Category: Baby Blankets

“Seahorse Dance” on Ravelry

Seahorse Dance

I used to think seahorses were mythical creatures like unicorns. They amaze me! They are so tiny and delicate looking. These seahorses are dancing a love-dance. Maybe the father will carry some babies soon (see, another reason they sound like mythical creatures!).

I often wished I could make my husband do the pregnant part of having our children. I love my babies but I hated pregnancy. I started feeling sick before I knew I was pregnant and it only ended when the baby came out.

My first baby come a month early. I couldn’t sleep one night and suddenly my water broke. It’s common in movies because it’s exciting and dramatic but in real life less than 10% of births begin with the Premature Rupture of Membranes (PROM). Preterm PROM (when your waters break before 37 weeks) is even rarer and most statistics say it occurs in 1-2% of births. I was definitely not ready for my baby at 36 weeks but that’s life.

I wrote a bit more about Alice in a post last year:

Preemie Love Blanket

When I was nearing the end of my 2nd pregnancy I truly had no idea when I would go into labor since I had been so blindsided the first time. I was thankful when I made it past the mark of having an early baby and he came at exactly 39 weeks. Remington was a nice, healthy baby boy: 9 lbs, 3 oz / 4167.38 g.

My third child delayed her entrance. Eleven days after her due date I was induced with Melody. She was inside me for almost 6 weeks longer Alice had been and she had the weight to prove it! Alice was born 6 lbs 13 oz / 3090 g and Melody was 9 lbs 11 oz / 4394.18 g when she was born.

Here’s a way-too-personal photo of my giant pregnant self. I was ready, but Melody wasn’t born for another full month after this photo!

My 3rd pregnancy – Melody stayed in there for another month after this picture!

Anyway, back to the crochet…

I originally drew this pattern to be included in my eBook, “More in the Ocean” but when I was finished I realized I had started with the wrong chart size! All the patterns in that eBook have a chart size of 121 x 121 and this pattern is 161 x 161.

I still wanted six patterns in that eBook so I was forced to try again on the merman pattern. I had pretty much given up on getting him right and was going to put seahorses in the eBook instead. This mistake redeemed itself and now we have “Trident” in the eBook AND this larger baby blanket pattern with seahorses!

Some people have different ideas on what size a baby blanket is anyway. So they may be more pleased with this larger size. Other people are joining the squares together to create an adult-sized blanket and may find it difficult to add this pattern into the mix.

I can’t wait to see your beautiful creations with yarn. My tester, cyncitycrochets, used some pretty neat ombre yarn in this sample. White is used as the Main Color (you can tell because those outside border lines are white). The Wrong Side (WS) looks pretty awesome when you use the interlocking technique – if you use the overlay mosaic technique the WS will be striped.

This pattern, like all of my patterns, comes complete with written instructions and a chart for two techniques: interlocking crochet and overlay mosaic crochet. Choose your favorite technique or challenge yourself and learn a new one! I have a few tutorials on YouTube: www.YouTube.com/c/AshleeBrotzellDesigns

The chart that comes with the mosaic method has X’s to show where the dropped double crochets go.

I hope you enjoyed my little stories and I hope you really love this new pattern! The links to Etsy and Ravelry are both here; if you don’t have a preference I think Ravelry is better (less fees for me, easier to update patterns when needed, nice library to keep things organized, photos of everyone’s projects) but I offer both platforms so you can make your own choice!

Get the Pattern

“Seahorse Dance” on Etsy

Chart size 161 x 161

When you meet gauge, this finishes to 40″ x 40″.

~~Use code “DANCE” to get 30% off this pattern until October 21, 2021. Valid on Etsy and Ravelry.~~

October 18, 2021October 25, 2021

“Electric Shock” on Ravelry

Electric Shock

You may recognize this as the image I used for the background of the eBook cover page. It was probably the easiest pattern to draw in this set. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t still awesome!

I created this design as the background for my Trident square. And then I liked how it looked on its own as well. Happy accidents, right!?

Whether you use the mosaic technique or the interlocking technique, the Right Side looks the same.

Angela Kermack used white as the Main Color in her overlay mosaic sample.

