Time to Get Back to Work

Kids blanket for Project Linus, maybe?? Using the Bouncy Ball Baby Blanket pattern with an extra round,

Bouncy Ball Baby Blanket Free Crochet Pattern

I had made squares similar to these before to send out to joiners in some of the groups I belong to. It's a seven inch square when finished and the perfect size for what was needed at the time. However, I had never actually made a full blanket out of them. I used two skeins of each color in Red Heart Super Saver but the next one I'm working on is using scraps of pastel colored yarn. It's a great way to use up bits and pieces. Here's the pattern:

Bouncy Ball Baby Blanket

Two skeins of each color in Red Heart Super Saver
J hook

The squares:

Make 24 (for a rectangular blanket 4X6)
or make 25 (for a square blanket 5X5)

Triple Yo Yo
Chain 4 and join to make loop
Rd 1: ch 3 (counts as dc) 11 dc in loop and join to top of ch 3 (12 dc)
Rd 2: ch 3, dc in same space, 2 dc in each dc around and join (24 dc)
Rd 3: ch 3, 2 dc in next dc, dc in next dc around ending with 2 dc, join and end (36 dc)
The count is important, make sure there are 36 stitches

The Border
Using the contrasting color join to top of any dc
Rd 4: Ch 1 and sc in same space, *1 sc in each of next 3 dc, hdc, dc (2 dc, ch 2, 2 dc to make corner) dc, hdc, sc, repeat from * around, join to first sc
Rd 5: dc in each stitch making corner (as above) in each ch 2 corner space join and end
Rd 6: repeat round 5

Join squares with your preferred joining method

Border is three rows of single crochet putting sc, ch 2, sc in the corners

Finished Blankets for Project Linus

I decided to try to finish up some of my (many) unfinished projects. The peach and white one wasn't too hard to finish, I was close to being done, but the pink and white one had to be frogged and started over so I pretty much did it from scratch! In case you didn't know Project Linus is a nationwide organization that provides security blankets to ill and traumatised children. It's a great way to become involved in charity crafting so check them out and find a chapter near you. Both blankets were made with the Never Ending Blanket Square pattern.

Reader's Projects: Beautiful Baby Blanket

My reader Cindy made this gorgeous baby blanket using my Never Ending Blanket Square. She has another picture on her blog Gardner's Ramblings. She donated it to her local pregnancy resource center.

Baby Blankets from Donated Squares

All_Crafts_4_Charity, one of my Yahoo groups, is making baby blankets for a hospital in Wyoming this month. I volunteered to join squares for this project and these blankets are the first two done.

Stuff from My Trunk

Since I do in-home live-in care for the elderly, most of my crocheting is done away from home, I have this really bad habit of putting partially finished projects in the trunk of my car and going on to something else. This time while I was at work I forced myself to finish all of them. I didn't make it since I still have two baby blankets partially done still in there.

So far I have finished two blankets, one made from donated squares for a special project for All_Crafts_4_Charity, seven preemie hats and a baby sweater that just needed the ends worked in for Cooper Hospital, four dishcloths and three scrubbies for a battered women's shelter and two finger puppets that were made for the CraftingForACause April and May challenge that didn't get sent in with the others.

Ripple Stitch Afghan

This baby blanket is going to Afghans for Afghans. I bought the yarn, it's 100% wool, on Ebay. I was going to use it for hats but when I saw it, the first thing that occured to me was, Ripple Baby Blanket!!, so that's what it became. I love when a yarn speaks to me like that. I didn't really use a particular pattern but since there are so many ripple stich crochet patterns out there I'm not going to post it here. Just Google it to find a pattern the size you want. Most patterns have you changing colors but this was self striping yarn so it wasn't necessary.

The Ebay seller I bought the yarn from sells it regularly, I do not know this person and have no ties to him but if you want to buy this yarn click here.

Sunflower Lap-Ghan Free Crochet Pattern

This is a product of serendipity. I bought the wrong yarn!! I was buying it for a sweater pattern but bought worsted weight instead of sport yarn. Not exactly having unlimited funds I had to come up with some way to use it. So my kids sunflower sweater became a lap-ghan and I love how it came out.

