In this year of first retirements, I’ve crocheted 4 baby blankets for friends.  It’s been a very welcome place of joy in a very strange 9 months.  I find that I fall in love with each piece over the course of its making.  This week, I’m sharing each of the 7 baby blankets I’ve ever made, here and on Instagram.  May it be a place of rest and joy for you, too, in this year we call 2020.

• Made: August-October 2020
• Finished B.B. (before baby): Yes!  With the yarn being perpetually out of stock it was a near thing, though…
• Relative difficulty & PITA: 4/10.  Figuring out a new (excellent) pattern and the delay waiting for yarn were the only wrinkles in an otherwise lovely experience.
• Pattern Used: Spin Your Granny Square by Stitched Up Craft, available on Ravelry and Etsy.  I can’t say enough good things about this pattern – if you buy only one crochet pattern, let it be this one.
• Yarn Used: Paintbox Simply DK in Paper White, Blush Pink, Peach Orange, Banana Cream, Pistachio Green, Washed Teal and Dusty Rose.

I’d been eyeing the “Spin Your Granny Square” (SYGS) pattern for a while, since I have a granny square UFO (UnFinished Object – geeky textile slang ha!) that’s been sitting around since 2013.  Looking for new inspiration, I came across Stitched Up Craft’s pattern, laboriously re-drew my plan for that blanket, and then promptly forgot about it.  Again.

But that’s okay, because our last baby of 2020 (so far) brought it back to my attention.  Reaching out to dad-to-be, he shared a picture of their rainbow themed nursery, and I was thrilled to find a rainbow pattern to match.  (Because, remember, it isn’t all about me, but some of it definitely is.)  The SYGS pattern showcases some fantastic rainbow blankets, and it was pretty much a done deal after that.

This pattern allows for “joining as you go” – the jargon for attaching granny squares throughout the process instead of making some 70-odd squares and then tackling how to turn them into a blanket.  It also makes for some singularly lovely WIP imagery as the rows take shape diagonally.

Really, the only challenge in the process was that I didn’t order enough of the white yarn, and as you might expect, that yarn was then out of stock for over a month.  When I finally saw it back in stock and gleefully placed an order, it arrived…and lo and behold, I ordered the WRONG yarn.  Right color, wrong yarn.  Funny, right?  Not exactly.

There were so many firsts in this blanket.  New yarn (and new experience of not being able to just run out to the craft store and get more).  New pattern.  New color palette.  New baby and new family, since this is mom-and-dad-to-be’s first.

The process of making their blankey really cemented for me why I so enjoy making baby blankets.  Liminal spaces like birth are so strong that they’re one of the places in modern American life where we still feel drawn to ritual, where we are in contact with the divineness and wholeness of being.  It’s one of the spaces where our village, whatever form that takes for us, comes together to support the heroes stepping into that next moment.  Because we recognize the step is so big, so far into the unknown, that people need to be (symbolically or practically) held up and carried through, as much as they need to walk their own path.  To participate in that – as the weaver, the artist, the grandma-aunt-crone who has the time and the knowledge to MAKE within this sacred moment – well, that’s powerful stuff.

I do it because I WANT people to ooh and aah and tell me how good I am.  Of course I do.  But I also do it because it seems to me a very needed act of grace in these life milestones, for someone to spend TIME, stitch by stitch, thinking about and praying about the process that’s unfolding.  And putting some more love out there in our collective consciousness.

Thankfully, there are a lot of these acts of kindness out there in the world, taking all shapes and forms.  Paying for the coffee of the person behind you in line is a spell no less valuable in adding to someone’s joy or comfort.  I’m drawn to people’s kindness, their thoughtfulness, when they reach out to someone.  Perhaps that’s why these baby blankets have loomed so large in my journey this year.  In the absence of closeness, hug-to-hug connection, our gestures are so important.

This was the first blanket where I made a real effort to track time.  A friend and I clocked one square at about 15 minutes, meaning the squares themselves took about 16½ hours.  With joining and borders, this was probably a 20-25 hour project, which is pretty reasonable for my speed and skill level.

And that wraps up this miniseries!  I hope you’ve enjoyed a peek Beneath the Blankey this week.  It’s been so fun for me to reminisce over each of these objects and share them with you.  Sending you all my best wishes for the rest of this year as we head into snuggly blankey weather.

