This pattern is available as a free PDF download from Yarnspirations

This is a special one! It’s finally going to be for my very first grandchild. As many of you know, I’ve been crocheting for the day to become a grandma and that time is quickly arriving. My son Tanner and his wife Elizabeth are expecting a boy in December of 2020. 

Elizabeth is going to be doing the nursery in shades of blue. She knows I love making gingham blankets, and at first I was going to do one of my classic gingham patterns, but then as I was playing around one day I found a website called plaidmaker.com. It’s a very simple site where you can enter colors and it will turn out a plaid design. 

Or, you can look through the many designs already made. I found this one and fell in love with it: 

Originally my thought was to do the entire blanket in this small plaid, but as I kept designing I knew I needed to enlarge the graph and just do one corner of it. And that’s mainly because I needed to carry the vertical thin lines of dark blue as bobbins instead of working through the rows switching between two colors. 

If you look closely, on the sections where you carry white and light blue, you also still need to work a vertical thin line of the dark blue. 

I think I was able to achieve a similar effect to what I was wanting and I’m very pleased with it! Now to get the baby here and all cuddled up in it, gosh I just can’t wait. 

Materials

Caron Simply Soft (100% acrylic, 170 g/6 oz, 288 m/315 yds)

1 skein County Blue, 2 skeins Light Country Blue, 3 skeins White

Size H/5.00 mm hook, tapestry needle, scissors

3 ziploc baggies

3 chip clips or clothes pins

Graph (see below) Click here to print

The graph is a snapshot of the pattern repeat. Work from right to left. In the pattern you will see that in the middle of the blanket the white space is 22 sts, but that is not reflected in the graph. Assume that after 11 white sts, you repeat and begin with 11 white sts. 11 plus 11 = 22. 

The beginning and the end of the blanket start with 11 white stitches. The 22 stitches are in the middle of the blanket. 

Size

Finished size 34 in x 34 in

Stitches

Extended Half Double Crochet (eHDC): Yarn over and insert your hook, yarn over and pull a loop back through, yarn over and pull through one loop on the hook, yarn over and pull through remaining three loops on the hook. 

Single Crochet (SC): Insert your hook, yarn over and pull a loop back through, yarn over and pull through both loops on your hook. 

Pattern

Before beginning, make 3 baseball-size balls of yarn in Country Blue (the darker of the two shades) and put them inside the plastic baggies. 

With White chain 134. (Pattern repeat is any even number times 22 plus 2.)

ROW 1: Begin in the 3rd chain from the hook with 1 eHDC. eHDC in each of the next 10 chains for a total of 11 eHDC. On the 11th eHDC, *pull through with Light Country Blue. Work 1 eHDC in each of the next 6 chains, crocheting over the White and bringing it along the row. On the 6th st, pull through with White. Work 1 eHDC in each of the next 4 chains with White, crocheting over and bring Light Country Blue along the row. On the 4th st, pull through with Country Blue (from the baggie). Work 1 eHDC in each of the next 2 chains, working over White and Light Country Blue. On the 2nd st, pull through with White. Leave the Country Blue in the baggie behind and clip to the row for easier turning of the blanket. Work 1 eHDC in each of the next 4 chains, working over the Light Country Blue. On the 4th st, pull through with Light Country Blue. Work 1 eHDC in each of the next 6 chains working over the White and carrying it along with you. Pull through with white on the 6th stitch. Work 1 eHDC in each of the next 22 chains. Repeat from * across the row and end with 11 eHDC in white. Ch 2 and turn. 

ROWS 2 – 6: Repeat Row 1 and also refer to the graph for stitch numbers and number of rows. 

ROWS 7 – 10 (4 rows): At the end of Row 6, pull through with Light Country Blue and cut White. Alternate with Country Blue. Also, be sure and pull through with the Country Blue that is in the baggies and still use that color in the row so it is carried vertically up the blanket and ready to use when you switch back to the alternating White and Light Country Blue rows. 

ROWS 11 – 12 (2 rows): At the end of row 10 pull through with White and cut the Country Blue (not the Country Blue that is in the baggies.) Work according to the graph and as in rows 1-6.  

ROWS 13 – 14 (2 rows SC): At the end of row 12, pull through with Country Blue ch 1 and turn. Work 1 SC into each stitch across the row. CH 1 and turn. Work 1 SC in each stitch across the row. At the end of row 14, pull through with white, Ch 2 and turn. 

ROWS 15 – 16 (2 rows): Work according to the graph and as rows 11 and 12. 

ROWS 17 – 20 (4 rows): Work according to the graph and similar to rows 7-10. 

ROWS 21 – 32 (12 rows): Work according to the graph. 

Repeat the graph from bottom to top and right to left 2 more times for a total of 3 sets. 

This is a picture of the full blanket laid out: 

Border

Weave in all the ends before beginning the border. 

With White, pull up a loop in any corner. Work 1 SC into each stitch across the top and bottom, work 3 sc into the corners and work 2 SC per row on the sides. Join with a slip stitch to the beginning SC, Ch 1 and turn. 

On the second round, work 1 SC into each SC and 3 SC into the middle stitch of the corners. Join with a slip stitch and tie off and weave in the end. 

For video help, I’ve made a short tutorial to show you how to carry the yarn and how to use the baggies and clip clips. 

Thanks for stopping by! And thank you so much to all of you who have followed me on my journey to becoming a grandma. Of course, my original prayer was for my Hannah and we still are always praying that a baby will be sent her way. But as a family, and Hannah included, we are just so excited for Tanner and Elizabeth to be expecting a boy. More pictures to follow in December of the baby all cuddled up in this blanket! 

Click here or on image below for printable pattern