Finished size 30 X 42

Gauge: I used a J hook and the squares came out to 6 1/2"

Materials:

about 12 oz royal blue

about 6-8 oz sunflower yellow

about 3-4 oz green

small amount of brown

These are approx. since some of it was partial skeins

Make 24 squares

Rnd 1: With brown, Ch 4 and join, ch 3 (counts as 1st dc) 15 dc and join to top of ch 3, 16 dc

Rnd 2: With yellow, Join to any dc ch 4 (counts as dc, ch 1) *dc, ch 1 in each dc around, 16 ch1 spaces

Rnd 3: With green, Join in any space, ch 3, in same space 2 dc, ch2, 3 dc, ch1, *sk next ch 1 sp, 3dc in next sp ch1, sk next st, 3dc, ch2, 3 dc, ch1 repeat from * twice, sk space, 3 dc ch 1 and join.

Rnd 4: With blue, Join in any corner, ch 3, 2dc, ch 2, 3 dc, ch 1,( 3 dc, ch 1 in each side space), 3dc, ch 2, 3dc, ch1 (corner made) continue around and join, sl st to corner

Rnd 5: ch 3, 2dc, ch 2, 3 dc, ch 1,( 3 dc, ch 1 in each side space), 3dc, ch 2, 3dc, ch1 (corner made) continue around and join

Join: in 4 rows of six, you can join in any manner that you like but I usually do it by holding right sides together and sc in back loops of stitches

Border:

V stitch: dc, ch 1, dc

Rnd 1: With blue, join with sl st in any corner ch3, 2 dc, ch 2, 3dc, ch1, 3dc ch 1 in every space along side, in corner space 3dc, ch2, 3dc, ch1 (corner made) continue around in this manner

Rnd 2: With yellow, join in any corner, ch 4, (dc, ch1) 3 times, * in center stitch of next 3dc group V stitch, ch1 to next corner. In corner, V stitch, ch 1, V stitch, ch1 continue around in this manner join to 3rd ch of beginning ch 4.

Rnd 3: With blue, Join to any corner, ch 3, dc, ch2, 2 dc, ch1, in each V stitch along side 3 dc, ch1 to corner, in corner 2 dc, ch 2, 2 dc continue around in this manner.

Six more done eight more to go

Another six done, I'm not going to do this type of challange again, I need some variety. I want to make hats!!! Just because. Just because it's something different!!
From top left hand corner going clockwise:

1. Yet another Never-Ending-Blanket

2. A blanket made in one large square with Baby Boucle that was donated by a very nice woman in one of my Yahoo groups. Thank you Angelika!

3 and 4 Two blankets made with baby homespun donated by Angelika and a white bulky yarn I already had.

5. A blanket made in the corner to corner fashion (will be posting pattern soon) made with self-striping yarn just to prove I could do something more than squares!!

And finally in the center (I almost consider this cheating) is a fleece blanket. I found a Project Linus site that explains several ways to make fleece blankets.

4 More Blankets Done - 14 to go

I'm really beginning to wonder if I'm going to make it, I have so many other things I need to do. I need to step it up. I have another quilt top in the works and still need to finish the top I made last week before I can count it.

The blankets are:
top left; Another one finished using donated squares from Linda. That makes three I was able to finish with one small box of donated squares. Thanks again Linda.
top right; A never-ending-blanket in pastel
bottom left; This one I made using a yellow and white self-striping baby yarn with the awful yellow yarn I bought some months ago. The green cast to the yarn isn't noticable in the finished blanket and the striping of the other yarn is more subtle (and I think very pretty) than the striping yarn on it's own.
bottom right; I liked the effect of the yellow so much I combined two different shades of pink with a pink and purple self striping yarn for the forth blanket.

To read more about my December challenge go here.

The Never Ending Blanket Square Free Crochet Pattern

This is the standard Granny square I usually work with when making my blankets. This particular square is one made for a never-ending-blanket. I like it because it's "mindless", I can do it with my eyes closed. I know that for sure because I've tried it. It's also versatile, you can make each blanket unique by changing the colors, where the color changes are and size of the square. I've made blankets with 144 small squares and I've made them with one really big square. Several people have asked for the pattern and I've referred them to a similar pattern that I've seen on the web. But it is similar not the same so I thought I would finally post my pattern here. This square is suitable for projects asking for squares with a minimum of "holes" or "no lacy patterns" and makes a very warm blanket. I need to name it, hmmm, maybe the Never-Ending-Blanket square??

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Never-Ending-Blanket square

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chain 4 and join to form loop

Rd 1 chain 3 (counts as first dc) 2 dc, ch 2, * 3 dc, ch 2* 3 times join to first ch 3

Rd 2 chain 3 (counts as first dc) *dc in each dc (3 st total), in ch 2 sp for corner, 2 dc, ch 2, 2 dc* 3 times

Rd 3 and all other rounds start with 3 ch counting as first dc, dc in each dc and 2 dc 2 ch 2 dc in each corner

To change color simply end first color at end of round, join the new color anywhere ( I like to do it in a different spot than where I ended to make working in te ends less noticable) following pattern.

