Red, White and Blue Crochet Baby Blanket ~ August 2, 2013

August 2, 2013

This red, white and blue crochet baby blanket is part of the set that goes with the knit navy blue baby hat I posted a few days ago. It’s not your typical baby colors, but I love how the gift set turned out nonetheless. That is of course because I am partial to the good ole’ red, white and blue color scheme. 😉

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Red, White and Blue Crochet Baby Blanket Project Info:

Craft: Crochet
Made For: Karen’s baby gift set.
Started: July 23, 2013
Completed: August 2, 2013

Pattern Info:

Pattern info:
There is no pattern info associated with this project. The striping pattern I wanted was pictured in my head and I just started stitching. Of course I had to figure how how wide I wanted the blanket and I created the striping pattern myself. In hindsight, I wish I would have written down the number of stitches that I used, but I do not have that information annotated anywhere. I think I could pretty easily re-create this pattern if I wanted to, though.

What about gauge?

Blankets are another type of project that gauge isn’t really a HUGE issue if you’re off a bit. The only projects where gauge is really of essential importance is in wearables. Anything you need the size to fit correctly is when gauge becomes a critical factor in your project planning. Blankets and certain accessories aren’t going to be unusable if your gauge doesn’t match exactly.

Yarn used for this red, white and blue crochet baby Blanket:

This blanket requires 3 colors to create the striped pattern. Unfortunately, I did not document the blue that I used for this. I did, in fact, write down the red and the white colors, but I do not have record of the blue.

:

• Red: Hobby Lobby’s I love this yarn
• White: Red Heart Super saver’s solid
• Blue: Uncertain
  
  A good substitute I found for the Red Heart super savore Yarn would be: Lion Brand Pound of love in Antique White
  A good substitute I found for the Hobby Lobby I love this yarn red would be: Vanna’s Choice

Great yarn websites to check out would be: LoveCrafts, Lion Brand, Knitpicks/We Crochet and Knitcrate.

What hooks and tools are needed to make this crochet blanket?

My favorite brand of hooks to use are the Knit Picks brand, like the one pictured above. They are so beautiful and well made. I have a wood set that includes the crochet hook above as well as the padded handle set pictured below. I love them both! In addition to these We Crochet / Knit Picks sets, I also posted a few other options for complete sets you can find on Amazon a little further below.

As promised here are a few sets from Amazon that would be great too. I don’t think the light up set pictured below has the smallest hook sizes but I think that looks kind of awesome and it would work for the bigger flowers and other crochet projects you would make. I love that it’s rechargeable! Again, be sure to do your research and read the reviews. If you buy a good set of hooks it’s likely you will never need to buy another set again, or at least not for a very long time. Doing your homework to make sure you are making a sound purchase is always a good idea.

Blocking Mats

As you can see in the picture above, I also used blocking mats in order to block this blanket. I am including links below for the ones that are pictured above, and also the ones I have upgraded to since then. The ones I have now have a grid on them in order to help line things up a little more easily.

I highly recommend blocking your finished work. Yes, it’s a pain in the butt. It does in fact take more time to go through the whole process. However, hear me out, you have put so many hours into your work already. Why wouldn’t you want to take just a little longer and make sure it has that store bought finished look? In my opinion, it’s totally worth the time invested.

Additional Tools for when your wrists and/or hands ache

If you are like me and you knit and crochet a lot, something that I have found is useful at times is a pair of stress relief gloves. I own a few different kinds, but I do think any of them is better than not using anything at all if your hands and wrists are bothering you. I’ll include a few links for you to check out.

Need a little more help?

In conclusion, that should be about all you need if you want to try this one out. If you feel like you might need a little extra assistance and want online classes to help you, check out the link below for Annie’s and Crafty websites. I take online classes often to improve and advance my skills. You can always learn something new!

I taught myself to knit and crochet through kits that I found at my local craft store, so there is always that option as well. I’ll share links to kits similar to what I used that you can also find on Amazon if you can’t find at your local craft store or can’t get to one soon.

That should be about all you need if you want to try this one out. Please let me know if you have any questions or need any help.

Happy Stitching!
🧶💖
~Mindy~

Check out the Annie’s website for some great craft clubs. Use the code: SHARE50 for 50% off your first order. 🙂