Crochet baby blanket patterns

A crochet pillow that makes me smile

29/05/2018 by Dada Filed Under: Crochet granny square, Crochet pillows 21 Comments

For the past 2 weeks I’ve been working on my first ever poncho pattern, and although I’m very excited about it, the process of making it has been a little boring. I’ve been working with only one color, back and forth in rows, the same stitch for over 150 rows… You can imagine how monotonous it could be. And in the middle of making the second poncho, which I’m going to take the pictures of for the photo tutorial, I felt that I needed something colorful, and interesting and happy and quick to make. All at the same time. So, I decided to make a crochet pillow.

I was wondering which pattern I should use? Should I use one of my existing patterns, should I try some new pattern from my Pinterest crochet board, or should I come up with a new pattern? I grabbed my crochet hook, played around a little bit and came up with this flowery granny square.

Then I looked at my yarn stash in search for the appropriate yarn, and first thing that caught my eye was the green glittering yarn I have had for ages. I think that we should always have something shiny and sparkling in our lives, even if it’s a simple skein of yarn. I decided to use it as the background. Then I chose several other bright colors, and the ivory color to balance everything.

If you don’t live in Serbia, you can skip this section where I write about the yarn, because unfortunately, you can’t buy this yarn anywhere outside Serbia, nor you can order it online. All the yarn I used was manufactured by St. George. The green glittering yarn is “Una” 50g/115m 50% acrilyc, 45% cotton, 5% metallized polyester.
The ivory yarn is “Cotton classic” 100% cotton, 50g/120m, and yellow, orange, pink and blue yarn is “Cotton Cable”, 100% cotton, 50g/95m.

I used 3.5 mm crochet hook. At first I didn’t know which method of joining squares to use. In the end, when I finished all 9 squares I decided to use join-as-you-go method to join the squares together which I think works well with these squares.

As with all of my previous pillows I didn’t crochet the back side. I just took a piece of plaid fabric, installed a zipper and sewed it on at the back of the crocheted piece. Nice and easy.

What else can I say about this pillow? First, that I really like how it turned out! I especially like the colors and the yarn I used. Second, that I decided to make the pattern and tutorial for this flowery granny square. Not sure about the whole pillow, though. Will see. Maybe I will also make a baby blanket using the same square pattern. I’m curious to see how it would look, and I have so much yarn in my stash that I could use in that project. Or in some another project…

Update: The flowery granny square pattern and step-by-step tutorial is now available in Dada’s place shop, (payment options: Credit cards & PayPal), in my Ravelry shop, and in my Etsy shop. (payment option: PayPal)

Free Crochet Pattern: Lily’s Blanket

21/05/2018 by Dada Filed Under: Crochet baby blanket patterns, Free crochet patterns 9 Comments

If you love crochet blankets, stripes, simplicity and ease, then please continue reading, because this blanket is as simple and easy to make, as it is beautiful and stylish. And stripes surely add that modern touch to it.

You can make Lily’s blanket in just two colors (and I honestly think that gray-white combination might be the real winner), three colors, four colors (like I did), or as many colors as you like. By making every row (or every 2 or 3 rows) in different color it might be the ideal crochet project for going through all of the remaining yarn from your stash, which you don’t know what to do with.

Regarding the yarn, this pattern is not demanding at all. Although I used quality cotton yarn, you can make it with any beautiful, soft yarn. Even with acrylic yarn.

This blanket is worked back and forth in rows, and can be made in any size.
If you’d like to make a different size blanket, simply work the foundation chain to the desired width in a multiple of 6.

Crochet terms: Pattern is written using US crochet terminology. If you prefer UK terminology instead of double crochet make treble crochet, and that’s it! It’s that simple!

Level: Beginner
Size: 70 cm (27.5”) width, 100 cm (39”) length
Crochet hook: 4 mm (USA – G/6)
Gauge: 10 stitches and 9 rows in 10 cm (although gauge is not critical to this project)

Yarn:
Yarn Art – Ecco-cotton
100g/220m
85% cotton 15% polyester

● 3 skeins of gray (763)
● 1 skein of pink (766)
● 1 skein of yellow (764)
● 1 skein of turquoise (765)
or any Light worsted yarn (3 or Light)

So, let’s get started!

