Baby with Baby Blocks
This is Ashlin’s blanket! I used a pattern from the Lion Brand site – Baby Blocks. I picked yarn colors that would go with the bedding we had. I stayed away from the browns and yellows, focusing instead on the bright colors from the flowers and leaves.
I had started working a different blanket – a sampler afghan. I wasn’t happy with the way the few squares turned out – I just couldn’t get the gauge right – so pulled them apart and started the Baby Blocks. Eventually, I’ll do the sampler, it is very pretty.
I know I always say this, but I liked working this blanket up. The small squares were very easy to bring around with me – to and from work, the salon, the car, wherever.
I started the blanket in May but didn’t get it done until November. It hibernated for a lot of the summer. There was no rush. Ashlin wouldn’t be needing it soon, she wasn’t close to being moved out of her crib, although she was climbing out. It got put aside for other projects with sooner due dates.
There were some troubles, not enough of a discontinued yarn color – orange. Some squares were done with the wrong color order – each color was used on each round five times. To make the size we needed, I did 20 squares instead of 12, this worked better for the colors, though did make it difficult to decide on the final positioning. Too many dark colors on a row made it look lopsided, so each needed to be balanced out.
Stack of Squares
Final Position
As always, this was a learning experience. Other than learning I have less-than-stellar color choices, (at times), I learned to do an invisible seam.
Almost mattress-stitch
Invisible Join
I used instructions from this site to join all the squares. It’s very similar to a mattress stitch used when joining knit pieces. You sew up through the bar between the top loop of the stitch. Then you pull the yarn tight. You don’t even need to use a coordinating yarn color. When you pull the yarn tight, you can hardly see the yarn used. You just need to be sure not to pull too tight, or the squares pucker at the join. There’s a tiny bit of a bump, but that could be due to the tightness of the yarn used to seam.
Snuggling in
I’m sure Ashlin won’t ever notice.
Another change from the official pattern was to add a border. I just think it pulls everything together and gives the blanket a finished look. I used my copy of Around the Corner for the border.
Corner
Edge
I went around the joined squares twice with single crochet before using the border patterns from page 120 (blue round) and 59 (green crab stitch). I do wish I had kept up the corner style of the squares when doing the border. But that’s a small thing. I am really happy with it.
And Ashlin is as well. And that’s what really matters.
Whatever!