I have finished my most recent baby blanket. When my best friend from high school told me she was having a baby, I couldn't have been happier for her. Then I started thinking what project would be most suitable for this baby, something that the mum and dad would also love. After two months of looking at patterns I think I found something really cute for them! This blanket took 5 months to make (in spare time here and there), each row took me between 15 and 30 mins, depending on how many yarn changes were required and whether I needed to replace any of them with a new yarn ball. It has 200 rows. This is the end result:

The pattern used for the blanket is from Elena Balyuk, Sweet Heart Baby Blanket. I followed the chart that comes with the pattern, the stitches were simple enough that no big explanations were required for me. It is cumbersome only in terms of changes of color throughout (I would advice to become familiar with changing colors neatly and hiding away ends in your crochet before attempting to undertake this project... there were a lot of ends to tidy up!). It is simple and easy to make otherwise, lots of fun and a very rewarding project.

The yarn used was Caron Simply Soft. The colors used are white, bone and soft blue (plus a bit of black for eyes and nose). Hook size 6mm (J).

The blanket itself, after finished and washed is not really square, due to some of the rows having more or less tension depending on how many yarn changes there are and how I was feeling at the moment. I have kept the same number of stitches throughout and it looks gorgeous with this shiny and soft Caron yarn. I am super happy with the end result and I hope it'll give my friend's baby the comfort he deserves to grow confident and fearless, at least during the winter months :)

Adding a pic for the yarn label:

I did a swatch at the beginning with all the colors to make sure washing the final piece would be ok. Black didn't really taint anything, so I was happy with that. I have washed this blanket at 30 C, 1200 spinning speed. Even though the label says it can be dryed, I wouldn't recommend this, as it comes out of the washing machine almost dry, just hanging it over any rail and letting it dry a couple of hours does the trick!