Popcorn Stitch Striped Baby Blanket

My nephew's first birthday just came and went, and for his birthday, I made him another blanket. I think the gifts we make for one another are the gifts everyone remember and hold dear to their hearts. I can see my nephew growing up with his blankets, knowing his aunt made them for him when he was little.

I decided to do a whole blanket of popcorn stitches. I picked the popcorn stitch because I thought it would be fun for a one year old to run his hands through the blanket and grab the little popcorns because they will almost never come out. I finally taught myself how to do a proper popcorn stitch. Then I realized how long of a project this blanket would be. Also, I'm still trying to learn when to stitch in the turning chain, or when not to. So the two sides of this blanket came out really (really really) wonky. I tried to fix it with the borders, but it was not really going to fix all my mistakes after mistakes. My theory is if my nephew uses the blanket enough and it gets dirty and it has to be washed, it will just blend in as an aged, old treasure.

I made up the pattern, starting with about 120 chains, then double crochet in the next row, then the next would be the popcorn stitches. I used single crochet until I was ready for the popcorn stitch, which is 5 double crochets all together in one stitch. Then three single crochet between each popcorn. After the popcorn row, I switched colors then started over (with the double crochet row). The I just alternated where the popcorn stitch would fall, so they weren't in row, but more a scattered pattern.

Lastly, as I said before, I tried to fix the wonky edges by adding a border. I used a white double crochet, blue single crochet, then a white slip stitch for the final edge.

It took me about 50 minutes to do one row of colors - I did 36 rows of colors - meaning just the stripes of the blanket took me about 30 hours. Add on the border, I probably spent 5 hours. Not to mention the about 3 hours I spent weaving and tying all those loose ends. Okay, so a 38 hour blanket! I always think these projects take much less time than they do!

Hopefully my nephew loves this blanket and will remember his auntie every time he hugs it.

note the strange edges, especially on the right... don't tell anyone!

Chevron baby blanket

Many times, I look up a pattern with full anticipation that my finished product will turn out so much better with a real pattern with real results. Wrong. Usually after round 2 of crocheting a project, I realize the pattern is not right (or I'm not right) and I have to alter it to suit what I need it to be. Take this blanket I made for my nephew, Adam. I looked up a basic chevron blanket pattern from lion brand. While the general pattern worked well, the gauge was not right (when I was using the proper hook size) and the blanket was to be the width of half my arm. Good for a baby doll maybe, not a human. Anywho, I altered it to suit my needs, and it worked well (I think).
The yarn is Caron's super soft yarn (and it is super soft!) and the colors go so well together. It took me a lot longer than I anticipated, probably 16-18 hours total. I was working on it on the 5 hour car ride home for Christmas (until the sun set and I couldn't see anymore) and I worked on it for about 30 minutes on Christmas eve night seconds before I wrapped it. SO MUCH CROCHETING TO DO! (I'm now taking a bit of a break...)

I made this blanket with full intentions of this being Adam's security blankie.. who didn't have one?? Since we live so far apart I wanted Adam to know that every time he hugs his blanket, he is hugging his Auntie :)