Hungry Caterpillar Baby Blanket

It's been a while that I haven't updated this blog. In order to fix this long absence, I wanted to share a baby blanket that I made for a dear friend.

When they told me they were expecting a baby, I suggested a handmade gift. After looking for pictures and sharing ideas of what they'd like, we ended up on a very hungry caterpillar chevron blanket. They had spotted one on google images and I tried my best to do it justice.

It was made alternating colors every 5 rows of double crochet, and peaks / valleys were made with 3 dc in 1 / 3 dc together.

The caterpillar and apples were made with various circles, and were attached on both sides to make the blanket reversible.

Nom nom nom!

Quick and easy baby blanket

Lately it's been baby bloom in all its glory around me, and so many babies call for many crocheted presents!

I had never made any blanket till now, so I decided to finally make one. Even if it's nothing fancy and is an easy pattern, I wanted to post a picture of it. After all, since my two little girls are now taking all my time, I am extremely happy and proud to have finished something.
The end result is a huge granny square of 36"x36".

Also I still want to update this blog when I can, hopefully next time with a new amigurumi pattern (I'm thinking a soccer popple!).

Here is the blanket in progress.

And now with the baby girls modeling ;)

Note for those who would like to make it:
It took 4 balls of Loops&Thread Country Loom Baby in blue color + 1 ball of white.
The gauge is roughly 4 groups of 3 dc = 6 inches in width, and 1 inch in height.
The border being clusters of 2dc,ch2,2dc in each space around, 3 of these clusters in each corner.

Now time to make a couple more of those for some other friends :)

Lion and Dragon baby blankies.

For the imminent arrival of our baby girls (yes, there is an “s”, we're having 2 *\o/*), I asked Tony, my husband, what kind of animals he would like them to have as baby blanky-toys.

Since he really likes the series Games of Thrones, he suggested a dragon and a lion, and while I admit that I was more thinking about common animals such as bunnies, mice, cats, dogs; I had fun making a ferocious dragon and his friend the mighty lion.
I guess now we just need to figure out who will be Daenerys and who will be Cersei? :)

Here I'm sharing with you the patterns for the head since it's really fast, straightforward, and can make up for a pretty cute baby gift!

Note: We actually call these doudous in French, but I learned that in English it didn't have the same meaning :)

Requirements:

• Crochet Hook H (5mm)
• Tapestry Needle
• Any colors of baby yarn you want
• Stuffing

Abbreviations / Terminology used:

• st: stitch
• sc: single crochet
• ss: slip stitch
• hdc: half double crochet
• dc: double crochet
• fhdc: foundation half double crochet
• 2 sc in next st (increase)
• 2 sctog: 2 single crochet together (decrease)

The baby blankies are composed with a granny square + an animal head. I chose a variegated yarn for the granny squares, then made the heads with colors that were within the granny square.

Head (same shape for both the lion and the dragon):

Round 1: 6 sc in magic ring (6)
Round 2: 2 sc in each st around (12)
Round 3: *1 sc, 2 sc in next st* repeat (18)
Round 4: *2 sc, 2 sc in next st* repeat (24)
Round 5: *3 sc, 2 sc in next st* repeat (30)
Rounds 6-9: sc around (30)
Round 7: *3 sc, 2 sctog* repeat (24)
Round 8: *2 sc, 2 sctog* repeat (18)
Round 9: *1 sc, 2 sctog* repeat (12)
(Start adding stuffing)
Round 10: *2 sctog* repeat (6)
Add more stuffing, finish off, leaving long tail for sewing.

Dragon features:

Mohawk:

ch 16, turn, skip 1^st st

A: ss + sc in same st

B: hdc + dc + picot edge + hdc in same st

C: sc + sc in same st

repeat ABC till the end, it should give 5 spikes

Muzzle:

4 fhdc, 3 hdc in turn, 2 hdc around, 3 hdc in turn

add nostrils

Ears:

ch 4, turn, skip 1^st st

ss, sc in same st

hdc, dc, hdc in same st

sc, ss in same st

Lion features:

Mane:

ch 22, turn, skip 1^st st

A: ss + sc in same st

B: hdc + dc + hdc in same st

C: sc + sc in same st

repeat ABC till the end, it should give 7 bumps

Muzzle:

Round 1: 6 sc in magic ring (6)

Round 2: 2 sc in first 3 st, 2 hdc in last 3 st (6sc+6hdc)

Finish off with a sc in the next st and embroid the mouth and nose.

Assembly line:

Attach the different elements together using the pictures as guidelines, sow the eyes, and finally attach the head firmly to the granny squares. Time to make lots of these cuties!

Hope you'll enjoy making them as much as I did :)