Hello and welcome to my blog! Did you ever come across a gift for someone in particular and think ‘this is perfect!’? Isn’t that the greatest feeling when that happens? That happened to me recently, when I came across a pattern for a baby blanket. Now, honestly, I think all children enjoy farm animals. But this particular friend who was expecting her first baby has farming in her blood – and a tractor in her wedding pictures to prove it! So I decided that this was the blanket that I’d make for them.

The blanket itself is a ‘corner to corner’ pattern, meaning that it is made diagonally from one corner to the opposite corner. I found the pattern, which was easy enough to follow, online at crazy patterns. The fact that I already had in my ‘stash’, every single color that I needed was rather amazing. See, it *does* pay to stock up on all different colors of yarn! I used my favorite yarn, Caron Simply Soft.

The animals and sun are applique, meaning that they are made separately and then sewn on top of the blanket. My favorite aspect of the blanket is that there are moving pieces: the horse’s mane and tail, the pig’s ears and tail, the chicken’s beak and feet, and the cow’s udder and horns are all moveable. Actually, the original pattern didn’t have an udder. So I went looking for an udder pattern and added it. I think it is the best! The pig’s tail is curly, which I think is very cute.

After making the blanket, then making each of the animals, and then sewing them all on, I took a little break! Luckily, the baby decided to take her time getting here. 🙂 The pattern called for one simple border of a single row of a similar stitch to the blanket, in white. I did that, but I didn’t like it. I then tried a few different iterations, and undid them as well. Funny enough, I asked my kids’ input and between their idea and mine I came up with a border that we were really happy with.

It was made, washed, dried, and wrapped in lavender in time for the arrival of the little one (yay!). It is such a wonderful feeling when a handmade gift is appreciated. I’m happy to say that they really liked it.

Here’s to finding the perfect gift!

In Peace,
Dana

This is what a ‘corner to corner’ blanket looks like while in progress! The awkward part is that all of the colors are attached as you use them (see top right picture). I took over our ottoman for a while, so as not to get the skeins of yarn tangled!

So here is what the blanket looked like as I figured out the border. The top left is without any border. The bottom right is the original pattern (which I undid). I definitely wanted to have red in the border, but it was a bit harsh on its own. The compromise was to add the sun yellow and then white.

You can see the ‘moveable’ pieces in this collage. The beak, the cow’s udder and horns, the horse’s tail and mane are all moveable. The top right picture doesn’t have the final color of white on the border yet.

Ta-da! I was quite pleased with the final outcome!

It was time to have some fun with the blanket photoshoot! I did a ‘running’ picture when I made my daughter’s Elmer blanket, so I thought I’d do that again 🙂

I like to challenge myself with new projects and with this one, the animals were definitely something new for me. I enjoyed learning how to make them. The eyes were tricky. There are plastic eyes you can buy to attach, but I never like that idea for baby blankets (choking hazard?). So they are all a bit different.

The pig was the first animal I made. 🙂

The cow looks a bit bare without any spots!

I really enjoyed making this blanket and seeing it come together with all of the animals. I’m a very slow crocheter and I only worked on it in the evenings and weekends. It took about three weeks to make the body of the blanket and then another two weeks to make the animals and finish the blanket. It was time well spent. I wonder what my next project will be? 🙂