Stashbuster Baby Granny, originally uploaded by earthchick.

I’ve always wanted to crochet a big granny blanket, and now that I have, I just want to keep making more. What fun!

I made this to go with the striped baby sweater I showed you yesterday. I went stash-diving and came up with 6 different shades of Swish Worsted (three blues and three greens), plus a wee bit of Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Worsted in “Icehouse.” And I got hooking.

It was so gratifying how fast those first rounds went!!

I would do a round here and there, and it just kept growing and growing.

When it got to this point, I thought it was almost done and that a few more rounds would put me at 36″ square. But the reality was, once I added those few more rounds plus the border (5 rounds of single crochet), and blocked it, it came out to nearly 50″ square. I think it will make a great blanket for many years, from babyhood, to toddlerhood, and on.

Now I want one!

SQUISH!

(border of 5 rounds single crochet)

I only had two color rules for myself in making this:
– no two rounds of the exact same color next to each other (there could be two greens – or even three – in a row, but not two olive greens in a row, for instance)
– the light green was repeated in ever-widening increments – the first repeat of it was 4 rounds after the first use of it, then the next repeat was 5 rounds later, then the next was 6 rounds, etc.
It was a lot of fun to improvise within these two constraints and see what happened. I’m especially happy with how the dark blue and olive green stand out in the blanket.

I would say that a granny blanket and a child’s placket-neck sweater make a pretty nice combo for a baby gift. And I’m pleased with the Swish Worsted, which is machine washable.

Welcome to the world, baby!

raveled