Rainbow Baby Blanket

I've been working on this project for a few months and finally finished it a couple of days ago for my lovely friend who's expecting a baby on the 5th Feb.  I was originally making two of these as I found out I was pregnant myself back in September.  My plan was to make one for myself and then one for my friend but sadly, I miscarried.  It took me a few weeks before I felt able to pick up my project again and continue without feeling teary and upset.

These granny square blankets are so easy to make and are perfect for the beginner.  They only use Triple Crochet and Chain Stitch, so there's not a huge amount to learn.  It's amazing how quickly they grow but then eventually you do get to a point where it takes an age just to finish one side! I'm not the fastest crocheter in the world.

I decided on a rainbow theme as the sex of the baby had not been confirmed and cream or beige just gets a little boring.  I'd made a few granny squares before in various patterns but this was the first blanket.  I'm a bit annoyed at how the squares came out twisted but I've seen a solution for this since finishing.  Apparently, if you turn your work over after each round (ie. working on right side, wrong side, right side, wrong side etc) this solves the problem.  Needless to say I shall be trying this next time.  I did decide to block the blanket when I'd finished and this went some way to helping the twisted look and at least made the side line up nicely.

My Basic Concept (UK terms)
DK Yarn
4mm Hook
The blanket follows a basic Granny Square pattern (You can find these anywhere on the internet but try - Little Tin Bird , Girly Bunches - Granny Square Part 1 Video).  I decided that I would like tighter stitches so only chained 1 stitch between each cluster of triples.  The corners were also completed in the same way using one chain but with - 3 tc, 1 ch, 3 tc into the same stitch.  I did 6 rounds of rainbow colours, changing colour after each round and then 5 rounds of white.  This I repeated twice more before completing the blanket with a final round of red.

To finish the blanket I used a slightly different round, this time I used 2 tc, 2 ch, 2 tc in each stitch to create a scalloped effect (or double V edging as it's actually called).  For the full pattern see here - Bunnymummy-jacquie.blogspot.com.au

My friend thinks she'll have her new arrival any day so looks like I finished it just in time!

Thanks for stopping by! x