My First Baby Blanket

Babies are an excellent excuse for crafters to make sweet little projects. First of all they’re so cute and adorable, and everything you make for them is miniature and therefore too cute for words. Secondly, since everything is small, each project is a manageable size, and so a few months, or even a few weeks, is often enough time to get it finished.

When I first learned to crochet, all I made were simple squares, then scarves. Soon everyone I knew had more scarves than they could wear, and I needed a new project.

Luckily, while I was trying to figure out what to work on next, a childhood friend of mine announced that she was pregnant, and due in about 6 months - perfect timing for me to make something for a new baby! 

I’d never really followed a crochet pattern before, so I went shopping for a pattern. I got the book 200 Crochet Blocks, and my mum and I went looking for some nice yarn. I picked some very soft yarn (Bernat Satin Sport), opting to go for lots of bright colours instead of pastel colours. We didn’t know if it would be a boy or a girl, and regardless, I’m not a fan of the overly-gendered stuff for babies (everything being pink or blue); so I went with all the colours of the rainbow, with yellow as a sort of default base colour.

I started making blocks from the book, but I didn’t have any kind of plan. I figured I’d make a few blocks in my colours, and then figure out which ones I liked best, and plan a blanket using those. Of course, things never work out quite that way - I made a few different blocks, and then made second blocks of most of the patterns, and then I was completely overwhelmed and at a loss. 

Finally, on my Mum’s advice, I decided to embrace this variety of blocks, and make it into a sampler (if you’re not familiar with the term, a sampler is some project that is produced to practice a range of skills and techniques) blanket, with a zig-zag of 4 of the same block running through the middle of the blanket, to tie it all together.

Then of course I worked all the ends in (the most annoying part!), sewed it all together, and then took it with me to visit my friend and her new little boy. My visit was around when he was turning 1 month old, and he was so little, as you can see in these pictures. The blanket was a complete surprise, which is what I was hoping for!