This is the final pattern in my eBook: Baby Ocean & Others. The list of patterns in this eBook is: Baby Ocean, Baby Dolphin, Baby Crab, Baby Sea Turtle, Baby Whale, and Baby Fish. These links all go to Ravelry but you can also get these patterns on Etsy.
I wanted at least 4 patterns in this series so you could create a 60″ x 60″ blanket by joining them together. Six patterns gives you options to pick your favorites or create a long blanket (like for a twin size bed at 60″ by 90″). Or, of course, just use them as a standalone baby blanket.
I have already drawn up some other patterns of this size and with an ocean theme but they don’t fit into the “baby animal” theme. I will create another eBook later for those patterns! And I had hoped to complete this eBook by the end of July – and since it’s now August you can see that I missed that self-imposed deadline!
So this is the final pattern; and it is a beautiful piece (if I do say so myself). I based it off a gorgeous painting my six-year-old daughter, Alice, did a few weeks ago. I believe it was from a lesson on watercolors from Nana B. Yes, we have a family of artists!
A few months ago Alice drew Feline the Deer on her chalkboard and told me I could use it for a pattern. This time I created the pattern as a surprise. Her painting has some wonderful color-blocking but that doesn’t translate well into my patterns so I added some line designs to separate the areas. There are designers that do fancy color work – but I have been so busy creating new patterns that I just haven’t gotten that far in my journey yet. Maybe someday. And, if you’d like, you can definitely add some color changes to your project and show off your skills and creativity!
But, I wanted to crochet it as it is written. Two colors. One Main Color and one Accent Color / Contrasting Color. I used Scheepjes Color Crafter (Polare) as my Main Color and Red Heart Super Saver Stripes (Retro Stripes) as the Contrasting Color. These are technically not the same weight. It was definitely noticeable as I was crocheting. The Scheepjes yarn is a 3 – light worsted and the Super Saver yarn is a 4 – medium worsted. But I wanted to use this pretty rainbow stuff and I wanted to find a good contrasting color here from my stash to go with it. I still used my favorite 4.5 mm hook.
One of these days I may get over my aversion to buying new yarn for a special project. I just love yarn sales! And then I feel like I should use what I have, you know? I did buy some fancy yarn for a giveaway in my Facebook group! We are celebrating reaching 5000 members!
My sample was made using the overlay mosaic technique; I usually prefer to do interlocking but I have been doing that a lot lately and I knew my friend, CynCityCrochets, was going to use the interlocking technique. I don’t really like how long it takes me to crochet using the mosaic method. Plus those darn tails need to be dealt with. I spent at least an hour and a half just seaming the envelope border together!
You must know by now that all of my patterns are written for two techniques: interlocking crochet and overlay mosaic crochet. For the “Baby Fish” pattern you get one file with written line-by-line instructions for locked filet mesh (that’s what I call interlocking crochet) and a one-page chart and another file with written line-by-line instructions for the overlay mosaic crochet technique and a multi-page chart with X’s showing where to do the drop-down double crochets. I don’t yet have a tutorial on how to use the X-marked charts but if you’re familiar with other designers you might already know what to do. I hope to update this soon with a note saying I have a tutorial now!
I hope you’re enjoying the size of these patterns in my Baby Blankets section on Etsy and Ravelry.
As I said earlier, this completes my eBook on Ravelry called “Baby Ocean & Others“. I have now also added the entire eBook to Etsy. I didn’t add it earlier because Etsy doesn’t update customers like Ravelry does so it creates more work for me – I did list the Year of Gnomes eBook on Etsy without having it finished first because a year is much too long to wait!
If you don’t want the whole eBook (and the automatic savings you get with that) then you can just grab the individual blanket pattern. Get “Baby Fish” on Etsy or Ravelry. Use code, “BABY21” on Ravelry (which has been extended!) or “BABY21MORE” on Etsy (Etsy wouldn’t let me extend) to get 20% off* all my baby blanket patterns!
*20% discount is valid in my Etsy Shop on Preemie Love Blanket, Feline the Deer, Many Hugs, Baby Ocean, Baby Dolphin, Baby Crab, Baby Sea Turtle, Baby Whale, Baby Fish, and Baby Ocean & Others eBook; use code “BABY21MORE”.
And in my Ravely store on Preemie Love Blanket, Feline the Deer, Many Hugs, Baby Ocean, Baby Dolphin, Baby Crab, Baby Sea Turtle, Baby Whale, Baby Fish, and Baby Ocean & Others eBook. Code “BABY21” must be used at the time of purchase, and is not retroactive. Offer ends 11:59 pm CST July 31, 2021. OFFER EXTENDED TO AUGUST 10, 2021.
