wanting to have a go at making such a blanket, but have so far been unable to interpret crochet instructions. Do you think you could email me fairyJo-friendly instructions for making that, please?
Jo, I’m glad you like it so much. I used 4-ply wool and a 4mm hook for this pattern, but for a beginner get some double-knitting wool (sometimes also labelled at DK) and a 5mm hook.
Do a chain as long as the blanket should be wide, make sure your chain isn’t too tight as you will need to get the hook through each loop in a minute.
The first “proper” row is the hard bit, just battle through this. Get ready to treble – that’s put the wool on the hook, go through the space you’re supposed to be trebling into, get the wool on the hook again and come back through the hole so you have three loops of wool on your hook. Now hook some wool and go through the first two loops (you should have two loops left now), and hook some more wool and go through the last two.
Still with me?
Now you know what to do and we’re ready to start. Treble into the 4th loop from the end of the chain your hook is attached to. Treble again into the next stitch back along the chain (crochet works right-to-left so get the end of the wool and the first bit of the chain to your left, then you and your hook should be at the other end coming back along the chain to the end you started chaining from).
OK. Do a single chain stich. Missing out one of the loops in your original chain, treble into the next three of those loops. Just keep going with a single chain, and then three trebles in a row until you get back to where you started.
You’ve finished the first row. Let me know if you make it and I’ll post the rest of the instructions (it gets much easier from here I promise, I’m just finding it hard to type all this into such a small box!). If you need photos I can send some :)
Thanks for this – sounds manageable! I shall go into town sometime this week to buy the necessaries and let you know how I get on. :)
1st row complete, I think. I await your next instructions…:D
fairyJo, wow! I love your photo of your crochet, so I’m linking to it! Here it is, hope that’s OK.
Right, we’re ready to do the rest of it, it gets easier now because you have some structure to work from. First of all, before you start a new row you need to flip the work over so your hook and the current loop is at the top-right of the work, then work across the top of the work to the left.
There’s one more stitch in this that you haven’t used already; a double crochet. Just put the hook through the allotted hole, put the wool over the hook, come back through the hole then hook the wool again and pull through both the loops on the hook.
Row A: Chain 3, then double crochet into the space in the previous row where you just did a chain instead of going down into your first line of stitches. Chain 3, double into the space …. you get the picture so just do that all the way until the end of the row. Do a double into the top of the very last stitch in the previous row when you get to the end. You end up with a series of loopy bits joined on to the blanket at intervals.
Row B: Chain 3 stitches (these will go upwards and pretend to be a treble stitch), then do two trebles into the nearest of the loopy bits. Now chain once and do three trebles into the next loopy bit from the previous row. Keep chaining once and doing sets of three trebles into the next loopy bit.
That’s all, repeat rows A and B alternately until your blanket is the size you wanted! If you’re still feeling keen when you get to the end then let me know and I’ll post instructions for a simple border – the one on mine was a bit crazy because the blanket came out rather small, I didn’t really think about how big a baby is before I started.
fairyJo, thanks for emailing me and keeping me updated. Here’s the instructions for a border (this isn’t the same as what I did on mine but I needed to make the blanket bigger).
At the end of the last row, when you get to the end, turn the blanket through a quarter turn clockwise. You now have the long side at the top and your hook and wool hanging off the top right-hand corner.
Work around the whole edge of the blanket doing just double crochet stitches. This first row is fiddly because you have to join on to stitches which are going sideways and so on. Just try to keep them evenly spaced, I found that a double into the end of each row plus an extra one in the middle of the trebles worked well. For the short sides just do one double crochet into each stitch. At the corners do two double crochets into the same space.
You should have gone round all four sides of the blanket now – join onto your first double crochet with a slip stitch (just chain but put the hook through your first stitch first). Now double all the way round the blanket again, doing one double stitch into each of the ones in the previous row and two at the corners. When you get back to that starting corner again, slip stitch into your first stitch.
What you have now is a blanket with nice solid edges, helps it to stay square. Now the fun part – a frill! Basically we’re going to do a last row of stitches, but make them different heights which gives the blanket its wavy edge. So.
Do three chain stitches (these are pretending to be a treble stitch), then do two trebles into each of the next two stitches (skipping the one the chain is coming from). Now do a double crochet in to the next stitch. Can you see what’s happening? Keep doing three treble stitches and then one double one, with each stitch going into the top of the next stitch on the previous row. At the corners, you will probably need to do some extra trebles into the corner space to make the border “turn” properly, see how it works out and don’t be afraid to pull it back and try again!
I think you will then be finished … this set of instructions is a bit tricky – crocheting into the top of stitches is harder than doing it into spaces so don’t be surprised if it gets a bit slower going! Good luck and I expect a photo :)
Thanks! Will probably start work on this next week as I need to get more wool again. Can’t wait!
Hopefully, if Jon gives me access to Photoshop later today, photos of the blanket so far will be online soon…:)
Blanket is finished & photos online now!!! :D
FairyJo’s Baby Blanket Photos
Thanks for all your help! !!
fairyJo, wow!!!
I can’t quite believe that this happened … you’ve learned to crochet from my website!
Your blanket is beautiful, its lovely and even and I like the contrast border. Well done and a big hug for getting it finished! I’m so glad I’m able to share my hobby with you … what will you be making next? :)
Thanks! :D
As for what next, I’m not sure. Trying to think of ideas for Christmas pressies… any suggestions?
Got a few ideas for you, fairyJo – and started us a new Christmas post at Christmas Crochet