With love, Nikki

In this year of first retirements, I’ve crocheted 4 baby blankets for friends.  It’s been a very welcome place of joy in a very strange 9 months.  I find that I fall in love with each piece over the course of its making.  This week, I’m sharing each of the 7 baby blankets I’ve ever made, here and on Instagram.  May it be a place of rest and joy for you, too, in this year we call 2020.

• Made: July 2020
• Finished B.B. (before baby): Heck no – I only found out about this little peanut right before her arrival.
• Relative difficulty & PITA: 0/10 – this was my third chevron blanket in less than 12 months.  Practice makes perfect, and the “hardest” part of this project was deciding on the stripe pattern.
• Pattern Used: Loosely adapted from THE MODERN, which is based on the Ripple Baby Blanket by Daisy Cottage Designs (also available on Etsy and Ravelry).
• Yarn Used: Lion Brand Feels Like Butta in White, Pink and Dusty Pink

When I say this blankey was a surprise, the surprise was totally on my side.  While finishing up a “Zoom happy hour,” that most 2020 of all social gatherings, a friend shared her big news – she was expecting her second child in less than a month!

For lots of reasons (it was only a month! she lives in Hong Kong!) I didn’t worry about trying to make a blanket in time for her baby’s arrival.  But when she shared the news of her daughter’s birth, I couldn’t resist the opportunity.

THE SURPRISE was particularly sweet for me, because I missed a lot of friends’ babies during my long hiatus from crocheting, including this friend’s first.  When you handcraft something for friends, it can feel a little upsetting to know that there are friends you miss.  I was super glad to have a second opportunity with this family.

It was also really fun to think and plan a handmade blanket for a second baby, since we often reserve the biggest gestures and heirloom offerings for first babies.  I took a special kind of pleasure in thinking of this blanket being made JUST FOR HER.  And lastly, it was so much fun to work in pink!  I hadn’t really done anything over the top in a “traditionally” gendered color palette, and I relished the girliness.

This blankey made life easy-peasy.  I had 2/3 of the yarn colors I needed in my stash; I knew the pattern very well by this point, having made 3 other chevron projects recently; and I was getting cocky, starting to practice stitching without looking at the work.  (It still feels like a kind of parlor trick, but I’m looking forward to the day I can fully watch TV and stitch along.)

Because of all my recent practice with chevrons, I am so proud of the finish on this piece.  There are none of the scraggly stitches that marked earlier attempts.  It’s the first thing I could in good conscience have put up for sale.  And in its own way, even though it was relatively simple, it’s an heirloom, too, made with love for a very specific little soul.  And it’s PINK.  Did I mention it’s pink?

I had a silky pink jacket when I was a baby-toddler that I apparently would NOT take off, or so said my mom.  Who knows what this little girl’s favorite colors or wardrobe will turn out to be?  That’s the possibility of babies, isn’t it?  We have no idea where they’ll lead us.

I can’t wait to find out.

In this year of first retirements, I’ve crocheted 4 baby blankets for friends.  It’s been a very welcome place of joy in a very strange 9 months.  I find that I fall in love with each piece over the course of its making.  This week, I’m sharing each of the 7 baby blankets I’ve ever made, here and on Instagram.  May it be a place of rest and joy for you, too, in this year we call 2020.

In between THE CLASSIC AND THE MODERN, there are two other projects that bookend the baby blanket saga.  While these weren’t blankets, they were for babies, so I’m including them here as a quick stopover.

Both feature my all-time favorite hat.  The Divine Hat by Sarah Arnold is one of those patterns that will make you feel like you really *can* crochet, even as a total beginner.  It’s easy, it’s fast, and it looks great!

The little cardigan was my first go at making a real garment and made me feel so accomplished.  So much so, I couldn’t wait for it to finish drying after blocking, so it was still damp when I wrapped it up to give (wow).

Okay, we’re in the home stretch now! Stay tuned for the final two blankeys, coming up tomorrow.

In this year of first retirements, I’ve crocheted 4 baby blankets for friends.  It’s been a very welcome place of joy in a very strange 9 months.  I find that I fall in love with each piece over the course of its making.  This week, I’m sharing each of the 7 baby blankets I’ve ever made, here and on Instagram.  May it be a place of rest and joy for you, too, in this year we call 2020.