* To start, make a slip knot on your hook; (Picture 1)

* continue making foundation chain. Count your chains as you go, and stop when you reach the desired width in multiples of 6. I made ch-x. (Picture 2)

* Count fifth chain of your hook, (Picture 3)

* and make dc in that st. (Picture 4)

* Skip the next two chains, and make dc in the next ch. (Picture 5)

* Make one more dc in the same stitch; (Picture 6)

* Make ch-1, 2 dc in the same stitch. (Picture 7)

* skip the next two chs and make dc in the next ch, skip the next two chs and make [2 dc, ch-1, 2 dc] in the next ch. (Picture 8)

* Repeat from * until you are left with only 4 chs. Skip the next two sts, and make dc in the next two sts. We will make 2 dc at the end of each row. We will make ch-3 (which counts as dc) and dc at the beginning of each row. (Picture 9)

* Make ch-3 (counts as the first dc), (Picture 10)

* turn your work over, (Picture 11)

* and make dc in the next dc. (Picture 12)

* Skip the next two dc and make [2 dc, ch-1, 2 dc] in the next ch-1 space; (Picture 13)

* next dc, skip the next two dc and make [2 dc, ch-1, 2 dc] in the next ch-1 space; (Picture 14)

* Repeat from * until you’re left with only four sts. (Picture 15)

* Skip two dc, make dc in the next dc, and at the end make dc in the last dc. (Picture 16)

* And this is the all you need to know in order to make this blanket. Repeat this row until you reach the desired length.(Picture 17)

Written pattern row by row:

With gray color: Make foundation chain of 150 stitches.
Row 1: Make dc in the fifth chain from the hook, *skip 2 chs, [2 dc, ch-1, 2 dc] into the next ch, skip 2 chs, dc in the next ch; repeat from * 23 more times, dc in the last stitch.
Row 2: ch-3, dc in the next dc, * skip two dc, [2 dc, ch-1, 2 dc] into the next ch-1 space, skip 2 dc, dc in the next dc; repeat from * 23 more times, dc in the top of the initial ch-3.
Row 3 – 6: Repeat row 2. Change the color to pink in the last stitch of the 6th row.
Row 7 – 14: With pink color: Repeat row 2. Change the color to gray in the last stitch of the 14th row.
Row 15 – 20: With gray color: Repeat row 2. Change the color to yellow in the last stitch of the 20th row.
Row 21 – 28: With yellow color: Repeat row 2. Change the color to gray in the last stitch of the 28th row.
Row 29 – 34: With gray color: Repeat row 2. Change the color to turquoise in the last stitch of the 34th row.
Row 35 – 42: With turquoise color: Repeat row 2. Change the color to gray in the last stitch of the 42nd row.
Row 43 – 48: With gray color: Repeat row 2. Change the color to pink in the last stitch of the 48th row.
Row 49 – 56: With pink color: Repeat row 2. Change the color to gray in the last stitch of the 56th row.
Row 57 – 62: With gray color: Repeat row 2. Change the color to yellow in the last stitch of the 62nd row.
Row 63 – 70: With yellow color: Repeat row 2. Change the color to gray in the last stitch of the 70th row.
Row 71 – 76: With gray color: Repeat row 2. Change the color to gray in the last stitch of the 76th row.
Row 77 – 84: With turquoise color: Repeat row 2. Change the color to gray in the last stitch of the 84th row.
Row 85 – 90: With gray color: Repeat row 2. At the end of the 90th fasten off. Weave in the yarn end.

And now you have it! Very simple, but beautiful crochet blanket pattern! Hope you will like the pattern, and if you make it, please share it using the tag #lilysblanket. I would be thrilled to see your own creations of this pattern.

I’m planning on hosting a yarny giveaway related to this blanket very soon, so if you don’t want to miss it, please sign up for my newsletter, or follow me on social media: Facebok here, and Instagram here.

Happy crocheting!

Enjoy the silence shawl free pattern

05/05/2018 by Dada Filed Under: Free crochet patterns, Scarves and shawls 6 Comments

Do you want to add to your wardrobe by making something with your own hands? Then, you’re in the right place! Do you want to express your creativity through crochet but you aren’t very experienced in it? Or maybe, you’ve just started your crochet adventure, but you’d like to make something beautiful and useful immediately? Then you’re in the right place! Are you an experienced crocheter, but you’d like to watch your favorite TV show while crocheting, so you need something easy to work on? Then you’re in the right place!

Because this shawl is a great contribution to your wardrobe, and it’s so easy to make that every beginner would be capable of making it. Plus you can watch your favorite podcast or TV show, and after some time you will have something beautiful to wear around your neck.

Pattern is written using US crochet terminology. UK terms are given in brackets.

Level: Beginner
Size: 300 x 35 cm (118” x 12”)
Crochet hook: 3.5mm (USA-E / UK-9)
Gauge: 19 st in 10 cm

The shawl is very long, narrow and symmetrical. It is crocheted from one tip of the triangle to the other, from point A to point B. If you want your shawl to be shorter and wider, instead of double treble crochet (triple treble crochet) use treble crochet (double treble crochet). Start with one color; change the color when you have gone through the whole skein of yarn. Repeat that until you finish all 6 skeins.

We will always increase/decrease the width on the same side of the shawl. We’ll increase every row by one stitch until we reach the widest point of the shawl. From that point we’re going to decrease every row by one stitch.