I used white as the second color (accent color, contrasting color) in my interlocking crochet sample. I love how the Wrong Side is a different image when you use the interlocking technique.

This pattern works up quickly because the repeating section is easy to memorize. I use my phone to read the patterns when I am crocheting and my screen always dims before I get to the end of the row. With this pattern that didn’t interrupt my crocheting, I was able to just keep going because I knew that it just kept repeating.

However, the “easy” level of this pattern actually caused me to feel bored many times. I prefer something that requires more focus and attention otherwise my mind wanders.

Do you like the repetitive patterns?

Get the Pattern

“Electric Shock” on Etsy

October 17, 2021October 17, 2021

The eBook contains 6 patterns and saves you more than 30% compared to buying them individually.

One Octopus
To Sail Away
Trident
Four Lobsters
All the Waves
Electric Shock

These baby blankets are all 30″ square when you meet gauge. Each pattern has a chart size of 121 x 121 and you begin with 60 windows when you do the interlocking crochet technique.

“All the Waves” on Ravelry

All the Waves

This pattern, like all the patterns in this eBook, has a chart size of 121 x 121. This works up to 30″ square when you meet gauge so I call it a baby blanket but you can also think of it as an extra-large panel in a blanket. If you join 4 or 6 of these together you will get a full-size blanket.

If you like these waves you can also get a different size! I use a very small section of wave in my tutorial on YouTube: Wave 10, Locked Filet Mesh Crochet-A-Long Tutorial. You can crochet the small 5″ square with me using the interlocking crochet method (also called Locked Filet Mesh or LFM).

You can also download the PDF of the tiny wave square for FREE on Ravelry! Wave 10 on Ravelry

Interlocking Wave 10 crocheted for YouTube tutorial

The same pattern is used in my video tutorial on how to Read Mosaic Crochet Chart Without X’s. This is a very handy skill to have but if you are used to having X’s on the chart, have no fear: my patterns are all being updated to include a chart with X’s now. It is taking me awhile because I have so many patterns, but I am nearly finished getting them all updated!

I also used these waves in a scarf which was part of my 2020 Father’s Day CAL: Waves Scarf on Ravelry

And I made this design available as a shawl as well; you can begin with the long edge or short end to get a different effect with your self-striping yarn! Waves Shawl on Ravelry

My “Into The Ocean” blanket pattern uses these waves as a border around some swirling waves.

So, I guess it’s fair to say I like water-themed patterns!

Get the Pattern

“All the Waves” on Etsy

October 16, 2021October 16, 2021

The eBook contains 6 patterns and saves you more than 30% compared to buying them individually.

One Octopus
To Sail Away
Trident
Four Lobsters
All the Waves
Electric Shock

These baby blankets are all 30″ square when you meet gauge. Each pattern has a chart size of 121 x 121 and you begin with 60 windows when you do the interlocking crochet technique.

“Four Lobsters” on Ravelry

Four Lobsters

My mom grew up in Nova Scotia, Canada. The east coast of Canada does a lot of fishing and trapping of lobsters and crabs.

She had a tiny wooden (pretend) lobster trap that my sister and I liked to play with. We grew up in Saskatchewan which is all prairie, so there were no local lobster traps.

I always thought the nets looked cool and the traps were very clever – the lobsters can get in but they can’t get out.

https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Old-fashioned_lobster_trap,_Fishermen’s_Museum_at_Pemaquid,_Bristol,_Maine_-_20130917.JPG

Surprisingly, I was quite old before I finally learned that lobsters are generally black in the ocean and not bright red like cartoons would have me believe.

My son’s t-shirt; a smiling, red lobster, with the quote “feelin’ snappy”

This pattern, “Four Lobsters”, was originally going to be part of my Baby Ocean & Others eBook. But I knew some of you wouldn’t like the design as a “baby” blanket because it isn’t that “cute”. But I also know that some of you are not a fan of the “cutesy, cartoon” designs so I created a new eBook instead!

My tester has been waiting a few months for me to finally publish this! Nessa Miller used red as the Main Color and white as the Accent Color.

If you use the interlocking crochet technique then the Wrong Side is an inverted opposite type image (but not exactly opposite). If you use the overlay mosaic technique it will just be striped.

