Sunny Baby Blanket

Who doesn't love a nice snuggly blanket. It's the best bit about being chilly, the excuse to get under a soft crochet blanket. 

As soon as I hear anyone is expecting a baby I get my hooks out to make a cosy baby blanket.

While I've been off work for the summer I've had the chance to try a few different styles and come up with a couple of patterns of my own.

I thought I would share this sunny little blanket with you (if there is anyone out there??)

It's worked in one of my favourite Stylecraft special dk colours, Saffron (3 balls). Using a 4mm hook. Terms are in English.

Begin with a chain of 111

1.       Dc in second ch from hook then repeat to end. Turn.

2.       Ch 4 (counts as tr, ch1) miss next st *ch1, tr in next st, repeat from * to end. Turn.

3.       Ch1,* dc in first st, dc in ch sp repeat from *to the end, dc in last st. Turn.

4.       Ch1, * dc in first st, ch1, miss next st, dc in next st, repeat from * to end. Turn.

5.       Ch1,* dc in first st, dc in ch sp repeat from *to the end, dc in last st. Turn.

Row 6 -109. Repeat rows 2- 5 26 times.

Row 110 – 112 repeat rows 2-4 1 time.

113. Ch1, dc in first st,* dc in ch space, ch1 miss next st, repeat from *, dc in last st.Turn.

114. Repeat row 4

115. Repeat row 113

116. Repeat row 4

117. Repeat row 113

118. Repeat row 5, Finish

Border

Rejoin yarn in first st RS facing.

1.       Work 1dc in each st along the bottom till last st, work 3 st in corner. Turn to work along the edge *work 2dc along the trc post, 1dc in each of next 3 rows, repeat this pattern to the top, work 3dc in the corner, continue to work dc along the top, 3dc in corner, turn to work along opposite edge as previous. Slst to join.

2.       Ch1. Dc in same st, ch1, miss next st dc in next st. Repeat this pattern until corner, in each 3 corner st work ch1 dc without missing a st. Repeat this along other 3 sides. Slst to join then slst into next ch sp.

3.        Ch3 dc into next ch sp, repeat around border. Slst to join, slst into ch sp.

4.       Ch3 dc into next ch sp until reaching the top edge of the blanket. Along the top work ch1, dc in next ch sp. Once back to last side continue to ch3 then dc in next ch sp. Slst to join, slst into next ch sp.

5.       Work 2dc in each ch3sp along bottom and side, Along top work 1dc into each dc and ch1sp, along last edge continue to work 2dc into each ch3sp. Slst to join. Finish.

Love Katie x

Cute Cocoons

A friend's daughter recently set up her own photographic studio. A few weeks ago they asked if I could make a hungry caterpillar cocoon to use as a photo prop.

I have always loved the Very Hungry Caterpillar, a few years ago I made my own caterpillar hat to wear for our class ugly bug ball.

(Crochet is a handy talent to have when you work in early years!)

I am sure that a sweet little baby will look much cuter as a caterpillar than me.

I can't wait to see some pictures of the cocoon in use.

Once I'd finished the caterpillar I followed on with a bumble bee cocoon.

After working the hat I thought it might look a little too girly, so I added a straight edged hat for little boys.

Now it's not very often I remember to write down my patterns, I have a bad habit of just going with the flow then forgetting how I got there.

The good news is I wrote these down, so I thought I would share the bumble bee pattern with anyone out there who would like to try it. Now I have only worked this pattern once and no one else has tested the pattern, but it's very simple so there shouldn't be any mistakes. However if anyone comes across one, please let me know.

For this pattern I used one ball each of  Stylecraft special dk in black and daffodil, working with a 6.5mm hook.

Starting with the black yarn;

1)   make a magic ring and work 6htr                (6 st)

2)   inc in each st                                                (12 st)

3)   inc, 1x htr, rep                                              (18 st)

4)   inc, 2x htr, rep                                              (24 st)

5)   inc, 3x htr, rep                                              (30 st)

6)   inc, 4x htr, rep                                              (36 st)

7)   inc, 5x htr, rep                                              (42 st)

8)   inc, 6x htr, rep                                              (48 st)

9)   inc, 7x htr, rep                                              (54 st)

10) inc, 8x htr, rep                                              (60 st)

11) inc, 9x htr, rep                                              (66 st)

12) inc, 10x htr, rep                                            (72 st)

13) inc, 11x htr, rep                                            (78 st)

14-16) 1htr in each st

            change to yellow

17-26) 1htr in each

            change to black

27-31) 1htr in each

            change to yellow

32-41) 1htr in each

            change to black

42-46) 1htr in each

            change to yellow

47-56) 1htr in each

            change to black

57) 1htr in each st, join with a slst

58)  chain 3, 1fptr, 1bptr, repeat around and join with a slst

59) Repeat row 58

Finish.

Baby girls hat

Start with yellow yarn

1) make a magic ring and work 8htr

2) inc in each st                                                           (16 st)

3) inc, 1xhtr, rep                                                          (24 st)

4) inc, 2x htr, rep                                                         (32 st)

5) inc, 3x htr, rep                                                         (40 st)

    change to black

6-7) 1htr in each

    change to yellow

8-10) 1htr in each

    change to black

11-12) 1htr in each

    change to yellow

13-14) 1htr in each

15) miss 1 st, 5tr in next st, miss 1 st, slst in next st, repeat around

finish

Baby boys hat

Start with black yarn

1) make a magic ring and work 8htr

2) inc in each st                                                           (16 st)

3) inc, 1xhtr, rep                                                          (24 st)

4) inc, 2x htr, rep                                                         (32 st)

5) inc, 3x htr, rep                                                         (40 st)

    change to yellow

6-8) 1htr in each

    change to black

9-10) 1htr in each

   change to yellow

11-13) 1htr in each

    change to black

14-15) 1htr in each

16) 1dc in each, join with a slst

finish.

Have fun x x

     

          Katie x x

Temperature Blanket

At the end of last year I started to see all the lovely pictures popping up on Instagram and Pinterest of finished temperature blankets. Until this time I hadn't heard of this idea  but as I seemed to have lost my crojo I thought it would be a good way to get myself hooked again. This method uses the temperature from each day the determin the colour of the row you crochet.

I found a few charts online with ideas for colours to use for the different temperatures but I wanted more colour than these had.

After spending more time looking at pictures of lovely yarn I decided to order the Attic24 Cosy stylecraft dk kit from Woolwharehouse, adding a few extra colours to the mix.

The yarn pack came with a pattern for Lucy's cosy blanket so I decided to keep to the pattern, changing the colour order to match with the temperature chart I matched the colours to.

Each day I checked the temperature and wrote in my diary. I had to wait a week into January to get started while I waited for my lovely Stylecraft yarn to arrive.

At first everything seemed to be going really well. I loved the way the shades were working up and I was getting good at making sure I weaved in the ends every few days so I wouldn't be left with that job at the end ( oh how we all love the job of weaving in the ends of striped blankets)!

Then came the end of January and I wanted to take a picture to share with friends to show how it was turning out. This was when I discovered that January no longer had only 31 days, that there were now 32!

Oops

Looking back matching temperatures in my blanket to the changes of colour, I had managed to add an extra day right in the middle of the month.

I would love to say I was the type of fastidious person who would rip 15 rows out to get rid of a little mistake - but no, not a chance. So from now on January 2017 had 32 days.

So now we are in March. The colour stripes started off predominately purple at the start of the year, now there are more blue shades, with the odd warm(ish) day adding a splash of green.

I am looking forward to see how the pattern grows though the year, and hopefully there will be no more extra days!

Love

Katie x x