Merry's Crocheted ABC Blanket

I've been so blessed to have met such nice people from all parts of this country and around the world since I began publishing Hooked On Needles just over a year ago. Merry, my self-professed Biggest Fan, is one of those people. She's pretty new at crocheting and has made some wonderful things. Her thoughtful questions on patterns and how to do certain stitches on the Knittinghelp.com forum have been the inspiration for a few of my video tutorials. But for the most part, she picks up her yarn and hook and just goes for it. What an inspiration!

Merry just recently sent me a picture of a newly finished project for her granddaughter who will be 4 years old in a few months, and she gave me permission to publish the picture here for you all to see.


Don't you think that is the perfect afghan for a 4 year old? Now she can learn her ABCs in her sleep!

If you would like the pattern for this blanket, you can find it HERE. The puff stitch that is used in this pattern to make the grid lines and the letters is similar to the bobble stitch I used on the Cherry Berry Oddball Blanket, but not exactly the same. I will work up a little sample of the stitch from the ABC pattern and post a video soon so you can see just how it is done.

Nice job, Merry, and thank you so much for allowing me to share this fabulous picture of you and your blanket with my readers!

Happy Stitching!

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Learn to Crochet - Cherry Berry Bobble Stitch Border Video Tutorial

These oddball baby blankets can become addictive! I have been the last knitter and also the border crocheter on several in the past few weeks and I've been having lots of fun with new patterns and stitches and pretty yarns. When I shared the pattern for the Hurdle Stitch recently, I had been working on the blanket called Cherry Berry which is a preemie blanket and worked in sport weight yarn in pinks and reds.

The border I worked on Cherry Berry is one that I made up for this blanket, although I am sure there are many similar to it out there. There was just a little touch of red in one of the yarns, so I chose for the border the red yarn I had left over from Jersey Devil and a garter stitch rainbow blanket I started with the same needles. And since it is called Cherry Berry, I felt it necessary to make something in the border look like a cherry or a berry. This is what I came up with...


It's a scalloped border with a bobble right in the middle of each scallop. Bobble Stitch is fun to do and can be found in both knitting and crochet. It is used in afghans, sweaters, hats, anywhere you would want a 3-dimensional effect.


Before I worked the last row of Bobble Stitch scallops, I first crocheted around the blanket two times in single crochet. On the second round and the scallop round, I worked my stitches into the back loop only which is what forms the pretty parallel lines of red along the border.


Here you can see the section of blanket that I worked in Hurdle Stitch with the border already on it. When I was first working up the pattern for this border, I tried putting the bobbles in all different arrangements. First I tried doing a bobble in every stitch, but that was just too much bobble in too little space. Then I tried spacing them out by working one or two double crochets between each bobble, but that was not very attractive. Then I thought how nice it would be to have a bobble in the middle of a scallop. I love scallop borders on afghans and baby blankets, just like the one I did on Tutti Frutti. Plain and simple, but elegant at the same time.

So here is a little video showing how to do this Bobble Stitch Border just like I used on Cherry Berry. Actually, I must be honest, the video is not very little! It is longer than any of my others, but when I was editing it, I tried to think of what information I should cut out. I decided that sometimes more is better, so I hope you can forgive me for being so long winded and find some useful information here.




Here is the pattern written out for you:

Bobble Stitch Scallop

*Single crochet, half double crochet, bobble, half double crochet, single crochet, slip stitch.* Repeat from * to * around the blanket. End with slip stitch near first scallop.

Bobble: (yo, insert hook into stitch, yo and draw loop through stitch, yo and draw through two loops on hook) 7 times. Yo and draw loop through all 8 loops on hook. Chain stitch.

Happy Stitching!

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