Shells and Flowers hat

This is the pattern that really got me going on baby hats, and to write my baby football beanie pattern. I love the shells and the incorporated flowers. Unfortunately I ran out of yarn and had to omit/change the last few rounds. You can find the pattern here but I'm not sure if you'll be able to link to it if you don't have an account on ravelry.

Once again I made a matching fleece blanket with a crocheted edge.

Cozy (Pink/Blue) Baby Layette

     If you have followed my blog for some time you may think this looks familiar and it should because I've posted the hat and booties before (here), since that post I have added to the set a blanket and a matching gift bag that I absolutely love!

     For the bag I use a hole punch to make the holes, and then I sc in each one all the way around, then I sl st to join the end.

      The blanket is very similar to the other fleece blankets I've made in the past (here) except I found I could "cheat" (because of the fluffy yarn) by only doing a single round and not doing a ch in between each sc.

     I think using  Red Heart Baby Clouds definitely ties the whole set together and allows me to make a matching baby girl set.

     Because I used the Provo Craft Knifty Knitter blue round loom for the newborn hat it was easy to adjust the size (by switching to the green loom) of it when I had the opportunity to make a matching "big sister" hat! :)

    The gift tag below was done by the author of Spare Thyme Ink who does many beautiful things in the paper crafting world!

More Crocheted Fleece Baby Blankets

This blanket has a simple dc edge but as you may notice, there's crocheting down the middle.
Unfortunately when I purchased this fleece the piece wasn't wide enough for a baby blanket. So when I went to cut the holes I decided to cut the long piece in half and put holes in all sides of both pieces.  I placed the wrong sides together, sc in the piece closest to me (piece a), instead of putting a ch between each sc I sc in the piece farthest from me (piece b). I sc in the next space on piece (a) and then sc in the next space on piece (b) all the way down the seam. Once I reached the end of the seam I did the basic base stitch (see Fleece Baby Blankets) and the dc all the way around as normal.

This jungle fleece blanket is probably one of my top 3 favorite crochet blankets, along with the next blanket shown here. I think this is a perfect example of how your border can make or break your project and not so much style or stitch, but the choice of yarn. I completely fell in love with this jungle print and put off crocheting the edge because I didn't think I had any yarn that would finish it just right. One day when I was going through my yarn stash (see My "Craft Room" Storage) I found this...

Instantly I thought of my jungle fleece, this will be perfect, this will "make" the blanket, this reminds me of the zebra in the print...I CAN'T WAIT TO GET STARTED!!!!! So I just put a very simple double crochet around the edge after doing the base stitch.

This has the simplest edge you could imagine...okay maybe not, but what's so great about this edging is that you only have to go around once, that's right it's just the base stitch! I just used Red Heart Baby Clouds for this one so it matches my Baby Hat and Booties that I've made. (Note: I've also made a blue version of this)

I especially like the multi-colored borders on this one, which is as follows:
Rnd 1
Using purple, Base Stitch all the way around
Rnd 2
Sc all the way around, sl st in the 1st st
Rnd 3
Using pink, *ch 2, (dc, sc) in the next st, sl st, repeat from * all the way around

I hope this is helpful and that you enjoy them as much as I do. Again I would love to see your creations

Fleece Baby Blankets with Crocheted Edge

      This is one my favorite crochet projects of 2010, it's quick, easy, inexpensive, versatile, and very rewarding.This is much faster than crocheting an entire afghan. These blankets can be made with only very simple stitches such as: a chain stitch and single crochet, or can be made with more complicated stitches such as: double crochet, half double crochet, triple crochet, ect., all depending on which edge you chose to put on. I have found that I can get 2 blankets out of 24-36in of fleece, you can find this as a remnant at your local Joann's or fabric store. Joann's puts fleece on sale frequently, but regularly it costs about 7.99-13.99per yard. Because many fabric stores have lots of variety it's easy to find cute baby boy or girl fleece. Also you can easily alter you pattern from a straight edge to a scallop to a picot to your heart desire. Though no matter what you do it will look adorable. :)

To start your blanket you need to cut your fleece to size, cut slits. I do my slits about 3/4in away from the edge. The first blanket I did, I used a Crop-o-dile (which is a heavy duty hand punch.) Unfortunately I punched my holes too close together and too close to the edge so when I start to crochet the fabric stretched and tore. I had to start over by cutting off the edge and repunching. This method is tedious and uneven. If however you still want hand punch all the way around your blanket you should punch at least 3/4" away from the edge and punch your holes at least 3/4" apart. So not long after I obtained an "Original Skip-Stitch^® Blade" which can be purchased at http://www.skipstitch.com/products--orders.html. 

Hook G or H
Rnd 1
Insert your hook into a hole (make sure the right side is facing you) (sc 1, ch 1,) in each hole make sure you don't miss any. (Note: the edge of your fleece should fold back so that the bases of your single crochets are a little more 1/4")  On the corners (sc 1, ch 1) 3 times in the corner hole, (you may want to round the corner of the fleece with a pair of scissors.) When you reach your first st, sl st in it.

Rnd 2+
This is totally up to you. :)
The flowered blanket above has a rnd of dcs (with 3 dcs in the corner) and a rnd like this (sk 1, dc 5, sk 1,   sl st 1,)

 

Rnd 2

For this one it's just double crochet (with 3 dcs in the corners) and the sl st in 1st dc

Multiple colors is another fun option 
Rnd 2
Dc all the way around (with 3 dcs in the corners) Sl st in 1st dc
Rnd 3
Switch to red yarn, dc all the way around (with 3 dcs in the corners) Sl st in 1st dc
Rnd 4
(Sc, sl st, ch 5, sl st in the same st) all the way around, sl st in 1st sc

Aren't the little firemen cute. :)

Another option is "Dolly and Me" blankets

Here is the mini scallop for the doll blanket
Rnd 2
Sc all the way around, (sc 3 in the corners) sl st in 1st sc
Rnd 3
[Ch 2, (dc 1, hdc 1) in the next st, sl st] all the way around,

This is the same as the Flower blanket above.

 Have fun creating you own edge designs too! I would love to see them. :)