Babies, babies, babies! We’re expecting no fewer than three babies in our little circle of friends and family in the coming weeks—all of them are due between mid-May and mid-June. So that means that I’ve been in high production mode ever since fall, with a little break to make goodies for Christmas.
This is my most recent one…. one that I’ve (somewhat) managed to create from my stash of Berocco Comfort worsted weight yarn. I have probably done about seven or eight of these types of blankets over the years, so I’ve amassed a decent-ish stash of extra bits. I bought a bit of yarn in a single dyelot for the joining and edging parts, so any variances wouldn’t look too wonky.
I usually try to organize them on the dining table as I create the last two or three squares, just to make sure that I have a good mix of colors and textures. I always try to do one of every color in solids, stripes, intarsia/colorwork, and some textured or lace single-color squares.
Here’s the finished blanket. I was planning on joining the squares with the cream color and edging too, but I had a ton of the dark brown left over, and it looked much more masculine and pretty. Leslie and Brandon are having a boy, and his room has a lot of this lovely espresso color featured.
As you can see, I changed up the finished version a little bit after the initial assembly shot above, but I’m super happy with the results. I really enjoyed doing the little Fair Isle type pattern on the center square, with the sheep, rabbits, flowers, and hearts. Some of the lace-patterned squares turned out nicely.
Extra-Special Gift Wrapping
Then, because I wasn’t behind enough on the blanket for the next baby (!!), I did something extra-special for the gift wrap for the finished blanket.
I love to wrap baby shower gifts in receiving blankets—they’re cheaper than gift bags, and have so many great uses for new moms.
I saw this clever little chain stitch on Pinterest that I’ve been dying to try, and I found some awesome little muslin receiving blankets. In my stash (I know, are you so impressed?) I also had this awesome fine cotton yarn that was the perfect shade of dark blue. 
I also dug up one of my old vintage crochet pattern books and found a page with some classic linen edgings, and thought this one was just awesome. (Sorry, the dark leather chair doesn’t really give you much to go on.)
Here’s what it looked like folded and wrapped around the finished baby blanket, and fastened with a diaper pin.
They’re having a grown-up baby shower brunch at their newly remodeled house today, and Cody’s taking care of their two kids over at our place, so I’m going to get a morning of mimosas and yummy food, kid-free. Can’t wait to see their reaction!
fdigitalis.com 