Catherine's Crochet Corner

I have finished my ‘palate cleansing’ baby ripple blanket, hurrah!

I actually finished it last weekend, but it’s taken this long to manage to get pictures 😀

I’m very pleased with it. I did not get tighter as I went along, so it’s beautifully square all the way from beginning to end. It was nice, too, to just do a simple, repetitive pattern that didn’t require any more thought than ‘one, two, three, four, one-two one-two’, etc, as I counted along between valleys and ridges.

So! Some details for you. I used Stylecraft Special for Babies DK in baby blue, baby denim, baby mint and blue marl, and Stylecraft Wondersoft Stardust DK in silver, cream and sky blue. One ball of each, with plenty left over at the end. I used a 4.5mm hook and began with 154 foundation single crochet stitches, rather than a chain. Because chains at the beginning of blankets are the enemy, always too tight no matter how hard you try to keep it loose.

In terms of patterns, a ripple is a ripple is a ripple, but I worked four dc stitches between each ridge and valley, to create a gentle ripple. And, as I mentioned before, I used Attic24’s interlocking colour layout as inspiration – though obviously my colours are very different!

For the border, I first worked a row of loose slip stitches up each edge of the blanket, into the posts of the dc stitches, so that my first round of border would sit beautifully even and flat. Then I ‘filled in’ the valleys and ridges at the top and bottom of the blanket, and worked sc on the sides.
I then did a second round of sc stitches, and finally a round of crab stitch (backwards single crochet) because I love how it makes a lovely sort of bound edge. It also helps the border sit flat.

That brought the blanket to approximately 37×37 inches. A little big for a tiny baby, but very soft and cuddly.

With my leftover yarn, I made a soft toy to go with the blanket. I used the Three Bears free pattern, and made a bear with a single strand of DK, with a 3.5mm hook. I wanted to use DK doubled up, but I quickly realised I wouldn’t have quite enough of each colour to do that!

So it’s a little bear, rather than a medium bear, but very cute, I think. And I do like having a little soft toy to match a baby blanket.

No home for it as yet, but I’m sure a baby will come along somewhere or other! I find my blankets do tend to find homes, sooner or later. Meanwhile, it is safely stored away, awaiting a forever owner.