Baby Blanket Trio

For my last birthday, I got a couple books of new crochet patterns. I was already planning to make a baby blanket or two (I know a couple folks who are expecting), so this was a good chance to try out some new patterns on smaller blankets. The two blankets on the sides of the picture use the same pattern, with rows of double crochets alternating with rows of shells and v-stitches. The one in the middle has split shells and regular double crochets alternating in a pattern to make vertical rows. The blue on the right has alternating, equally thick stripes of a medium baby blue yarn and a mixed light baby blue and white yarn, with a single crochet border of the lighter blue. The purple is solid in a lavender (that I had around- I had a smaller skein of this color, as well as some leftover from the basketweave afghan in my previous post), with horizontal stripes of a darker purple, and bordered once around with the lavender again. The green on on the left has a stripe of a medium baby green at either end, with a stripe of white just inside green, and the body between them is a shiny light green. This one will have a single crochet border, once around, in the white, but it wasn't quite ready yet when I took the picture.

Large Lavender Afghan

This blanket turned out SO MUCH larger than I had planned. What was supposed to be a quick project became a several-months-long commitment. The trouble is, with the basketweave stitch, you do lose some of the width once you start the pattern, it gets scrunched up with the front- and back- post stitches; unfortunately, you don't lose quite as much as I anticipated. I don't know why I thought it would be so much, I've done this pattern before... but the blanket ended up huge. By the time I realized just how enormous I had set the width at, it was long past time to pull out stitches and adjust. I had already spent some serious time working on it, and had to just commit to the size.

I did the basketweave pattern for quite a while, and then I got tired of it, and had to do something else, so I added in a five row stripe of single crochet. I added another one later, separating the basketweave pattern into three equal sections. Ultimately, I like the way that turned out looking.

What I don't like, is that the blanket ended up being just not-quite square. I generally aim to make blankets that are rectangular (or actually square, because they are composed of squares), and I think it would have been nice for a large afghan to be distinctly longer one way... but I was already three one-pound skeins of baby yarn in, and I really really did not want to do another. And it's still warm and cozy and soft.