Blue Chevron Baby Blanket

Things have been quiet around this blog lately - but not because I've been idle!  I've spent the past month and a half working on a very special gift for my sister-in-law's baby-boy-to-be, who will be debuting this February.  His mom lives way up North, so I figured she could use something to keep her and baby warm until the snow melts or they move back South - whichever happens first.

A special bundle for the bundle of joy

I've been getting better at crochet after I cut my teeth on my other nephew's crochet blanket this past summer and I really wanted to try a new pattern.  I absolutely LOVE crocheting patterns (once I get the hang of them, of course) because I can count much more easily.  For example, this pattern required me to crochet 11 single crochet, do something special, then crochet 11 single crochet, etc.  It's much easier than trying to keep count of all 225 stitches in each row!  Not to mention, crochet stitches look so pretty when done in a pattern.  I was really amazed at how easy the chevron pattern was.

I got this pattern from a crochet YouTube channel (yes, those exist apparently) that really helped me understand the pattern a lot better than written directions.  I think my mistake, however, was not resizing the pattern for baby-size!  I meant to make the blanket about 3 feet long, however when I made the first stripe, the width of the blanket was deceptive.  The chevron pattern means you have to make a much longer row than you think you'd need because once it starts zig-zagging, it shrinks up.  However, mine didn't quite shrink up nearly as much as I thought it would haha!  The end product is about three feet WIDE by an astonishing FIVE FEET LONG just so it would look rectangular!  Sooooo I guess New Nephew got a blanket for his first toddler bed as well :)

Getting started -- each band of color took about two hours to complete!

I really loved the color combination on this project.  I knew that my nephew's theme colors were going to be navy and gray, but to brighten it up I added a soft white and a contrasting sea green.  The white, gray, and green are all Lion Brand Pound of Love and I think it's my new favorite baby yarn.  It's so soft, vivid without being shiny, and machine washable.  Unfortunately though, the Jo-Ann's near me was sold out of the navy blue in that brand, so I settled for Caron's One Pound yarn in Midnight Blue.  While the color was pretty, the yarn itself was somehow thicker than the Lion Brand yarn, even though they were the same weight, and so I had to make much tighter stitches with the navy to keep the stripes from being uneven.  Very frustrating, to say the least.

Finished product, ready for snuggling :)

Overall I was really happy with how the blanket turned out, and I think my sister-in-law was too!  I can't wait to try this pattern again (maybe in a smaller size...) in some different colors.  How pretty would this be in shades of purple, maybe?

Materials:

1 skein each (I used about 75% of each)

• Lion Brand Pound of Love in Oxford Gray
• Lion Brand Pound of Love in Pastel Green
• Lion Brand Pound of Love in White
• Caron One Pound yarn in Midnight Blue

Time:

Approximately 32 hours total!  But worth it :)