Baby Blankies And A New Stitch (For Me)

One of the girls at work is expecting her second baby.  That's the perfect excuse for me to make a couple of new crocheted blankets. I decided to make one for the baby enroute and one for her toddler daughter.

This first one is the one I made for the toddler. Obviously it's a simple granny square pattern.

I made it five squares across and seven squares up and down. The white is the sparkly white, though the pictures don't really show it. I tried out a new edging technique that I had tried before but never quite understood, until now.  It's called a "piquot" stitch.  I like how it gives a sweet little ruffley look to the edge.

For the new baby's blanket I used a brand new (to me) stitch. It goes by several names; Bavarian stitch, Catherine's Wheel, Wool Eater, and Yarn Eater. I saw several pictures of blankets in this stitch and loved it but when I tried it out I just couldn't "get" it from the printed instructions. I watched a couple videos on You Tube and finally one of them worked for me and I was finally able to duplicate the pattern properly.

For the border on this blankie I used the sparkly black in a single crochet. 

I apologize for the poor pictures.  When I finished the blankets I was so excited to get them to my coworker I totally forgot to take pictures at home.  After I got to work I realized I had forgotten to photograph them and ended up taking some rather poor quality photos at work with my phone.  Adding to my predicament was that I had to take the pictures on the sly.  We aren't really supposed to use our phones at work.  Fortunately it was near closing time and the head cashier was closing some registers in another area.  I draped the blankets across the counter at my register to take the pictures.

The best thing of all was they didn't really cost me anything to make. I was able to make both blankets using yarn I already had!

So now I'm working on another of the yarn eater patterned afghans using the beautiful (and pricey) variegated yarn I like (the Red Heart Boutique Treasure in Abstract). So far I have six double rows and have used up two balls at $6.99/ea.  For comparisons sake the above baby blankie is 10 double rows. I'll let you know how it goes.