• Made: April-May 2020
• Finished B.B. (before baby): Yep!  We’re on a roll!
• Relative difficulty & PITA: 2/10. A little tough to find the specific colors I wanted for the ombre.
• Pattern Used: Inspired by Bahama Waves Baby Blanket, but I ended up using a standard chevron pattern.  And tassels!  The tassels were my idea.
• Yarn Used: Lion Brand Feels Like Butta in White, Dusty Blue, Sage and Teal

THE OCEAN was made for the second baby 2020 conspired to keep me from meeting.  Pre-pandemic, I’d planned to spend a few weeks with THE TOUCHY-FEELY’s mom following her birth.  I also assumed I’d be able to deliver THE OCEAN in person. 

But April, when I started on this blankey, was a month of suspended animation.  I was still unpacking from my move when lockdown started.  Tasks I’d put off while getting my home in order were now further delayed or on hold indefinitely.  Whole weeks went by when I didn’t drive a car or speak to another person face to face.  And it seemed clear that “back to normal” was not just around the corner.  How was I going to live a normal life in this very not-normal moment?  I think we were all asking some version of that question in April.

In a journal entry from this time, I made a list of “some things that are going well” in an attempt to focus on the positive.  Here’s a few:

• Seeds are sprouting
• My books are unpacked
• Marsha’s (my cat) newfound “outside personality” on our balcony

The balcony has been a particular gift, overlooking a lake that feeds into the Chesapeake Bay.  Being near water is so good, and the only thing better than the balcony is my 10 minute walk to the beach.

Which brings us to THE OCEAN.  Now, this mommy-to-be and I had picked out her blanket pattern long before I knew I’d be living by the beach this year. But I do think there was something serendipitous at work.  Both mom and I love the water.  Baby-to-be and I also share our zodiac sign, Cancer (a water sign).  And here I was wading in the ocean a few times a week.  Water everywhere.  The inspiration pattern I used draws you in with these beautiful jewel tone shades of ocean water.  I loved the ombre effect and the wide stripes with a more gentle, wavy chevron.  (The pattern is gorgeous, but I ended up simplifying it to a basic double crochet chevron.)

I also decided to add tassels for a little extra flair (and maybe some cool points)?  I think it gives the piece an almost tapestry quality, and I’m told its new owner loves to munch on them (can you stand the cuteness???).

Funny enough, this is one blankey that always felt a little unfinished.  I think it turned out beautifully, but it just never seemed 100% perfect.  Maybe it was that I couldn’t find *exactly* the shades of yarn I pictured in my mind…maybe it was the less than perfect definition of the edges…

But you know what?  Mom sent me a picture just this week, and it’s immediately obvious that all it was missing was its baby!  And that is a very happy ending.

In this year of first retirements, I’ve crocheted 4 baby blankets for friends.  It’s been a very welcome place of joy in a very strange 9 months.  I find that I fall in love with each piece over the course of its making.  This week, I’m sharing each of the 7 baby blankets I’ve ever made, here and on Instagram.  May it be a place of rest and joy for you, too, in this year we call 2020.

• Made: January-March 2020
• Finished B.B. (before baby): Ye-e-e-s?  If I remember right I mailed this on the due date?  But the baby was kind enough to wait for me, so it counts!
• Relative difficulty & PITA: 5/10. So much counting.
• Pattern Used: Bernat Crochet Diamond Bobble Baby Blanket
• Yarn Used: Bernat Baby Velvet in White

I started this blanket the day after I left my job, January 18^th.  Remember January?  So full of possibility!

However, 9 months later, on October 15, 2020, my January plans seem reckless to the point of ridiculous.  What did I do, you ask?  I flew cross-country (two full flights!) to a nature retreat for a contact improvisation workshop.  That’s right – I spent the first part of 2020 in full body contact with total strangers, sharing a cabin, nude sauna, hot springs and a dance studio.  Oh, man…January…

Anyway, I knew January would also be about baby blankets for me because I had a friend due on St. Patrick’s Day.  I was riding high after THE MODERN, so not only did I tell mom-to-be I’d make her a blanket, we picked out the pattern together.  I know, I know…who even am I?  But it’s cool.  All’s well that ends well, and sometimes you just have to live dangerously.