For pictures of blankets I've made with this pattern

Never-Ending-Blanket

Double Strand Lapghan

Project Linus Blankets

Baby Clouds Blankets (read down in post for the 'not quite a pattern' pattern)

My December Challenge and How You Can Help

I've decided to challenge myself to make twenty five baby blankets for Project Linus. I was going to make it ten but thought "Why Not?" on the larger number. I don't think it's impossible and will work on it as much as possible this month. I still have some family presents to finish but they are almost done.

I have a good start with all the squares in the picture that just need to be joined, some of them are donated by a woman in one of my Yahoo groups. Which brings us to the how you can help part. If you would like to make squares for me I would be happy to join them for Project Linus blankets. They need to be made out of machine washable yarns and be kid friendly colors. Other than that anything goes, I can find a way to work with anything thats sent. If your interested send me your email address through the comment link. Everything is moderated so I won't publish anything with an email address or other personal info. I will be the only one to see it.

I also have quite a bit of baby yarn and Red Heart Baby Clouds yarn that I can use to make baby blankets. Since the challenge for one of my Yahoo groups Angels Touch Crochet is baby blankets for the month of December it fits right in. So I need to get to work, I'm sort of stranded today because my cars in the shop so it's going to be a great day for crocheting!!

I also need to get my "new" sewing machine fixed again. (sigh) a few pieced blankets would be nice, too.

The pattern for my granny squares can be found here.

The Never Ending Blanket

I call this the never ending blanket because another blanket is started before the last one is finished. I keep several bags of smaller balls of yarn in certain color combos. These may change as I get more of certain colors and less of others. The color combos I usually use are bright colors, pastels, and red, white and blue. I only use worsted weight yarn but even then some are too thick or thin so make sure they're all about the same although some variation can be worked with.

You can use any plain granny square pattern. I use one that doesn't have a lot of holes. I also use a K hook so these squares go fairly quickly. Since I am making them for Project Linus and kids come in all sizes I don't worry too much in the beginning about size and number of squares. I found if I have a lot of smaller balls making more small squares works. On the other hand, if you have larger balls you can make large squares and don't have to make so many.

The pattern for my square can be found here.

I have a few "rules" I follow, but you don't have to

1. Never change colors in the middle of a row. If I don't have enough I unravel and try on a lower row of another square.

2. Never do more than 2 rows with the same color in the same square.

3. Except in the very beginning where sometimes it's unavoidable, once I choose a ball to use , I use it up. In other words it may be big enough to make a row 7 and 8 of one square, 6 and 7 of another then maybe a 2 or 3 and finally to use it up I make one or two row 1's. This is the rule that makes it a never ending blanket, there are always squares started for the next blanket.

4. When first starting your blanket, start with the smallest balls first. This makes it easier to use up all those small balls and work your way up. If you want, save any pieces that are too small to make a first row for fringe.

5. As you get more scraps, small balls etc. add them to the squares you have made, at some point as your working on them, you have to decide how big you are going to make the squares and how many you are going to need.

6. Once you have enough join them together in a pleasing way. I often do all the last rows in the same color. In the picture above, if you can make it out, I did the last rows of all the squares on the bright ones in Red Heart Mexicali variegated. This can pull all those colors together. But again, you don't have to.

7. Do several rows of double or single crochet for the border.

Now that your finished, if you followed the rules, you should have at least a couple squares of the next blanket started. You don't have to do them all at once, or save up a lot of yarn. I usually add scraps as I get them so it can sometimes take a while to complete a blanket but of course I'm working on a lot of other projects so I'll have more scraps!!

Project Linus

The first charity I made anything for and still my favorite is Project Linus. As I'm making each blanket I imagine a child reaching for it. Children in hospitals, scared and sick, happy to see the bright colors of my blankets. That may seem a little odd to some but that's what keeps me going. I'm also constantly thinking (and sometimes starting) the next blanket. Every color combo, every pattern I use inspires more ideas for more blankets. I will never be finished because I will always be planning the next one.

If you would like to help too, the rules are really simple. The blankets must be new, handmade and washable. They also ask that the colors be kid friendly. My favorite blankets to make are my rainbow blankets, sounds kind of fancy but they're just done in all the colors of the rainbow.

The national website can be found here, they have a listing of all the chapters across the country. Find the closest one to you and donate a blanket now!!!

The pattern for the granny square I used to make all these blankets can be found here.