Material needed:

For this shawl you can use whatever yarn you like, I’d only advise against using chunky yarn, because it doesn’t drape very well. I used 100% cotton yarn 125m/50g

3 skeins (50g) of “Tango color” no. 0092 – 100% cotton 125m/50g
3 skeins (50g) of “Tango color” no. 0192 – 100% cotton 125m/50g

In this step-by-step tutorial you will learn how to do the increase/decrease. And that’s the only thing you should know in order to make this super easy shawl.

Row 1: Start with a magic ring. Make ch-5 in the ring. Counts as dtr (trtr) – Picture 1

Make 3 dtr (trtr) in the ring. (4 st in total) – Picture 2

Pull the tail and close the ring. – Picture 3

Row 2: Make ch-5, – Picture 4

then turn your work over. – Picture 5

Make dtr (trtr) in the same stitch; (increase) – Picture 6

Make dtr (trtr) in the next 2 stitches. – Picture 7

Make dtr (trtr) in the fifth chain of the initial ch-5. – Picture 8

I put the stitch marker on the side where we will do the increase. – Picture 9

Row 3: Make ch-5, turn over your work. Since this is the side where we don’t do the increase, we will not make dtr (trtr) in the same stitch. – Picture 10

Instead, we will make dtr (trtr) in the next 3 st. Now, we need to do the increase, but I don’t like to do it in ch-5 (which is the last stitch). – Picture 11

Instead, we will do the increase in the last dtr (trtr) of the row, so make one more dtr (trtr) in the last dtr (trtr) of the row. – Picture 12

so, make dtr (trtr) in the fifth st of the initial ch-5. – Picture 13

Row 4: Make ch-5, turn over and make dtr (trtr) in the same stitch (increase). – Picture 14

Make dtr (trtr) in the next five stitches. As you can see we increased every row by one stitch. – Picture 15

And now you know how and where to do the increase. You only have to repeat the second and the third row until you reach the widest point of the shawl.
In the second row we did the increase at the beginning of the row – in the first stitch. In the third row we did the increase at the end of the row – in the next-to-last stitch, which is dtr (trtr). The last stitch is ch-5.
So, repeat the second and the third row until you achieve the desired width. Now, we are going to do the decrease in every row, on the same side of the shawl where we did the increase.

When you achieve the desired width, make ch-5, turn over, make 1 dtr (trtr) in every stitch, until you reach the last dtr (trtr) of the row, which is the next-to-last stitch. Now we’re going to make dtr 2tog (trtr2tog) – Picture 16

make an “incomplete” dtr (trtr) – yo three times, insert your needle into the next dtr (trtr), pull up a loop, [yo, draw the yarn through two loops] three times, and now stop. You should have 2 loops on the hook. – Picture 17

Make one more “incomplete” dtr (trtr) in the fifth chain of ch-5; now you should have 3 loops on your hook. – Picture 18

yo and draw the yarn through all three loops. We’ve just done the decrease at the end of the row. – Picture 19

Now, we’re going to do the decrease at the beginning of the row, so make ch-5; – Picture 20

make an “incomplete” dtr (trtr) in the next stitch; – Picture 21

make another “incomplete dtr (trtr) in the next stitch – you should have three loops on the hook; – Picture 22

yo, and draw the yarn through all three loops on your hook. – Picture 23

continue working 1 dtr (trtr) in each stitch until you reach the end of the row; – Picture 24

make ch-5, turn over, make 1 dtr (trtr) in each stitch; – Picture 25

make 1 “incomplete” dtr (trtr) in the last two stitches; – Picture 26

yo, and draw the yarn through all three loops on the hook. – Picture 27

Again, we’re going to do the decrease at the beginning of the row, so make ch-5, turn over, make an “incomplete” dtr (trtr) in the next two stitches, – Picture 28

yo, and draw the yarn through all three loops. – Picture 29

Now, you just have to repeat those two rows – the row where you do the decrease at the end of the row, and the row where you do the decrease at the beginning of the row, until you’re left with only four stitches. Cut the yarn and fasten off. – Picture 30

And now you have it! Very easy and simple to make beautiful crochet shawl pattern!

Feel free to sell the finished products made from this pattern, but please link back to my site: dadasplace for credit. And, please don’t use my pictures to sell your work.

Although this pattern is free, it is copyright protected, so please don’t sell or publish this pattern anywhere, don’t translate it, or make YouTube videos without my permission. Thank you for respecting my work!

Hope you will like the pattern, and maybe will try it out! If so, I would love to see it! Please be free to share it to my Facebook page, or on Instagram, and use hash tag #enjoythesilenceshawl. I’m looking forward to seeing your beautiful creations, it will bring me a lot of joy!