This pattern uses strategically placed bobble stitches (bobble bobble bobble) to create a textural diamond lattice across the surface.

Between the sculptural pattern and the softness of the yarn, this blankey more than earned its name as THE TOUCHY-FEELY.  It was a magnet for touch while I worked on it, getting more love from the people around me – in 4 different states! – than anything I can remember.  (Don’t worry, I washed it.)

To make that diamond pattern, each row in the repeat required a different mental arithmetic so that the bobbles (bobble bobble bobble*) lined up perfectly.  It’s an easy pattern, but definitely not a mindless one, and I spent my fair share of time ripping out rows when I found a stray bump where it shouldn’t have been.  But egads!  This was a beautiful piece.  I’m a sucker for understated aesthetics, so the pattern-created-by-texture-instead-of-color made me swoon just a little.  And the chunkiness of the yarn made everything delightfully squashy and brought down the formality of the pattern, keeping it from being too proper.

Even though I made a full gauge swatch (the way you determine how big the finished piece will be) I way overshot the width of the row.  That meant to get the proportions I wanted, this ended up being a rather large square.  Basically a baby blanket for adults.  (Actually, that sounds pretty good.)

I also gave mom a video preview during blocking**, which gives me this delightful piece of film where I unveil it like a Christmas ham.

Which is perfect, because this mom and I have a tradition of cooking, baking and snuggling under warm blankets in October to watch Christmas movies, because that’s what we need just then.

Merry Christmas, every one!

*Please tell me you are saying it like “gobble gobble gobble.” It will make me happy.

**Blocking is a process I hate (and if you’re a crocheter you’ve already noticed from THE CLASSIC that I don’t do it, even when I should).  Basically, by laying a damp piece of crochet work on a flat surface you can adjust the final shape and ensure the stitches look their best (especially valuable with unusual shapes, lace, etc.).  It really does make a difference in the finished piece, but…I don’t wanna.

In this year of first retirements, I’ve crocheted 4 baby blankets for friends.  It’s been a very welcome place of joy in a very strange 9 months.  I find that I fall in love with each piece over the course of its making.  This week, I’m sharing each of the 7 baby blankets I’ve ever made, here and on Instagram.  May it be a place of rest and joy for you, too, in this year we call 2020.

• Made: 2019
• Finished B.B. (before baby): YES!  Emphatically yes – the only one I ever delivered in person at an official baby shower.
• Relative difficulty & PITA: 3.5/10. My first time working a chevron/ripple pattern, and some embarrassing missteps with the border.  But I’d mellowed out since 2013 and it just wasn’t as big a deal.
• Pattern Used: Ripple Baby Blanket by Daisy Cottage Designs (also available on Etsy and Ravelry) with my own custom stripe pattern.
• Yarn Used: Lion Brand Feels Like Butta in Ice, Pale Gray and Charcoal

So much happened after 2013…none of it related to crochet.  As a small summary, those years included: getting into the best shape of my life (and then the worst); adopting a second cat (kitten) that my first cat hated, then making the horrible, impossible decision to euthanize him at 2 years old after a series of emergency interventions and surgery; job searching and job finding; moving to a new state; some of the most intense professional periods of my life; a car crash that put me in the hospital with vertigo (I do not recommend it)…

Yeah, I guess it’s not too surprising that hobbies like crocheting fell out of my life for a time.

I am quietly delighted that what drew me back was babies.

And here, a small word about babies.  I have never wanted any of my own.  This was so well known when I was a teenager and young adult that it became a sort of eye-rolling fun fact about me with friends and family.  Sureeeeee, they said, we’ll see how long that lasts after you’re married…  Well, I’m still not married at 41 (no subtext here, please), and with one exception* I have never, ever wanted children.  I do love babies and children, in doses.  I’m a happy time-share parent and honorary auntie to some very fabulous small humans.  But in this matter, I simply prefer to rent, rather than own.

So yeah, by 2019, I had enough mental space available to start noticing other people again.  As a rule, you can always find a friend or acquaintance who’s expecting if you look hard enough.  I found myself noticing the women in my life who were pregnant and thinking, I know what to do.  It was fun to play in yarn again.  I was, however, careful to give no indication to the mom-to-be of what I was doing, in case of failure or loss of interest.  I’m practical that way.

