When I first saw these colors together in Joann’s a few weeks ago, I thought they would be the perfect combination for an end-of-summer baby girl crochet project.  I’d used the Strawberry color in a few projects before, but I’d never used the Robin’s Egg before and I love how bright and delicious they look together – they remind me of a bright piece of cake!

I learned a new stitch for this blanket – the half double crochet v-stitch – which was really fun to work and has definitely been added to my list of favorite stitches.  It’s one of those stitches that looks more complicated than it really is, and is actually a great beginner stitch because it’s pretty easy to keep track of where to insert your hook once you get started.

The only really challenging thing about this blanket is the border…I wanted to try something new, so I decided to learn how to do a pom pom border, which I quickly learned is not for the faint of heart.

I had to watch a video tutorial (which I posted below) from a blanket my mom made earlier this year multiple times before I really understood the process and it definitely took some stamina to make it all the way around the blanket, but I think the poms poms add a nice, fun finish.  My pom poms are far from perfect and some of them turned out more like blobs than little balls, but overall I like look of them and I’m glad to have tried out something new. 🙂

Materials

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

2 skeins White, 2 skeins Strawberry, 1 skein Robin’s Egg

Size H/5.00mm hook, tapestry needle, scissors

Size

Finished size 32 in x 42 in

Stitches

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

Half Double Crochet (HDC): YO, insert your hook, YO and pull up a loop, YO and pull through three loops on hook.

Double Crochet 5 Together (DC5TOG) Cluster: *YO, insert your hook, YO and pull up a loop, YO, pull through two loops on hook. Repeat from * four more times, inserting your hook into the same space. YO and pull through all loops on hook. 

Pattern

Chain 100 (or any multiple of 2) in White.

Row 1: In the 4th chain from hook, *HDC, CH, HDC. Skip next chain, HDC, CH, HDC, into the next stitch.  Repeat * across. There should be one chain left, HDC into that chain. 

Row 2: Chain 2 and turn. *HDC, CH, HDC, into the chain one space that’s between the HDC’s of the row below. Repeat * across ending with one HDC into the top of the turning chain or just work into the space the chain two created.  When you reach the end of the row chain 2 and turn.

Repeat row 2 for four more rows. When you have six rows of white completed, pull through with Robin’s Egg on the last stitch, and chain 2 and turn. Repeat row 2 for six rows in Robin’s Egg.

And that’s it!  You’ll be repeating Row 2 for the rest of the blanket and just changing colors.  Here is the color pattern I used for the whole blanket:

6 rows White, 6 rows Robin’s Egg, 6 rows White, 2 rows Strawberry, 2 rows Robin’s Egg, 6 rows White, 6 rows Strawberry, 6 rows White, 2 rows Robin’s Egg, 2 rows Strawberry, 6 rows White, 6 rows Robin’s Egg, 6 rows White, 2 rows Strawberry, 2 rows Robin’s Egg, 6 rows White, 6 rows Strawberry, 6 rows White, 2 rows Robin’s Egg, 2 rows Strawberry, 6 rows White, 6 rows Robin’s Egg, 6 rows White.

Border

When I finished the blanket, I weaved in all of my ends with a tapestry needle and then added a pom pom border in Strawberry.  Here’s how to work the border:

Round 1: Pull up a loop in any corner and SC in that space. Work a row of SC around the entire blanket, putting 3 SCs in each corner.

Round 2: SC in the first chain space, *CH 3, SK two spaces, SC in the next. Repeat from * all the way around the blanket, working 3 SCs in each of the corners. (When you get to the end of a row you might have more or less than two spaces to skip over, but that’s ok – you’ll just want to make it work to crochet into the corner space and work 3 SCs into the corner before you start the *CH 3, SK two spaces SC* pattern again.)

Round 3: SL ST (slip stitch) into the CH 3 space. *CH 5, DC5tog in the 4th chain from the hook, DC5tog Cluster in the 5th chain from the hook. SL ST the posts together. SL ST into the same CH 3 space, SL ST into the next CH space. Repeat from * around the rest of the blanket. When you reach the corner you started with, slip stitch into the corner and tie off the blanket.

Here is a video clip that demonstrates how to work the third row of the pom pom border:

When I finished the border, I laid out my blanket flat and pinned the corners to get them all even and get the tension of the blanket straighter.

Thank you so much for reading this pattern, I hope you enjoy making your project! My mom and I love designing baby blankets because they are so fun to be able to give away as gifts and it’s fun to think about all the other gifts that are being made from these patterns.

We are not professional crocheters, but we love to write down the patterns for the things we make so we can pass them on to others and have them to remember in case we want to remake them in the future.

I wish you much success with this blanket! If you make one, feel free to share a picture with us on the Daisy Farm Crafts Facebook wall or by tagging your picture on Instagram with the hashtag #daisyfarmcrafts. My mom has started a thing called Sunday Shares up in Instagram Stories where she shares the projects made from Daisy Farm Crafts patterns. It’s so fun to look through all the different blankets that are being made!

Click here or on image below for printable pattern