Get the Pattern

“Four Lobsters” on Etsy

October 15, 2021October 12, 2021

The eBook contains 6 patterns and saves you more than 30% compared to buying them individually.

One Octopus
To Sail Away
Trident
Four Lobsters
All the Waves
Electric Shock

These baby blankets are all 30″ square when you meet gauge. Each pattern has a chart size of 121 x 121 and you begin with 60 windows when you do the interlocking crochet technique.

Trident

I almost didn’t publish this pattern. My first few drafts were just dreadful. And then when I thought I managed to get it right I’d show someone and they would point out this or that and no matter how kind they were it was starting to really wear me down.

I have other drafts of patterns that have discouraged me and will never see the light of day. I am glad I decided to free this guy. My husband said the merman’s face reminds him of a Lego figurine.

I don’t know a lot about mythology but this guy was definitely based on King Triton from Disney’s The Little Mermaid. This king has a big shaggy beard, sexy biceps, and a lightning stick (a trident).

My tester, cyncitycrochets picked the perfect colors, in my opinion! If you use the interlocking crochet technique then the Wrong Side is an inverted opposite type image (but not exactly opposite). If you use the overlay mosaic technique it will just be striped.

Get the Pattern

“Trident” on Ravelry

“Trident” on Etsy

October 14, 2021October 12, 2021

The eBook contains 6 patterns and saves you more than 30% compared to buying them individually.

One Octopus
To Sail Away
Trident
Four Lobsters
All the Waves
Electric Shock

These baby blankets are all 30″ square when you meet gauge. Each pattern has a chart size of 121 x 121 and you begin with 60 windows when you do the interlocking crochet technique.

“To Sail Away” on Ravelry

To Sail Away

I don’t do a lot of boating here in Saskatchewan. We mostly have wheat fields. There are a few bodies of water that people use for recreation but it has never been a top interest of mine.

I don’t think this sailboat is going very fast because the water looks quite calm.

This black and blue interlocking crochet sample by cyncitycrochets shows the Wrong Side in the image above (the Right Side can be seen at the top of this post or scroll down to see her instagram post). I like how she equated it to the night sky in her instagram post. If you use the mosaic technique like Angela Kermack did then the back will just be striped.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Cynthia Llewellyn (@cyncitycrochet62814)

Get the Pattern

“To Sail Away” on Etsy

October 13, 2021October 13, 2021

The eBook contains 6 patterns and saves you more than 30% compared to buying them individually.

One Octopus
To Sail Away
Trident
Four Lobsters
All the Waves
Electric Shock

These baby blankets are all 30″ square when you meet gauge. Each pattern has a chart size of 121 x 121 and you begin with 60 windows when you do the interlocking crochet technique.

One Octopus

Yesterday I published a new eBook: More in the Ocean. This pattern, One Octopus, is probably my favorite one of the bunch!

I drew this while I was working on my previous eBook, Baby Ocean & Others. But this octopus doesn’t have the right cartoon quality to be considered a “baby” design, in my opinion.

After I double-checked that my octopus had eight legs I asked my 4-year-old son what he thought of my picture. He is our resident creature expert, especially ocean creatures, so I thought he would like my octopus drawing. He looked at it, seemed impressed, stated it’s a “colossal squid”, and walked away! So, I guess you can interpret it as a squid if you like.

My testers did a great job: Angela Kermack did the mosaic sample and Nessa Miller did the interlocking one. I love the red and cream one because it looks like what I was imagining in my head. For the interlocking crochet blanket Nessa used light blue as the Main Color for her piece. You can see on the wrong side that the bubbles become plus signs and the colors are mostly inverted.

Get the Pattern

“One Octopus” on Ravelry

“One Octopus” on Etsy

The eBook contains 6 patterns and saves you more than 30% compared to buying them individually.

One Octopus
To Sail Away
Trident
Four Lobsters
All the Waves
Electric Shock

These baby blankets are all 30″ square when you meet gauge. Each pattern has a chart size of 121 x 121 and you begin with 60 windows when you do the interlocking crochet technique.

October 12, 2021