I liked the idea of a stripe, and since chevron/ripple is probably #2 in terms of most recognizable crochet patterns after granny squares, it was an easy choice.  Ripples are fast, easy, and distinctive.  Add to this the ability to customize with colors, width of stripes and so on – it was baby blanket nirvana.  This, I thought, was something I could do again.

Now, I do have to introduce one small wrinkle into all this bliss.  The border.  Well, shit.  I was ready to be done.  I didn’t feel like experimenting to figure out exactly how to stitch into the sides of the ripple rows.  So…at the edge of this clean little blankey is the most raggedy-looking line of border stitches.  It hurts my eyes.  It’s cringeworthy.  But, done is better than perfect.  *grits teeth* DONE IS BETTER THAN PERFECT.

All in all, this was a great little first jaunt back into baby blanket world.  I’m grateful to this little guy; if it hadn’t been so easy, so soft, so pretty and so fast, who knows if I would have kept going?  But don’t worry, because this is where things REALLY start to heat up.  Stay tuned for 2020, where it feels like everyone I know tells me they’re pregnant…the stuff of blankey dreams.

*Except for the horrible, body-snatching feeling I experienced in my mid-thirties as hormones went into overdrive and tried to convince me: BABY.  No, no, I politely explained, babies were not for me.  BUT BABY!!! the slavering beast insisted.  It was not a settling experience.

In this year of first retirements, I’ve crocheted 4 baby blankets for friends.  It’s been a very welcome place of joy in a very strange 9 months.  I find that I fall in love with each piece over the course of its making.  This week, I’m sharing each of the 7 baby blankets I’ve ever made, here and on Instagram.  May it be a place of rest and joy for you, too, in this year we call 2020.

• Made: 2013
• Finished B.B. (before baby): I can’t remember, so 50/50? Fun fact – this was my first international baby, sent to a friend in the UK.
• Relative difficulty & PITA: Solid 5/10. Pattern-wise, this was all very straightforward. But an ever-expanding granny square means every round takes longer than the last. Think “99 bottles of beer on the wall” but every verse gets exponentially longer.
• Pattern Used: No real pattern for the body; it’s just one big granny square with a few color changes. I can’t find the original link for the border anymore, but it’s a take on simplified pineapple stitch lace.

Well.  After that first blankey, I had learned a few things.

1. I loved making baby blankets!
   • They provide the satisfaction of a whole blanket, at a fraction of the size!
   • They’re made for other people, so when you’re done with them, they graciously leave your house – so polite!
   • When it comes to babies, people are hardwired to ooh and aah and generally show (or at least feign) interest.  Carrying crochet work around and replying “I’m making a baby blanket” is a pretty reliable ego boost.
   • Thank you for coming to my TED talk.

So, this was all good news. However, I also knew that:

2. I needed to find something simpler and quicker than THE HEIRLOOM if I was going to keep this up.
   • This really comes down to the time investment – it just takes too damn long. And – it’s best to be honest with yourself – I am not fast enough or motivated enough to follow through.  (In fact, these days I just rule out these kinds of patterns.  To get something like this from me now, we need to have BEEN THROUGH SOME SHIT.)

Additionally…

3. It is ABSOLUTELY CRITICAL to keep key details like the pattern (or even that you’re doing anything at all) a secret from the family-to-be.  That way you can change your mind and let yourself off the hook (see what I did there) to your heart’s content.

Armed with this knowledge, I decided on one big granny square.  Which is the thing they teach every kid who learns to crochet.  And even if you know nothing about crochet, granny squares are probably the pattern you think of as the classic crochet blanket on the back of every grandma’s couch.

For a great pop culture history of the granny square in American TV, check out this article on Slate.

This appealed to me, since it meant there’d be no pesky joining-up stage after getting to blanket size.  (Full disclosure: I have a traditional granny square project in my WIP basket that I started 7 years ago. I’m still not excited about putting it together.)

I used a lighter weight yarn and smaller hook this time around –  more delicate than anything I’d worked with before.  And despite the staid, geometric-ness of it, I also found it light and ethereal and lovely.

In fact, the only downside of this project was that it got boring.  After all, you’re doing the same stitch, over and over…and over.  And because the rounds get successively bigger, the longer you work on it, the less you have to show for any individual crochet session.

