Alice had a Little Lammy - Free Crochet Baby Blanket Pattern

So, way back one evening about 3 years ago, when I was almost half way pregnant with my second son, I was giving my 7 month old baby a bath when I took a phone call from my sister.

Given that my husband had managed to knock me up twice within the space of 11 months, I had babies on the brain. Turns out, there must've been something in the water, because my little sister was calling with some exciting baby news of her own! 

I was still a relatively new crocheter at that point. I'd made two crochet blankets, one for each of my boys, and whilst both were lovely, they were full of treacherous holes little fingers could get caught in, and I could see where improvements could be made. I made it clear pretty early on that her baby was getting a special one of a kind blanket, and my sister (legend that she is) proceeded to her local yarn shop to purchase a pile of grey and white 8ply wool balls for me to use. 

I spent quite a bit of time with swatches and gauge pieces to try and figure out the right pattern for the look I was after.  I discovered the trinity stitch pretty early on (sc3tog, repeat ad infinitum). I realised pretty quickly that single crochet wasn't going to work for this project, as it would take forever to work up, so I started playing with double crochet's instead. 

It worked into a lovely textured (and practical) pattern with closely woven fabric which had no holes for teeny tiny fingers to get tangled in, the downfall of many crochet baby blankets.

So, given how wonderfully generous the crochet community has been to me in developing my skills, here's the very first pattern I wrote. For free. Cos free is awesome.

The finished blanket ended up being approximately 120cm x 90cm, however this may vary depending on your own individual tension and hook choice.

Yarn was Shepherd Colour 4 Me 8ply, but any 8 ply yarn will suffice.

As I mentioned before, this was my first pattern, so please let me know if there is something incorrect or I have confused you in any way. Hopefully it's pretty straightforward.

Isn't she just the cutest? Same kid, same blanket, 2 years apart. It's felted ever so slightly with washing, but the blanket has moved from being a large cot blanket with horizontal stripes to a small  bed blanket with vertical ones.

Alice had a little Lammy

I came up with this pattern when my sister was expecting her first baby, to make a cot sized blanket (120cm x 90cm) with horizontal stripes by working 163ch for approx 120cm wide with a 5mm hook and DK wool.

This pattern is written in US crochet terms.

Hook: 5mm

Yarn: Shepherd Colour 4 Me DK / 8ply (12x 50gm  white, 6 x 50gm grey)

Gauge is not required, as long as it makes a relatively dense fabric.

Stitches:

Ch - Chain

SC - Single crochet

dc2tog - Yarn over, insert hook through stitch, draw the yarn through (3 loops on hook), yarn over and pull through 2 loops, (2 loops on hook), yarn over, draw yarn through next stitch, (4 loops on hook) yarn over, pull through 2 loops, (2 loops on hook) yarn over and pull through three loops on hook.

dc3tog - Yarn over, insert hook through stitch, draw the yarn through (3 loops on hook); yarn over and pull through 2 loops, (2 loops on hook); yarn over, draw yarn through next stitch, yarn over, pull through 2 loops, (3 loops on hook);  yarn over, draw yarn through next stitch, yarn over, pull through 2 loops, (4 loops on hook); yarn over and pull through all 4 loops.

v-stitch - double crochet in stitch, chain 1, double crochet in same stitch

picot - chain 3, slip stitch into 2nd chain from hook

The Blanket

Foundation Row

The foundation chain is worked as multiples of 2 +3. In my case I worked 163 stitches.

1st Row

In 3rd ch from hook work dc2tog (Yarn over, insert hook through stitch, draw the yarn through (3 loops on hook), yarn over and pull through 2 loops, (2 loops on hook), yarn over, draw yarn through next stitch, (4 loops on hook) yarn over, pull through 2 loops, (2 loops on hook) yarn over and pull through three loops on hook). CH1, *dc3tog from same ch as 3rd st on previous dc3tog, CH 1* rep to last st.  DC into same ch as the last st of previous dc3tog. Ch 2. Turn.

2nd Row

Work dc2tog  (this makes DC3TOG cluster as the ch2 makes the first dc). Ch1. *DC3TOG, starting from the same st as last stitch of previous cluster. CH1*  Repeat to end.  Ch 2. Turn.

3rd Row

Secondary colour, repeat row 2. 

4th and subsequent rows

Each row is a repeat of row 2 but every 3rd row is completed in the secondary colour. Repeat 2 rows primary colour, 1 row secondary, until blanket is desired length.

Note:

When you reach the  first stitch of a new row, the first stitch of the DC3TOG cluster is worked into the 2nd ch stitch of previous row.

The centre DC of the cluster is the only place where only one stitch is worked into a single stitch. It is aligned to be  worked into the top of the cluster stitch of previous rows DC3TOG.

Each of the side stitches of the dc3tog are worked into the Ch1 space between each cluster, and each ch1 space will have 2 stitches - one as the last stitch of the previous cluster, and the other as the first stitch of the new cluster

Edging

Row 1: Work around the edge of your blanket with one row of single crochet, working 2 sc into each of the 4 corners.

Row 2: Chain 4 , double crochet in same stitch, (your first v-stitch),  skip 2 st, then work *1 double crochet in  next stitch, chain 1, double crochet in same stitch, skip 2 st*. Repeat to end of round.

NB: Corners - when you reach the corner, work the v-stitch into the corner, adding an additional chain to make a 2 chain space (instead of 1ch).

Row 3 - repeat row 2

Row 4 -  Final round - V-stitches and Picots

Chain 2, picot (ch3, work slip stitch in 2nd chain from hook) , double crochet in same stitch, (now you're made a  v-stitch with picot),  skip 2 st, then work *1 double crochet in next stitch, 1 picot, double crochet in same stitch, skip 2 st*. Repeat to end of round.