Hugs and Kisses Stroller Blanket

It’s mid-July and true to the promise I made myself in May, I have bought no new yarn! I found a large stash of light-worsted baby yarns in a box and I’ve been making baby blankets with hats and booties. After I finished the Granny Sampler Stroller Blanket, I was inspired by the row of bobbles to create a dainty blanket of my own design.

The blanket measures 25″L x 18″W but can be made wider by adding rows or longer by adding X’s. Two additional foundation chains will be needed for each X. An additional row of bobbles would also look nice!

Using four colors, I had many tails to weave in, but I think the overall effect of the colors was worth the effort. I stitched over each tail and used the tapestry needle to weave it back to edge and covered those ends with the edging stitches. This blanket would look striking in a single color, as well, or with a touch of contrast where Color C is indicated.

Hugs & Kisses Stroller Blanket

• Light-worsted weight baby yarn in 4 colors (A,B,C, and D). I used Bernat Softee yarn I had on hand, so a single skein of comparable yarn in each color will be more than enough to make the blanket as directed.
• 4.00 mm and 4.5 mm tapered steel crochet hooks
• tapestry needle

Abbreviations:

• ch – chain
• sc – single crochet
• dc – double crochet
• sl – slip stitch
• RS – right side
• WS – wrong side

Special Stitches:

• X-Stitch:  skip sc, dc in following sc, working across dc work a dc from the back of the skipped sc to create an “X.” Here’s a quick X-Stitch Video Tutorial.
• 4-DC Bobble Stitch (bs): yarn over, insert hook in sc, pull up a loop, yarn over and pull up through two loops (2 loops on hook), *yarn over, insert hook in same stitch, pull up a loop, yarn over and pull up through two loops, repeat from * 2 more times (5 loops on hook), yarn over, pull up a loop and pull through all 5 loops. Here is a photo 4-DC Bobble Stitch Tutorial.

Blanket

With color A and larger crochet hook ch 97

Row 1 (RS): sc the second foundation chain and in all chaines across – 96 sc

Row 2 (WS): ch 2 and turn, dc in the first sc, X-stitch across to the last sc, dc in the last dc – 2 dc + 47 Xs, 96 dc total

Row 3 (RS): ch 1 and turn, sc in the first sc and in all sc across, fasten off and turn – 96 sc

Row 4 (WS): with color B, sc in each sc across, fasten off and turn – 96 sc

Row 5 (RS): with color C, sc in each sc across – 96 sc

Repeat rows 2 – 5, alternating colors A and C until there are 9 repeats of each color and 8 rows of color B, 64 rows total

Row 65 (RS): with color C, sc in each sc across – 96 sc

Row 66 (WS): ch 2 and turn, dc in the first sc, X-stitch across to the last sc, dc in the last dc – 2 dc + 47 Xs, 96 dc total

Row 67 (RS): ch 1 and turn, sc in the first sc and in all sc across, fasten off – 96 sc

Edging

Row 1 (RS): with color C, in right corner of the top (short side) of the blanket *(sc, ch1, sc), sc in each row with 2 sc in each dc (84 sc  total), (sc, ch1, sc) in corner, sc in each sc across (96 total), repeat from * sl in beginning sc and fasten off – 360 sc + 4 ch-1 spaces

Row 2 (RS): with color B, in right corner of the top (short side) of the blanket *(sc, ch1, sc), sc in each row with 2 sc in each dc (86 sc  total), (sc, ch1, sc) in corner, sc in each sc across (98 total), repeat from * sl in beginning sc and fasten off – 368 sc + 4 ch-1 spaces

Row 3 (RS): with color A, in right corner of the top (short side) of the blanket *(sc, ch1, sc), sc in each row with 2 sc in each dc (88 sc  total), (sc, ch1, sc) in corner, sc in each sc across (100 total), repeat from * sl in beginning sc and fasten off- 376 sc + 4 ch-1 spaces

Row 4 (RS): with color C, in  right corner of the top (short side) of the blanket *(sc, ch1, sc), sc in each row with 2 sc in each dc (90 sc  total), (sc, ch1, sc) in corner, sc in each sc across (102 total), repeat from * sl in beginning sc and fasten off – 384 sc + 4 ch-1 spaces

Row 5 (WS): with D, in right corner of the top (short side) of the blanket **(2 sc, ch 1 sc) in corner ch-1 space, sc in the next 2 sc, *bs in next sc, sc in next 3 sc * , repeat from * to * 20 more times, bs in next sc, sc in next sc, (2 sc, ch 1, sc) in corner ch-1 space, repeat from * to * 24 times, bs in next sc, sc in next sc,** repeat from ** sl in beginning sc and fasten off – 22 bs and 71 sc on each short side and 25 bs on each long side and 80 sc (396 st + 4 ch-1 spaces)

This row can be tricky if (like my first attempt) you miscount your edging stitches. Add or reduce bobbles and single crochet stitches to achieve an even look that suits you. Just be sure to ch-1 space in each corner.

Row 6 (RS): with color C, work on sc in each st around and 3 sc in each ch-1 space, fasten off

    

This is my very first effort at creating a readable pattern, and I am so pleased with the results! If you’ve found errors or have any questions, please let me know in the comments. And if you make your own, I’d love to see a picture!

You can find more of my work at Crochet for Baby.