But hey!  That just gave me plenty of time to consider border ideas.  Blanket borders are like fashion accessories – there’s something for everyone and the entire look of a blanket can change dramatically depending on the choice you make. I was excited to try something *fancy* to pair with the super organized look of the square body.  I’ve lost the link to the free pattern in the mists of time, but it’s essentially a riff on a simplified pineapple stitch.

Of all the blankets I’ve made, this one feels the most quintessentially “handmade baby blanket” to me.  And I like its chameleon-like ability to be at home anywhere – fancy enough for a christening, casual and unstuffy enough for tummy time.  Not forced into pink or blue, but still with a pop of personality.  The Audrey Hepburn or Coco Chanel of blankeys.  Just.  Classic.

Next time on Beneath the Blankey: join me as we fly through years of job and life changes before returning to steady hooking in 2019.

In this year of first retirements, I’ve crocheted 4 baby blankets for friends.  It’s been a very welcome place of joy in a very strange 9 months.  I find that I fall in love with each piece over the course of its making, subjecting it to photoshoots which seem to get increasingly elaborate…  This week, I’m sharing each of the 7 baby blankets I’ve ever made, here and on Instagram.  May it be a place of rest and joy for you, too, in this year we call 2020.

• Made: 2013
• Finished B.B. (before baby): NOPE!! But the baby still looked like a baby when it was done.
• Relative difficulty & PITA: 1,000,000/10 because I really had no idea what I was doing.  All fault mine – I’d totally recommend the pattern.
• Pattern Used: Fluffy Clouds Baby Blanket

In 2012, the internet taught me to crochet.  As a kid, I had “learned” to knit and crochet (translation: I hated the learning process and so quit before I ever really learned anything).

As an adult, I started with a craft store kit, the kind of purchase guaranteed to leave you with an object you’ve spent way too much time on and don’t really want (yay!).  In the process, I discovered the public university that is Youtube and its reference library, Google.  I graduated to various simple scarves I didn’t really want either, and then fell into geek crochet land – gleefully making hats from sci-fi, fantasy and gaming.  Since I talked about these hats way too much at work, a friend told me about Boob Beanies when she was pregnant with her second child.  I mean, you know I made this.

I also decided I would MAKE HER A BABY BLANKET!  And promptly google image searched for the most beautiful baby blanket I could find with an “easy” rating.

Friends, do not do this.  It may not be as “easy” as you think.

But you’ve already told your friend you’re making it (and showed her the pattern – again, don’t do this – so you can’t back out now).

Luckily, I didn’t know any of this yet.  The “Fluffy Clouds Baby Blanket” was and is so beautiful and I couldn’t wait to get started.  It’s a great pattern, and I totally recommend it for an heirloom quality piece.

What it’s not, is quick.  Especially for a beginner who’s never made a blanket or large project.  To get those gorgeous, dimensional clouds required fancy shells and rows upon rows to prop them up.  If that means nothing to you, just know that to my beginner brain and fingers every single one of those clouds TOOK FOREVER.  Instant gratification for me, the crocheter, was right out.  Now, you may say that a baby blanket for someone else’s baby isn’t about me.  Well…if something is gonna get done, I can tell you, at least some of it needs to be about me.  If I knew then what I know now, I’m not sure I would have finished it.

So, not surprisingly, there was a lot of proof this was handmade – because there are lots of surviving fuckups in the finished work.  ESPECIALLY as a beginner, the idea that after laboring over this thing, I would then RIP OUT finished work to correct mistakes was beyond ludicrous.  Suffice to say, the finished project was square…ish.

Does any of this matter?  Of course not. The finished piece was so beautiful, and like any good mom, what I brought into the world was perfect in my eyes.  Fluffy clouds!  Lacy border!  Satin ribbon woven through that border, for crying out loud!

In the time it took to start, lose patience, rage quit, re-start, slog through, then finish in a triumphant blaze of glory, the baby had been born…  But you know, creation runs on its own schedule.  For babies, and for their blankeys.

When I started making baby blankets I had no idea that I would feel my own personal connection to creation and possibility.  And when I send one off to a friend, it’s not just the finished piece that goes into the mail.  A tiny version of the hope, and joy, and labor that accompany every birth is there, too.  And every stitch is a tiny spell-worked blessing, because I couldn’t do this if I didn’t care.

But I still don’t think I’ll ever make this one again.