Random Pattern Find - Daisy Granny Square

I started this little blanket late last night after one rough day as a momma. After several hours last night and then several hours this morning I had an adorable little baby blanket to show for the work! 

This pattern (found HERE) was designed by Lauren at Daisy Cottage Designs and what a design it is! It worked up quickly and thrilled my three year old little girl. She even played a key part in helping with the blanket! 

When I picked the colors I would use, I picked scrap yarn... which is another great thing about this pattern, it is perfect for some stash busting!... and the purple had only a few inches left as I finished the last purple square. As I started on the border I used yellow... then the blue... and realized if I did the border in all four colors it would look perfect!! But I had run out of purple. I felt in my heart (if you crochet as much as I do you know what this means) that the purple was NOT gone. It was somewhere. If I had used it all... I would know it! After all, I had just made a design of my own last week using this yarn! And I didn't run out!

So, I recruited my husband to help me find it but our efforts did not reap a reward. So I start trimming all the ends figuring I would just explain to you all how amazing it would be with all four colors in the border and hope you all could imagine what I knew would have been amazing. 

However, right before I grabbed my camera to start doing the pictures my three year old runs up to me "MOM, MOM!!! I found it... your purple is right here!!" and low and behold it was right there! It was in a separate container that my husband shoves all of my projects in. The butt forgot he put it there :p It was such an exciting mommy and daughter moment for us because it was the first time she HELPED me find something. She was so darn excited. I am just swelling up with momma pride over here. Plus she found the yarn I knew was not gone but lost so it was an extra happy moment... like the prodigal son had returned or something lol. 

Anyways, I start the pink part of the border so the purple can be last and as I'm starting on the last edge I realize my pink ball is running dangerously low. Like... I started getting anxious. If you've ever run a marathon and you're right behind the person in first place and you just need a little more to get past him... I imagine it feels similar to that... I don't know because I prefer to crochet rather then run marathons. Anyways... it was a terrifying moment. What if I didn't have enough pink??! All of that work for nothing. Finding the purple... for nothing. It would have been disasterous. But something amazing happened!

I had JUST enough. Literally. Like, I didn't even have to trim the pink because so little was left. It was... scary. 

As I recap over all of this I realize I might be in the wrong field because crochet is supposed to be relaxing and this was not relaxing. :p 

Anyways... I guess I should get to the pattern now. The only change I made to this pattern was instead of a ch 2 between the petals I did a ch 3. For whatever reason, (perhaps my tension) it was curling really bad with just a ch 2. So I did a ch 3 and it worked perfect. Perfect I tell you!

Then I did a simple shell border. I did a close up of it so you can kind of see how I did it. :) This blanket worked up quickly and I wish I'd had the material and time to make it larger! In fact, I might go back and make another one with specific material. It really is that great of a pattern. :p 

Cotton Candy Spinwheels Baby Blanket

Hook: 7 – 4.5 (a G hook but verify the number)

Material: Martha Stewart Crafts Extra Soft Wool Blend

Gauge: (non-essential)

Hints & Tips:

-          Ch 1 doesn’t count as a stitch

-          When doing round 2, the 2^nd fpdc goes in front of the 1^st fpdc

-          When you do the squares with all three colors, you will start off with color B and C, alternating them in the first round and then only putting a color B fpdc around a color B and a color C around a color C

-          I will be releasing a video for this square in the next few days which I will use to show you where the third loop is in the stitch so you can complete the square correctly.
-     I recommend the yarn I do because of the color options and how darn soft the material is. It makes an absolutely perfect baby blanket! Lion Brand has the absolute best customer service I think I've ever exerienced. The first three rolls of yarn I purchased had some problems towards the middle. I contacted Lion Brand and not even a week later I had all three colors arrive at my door step. It was absolutely fantastic.
-     For the size I made, I used about 8 rolls, four of which were white.

Special stitches:
      -     half Trbc - YO twice, insert hook into stitch, YO, pull up a loop, YO, pull through two loops on                   hook, YO, pull over remaining loops on hook - with a trbc you will YO and pull through two loops               three times, but with the half, you only YO twice.

Color A:  white

Color B: pink

Color C: blue

With color A

Round 1) Using magic circle, ch 1, dc 12, pull tight, join to first dc with sl st – 12 dc

Round 2) Ch 1, 2 fpdc around every st, join to first fpdc with sl st – 24 dc

Round 3) Ch 1, *fpdc around next 2 st, change to color B (or C), dc in between last fpdc and next fpdc, change to color A* around, join to first dc with sl st – 36 dc

Round 4) Ch 1, *fpdc around next 2 st, change to color B (or C), dc in between fpdc and dc, dc in between dc and next fpdc, change to color A* around, join to first dc with sl st – 48 dc

Round 5) Ch 1, *fpdc around next 2 st, change to color B (or C), dc in next dc, dc in between dc and next dc, dc in next dc, change to color A*, around, join to first dc with sl st – 60 dc

Round 6) Working in 3^rd loop only: ch 1, dc in next 2 st, *half trbc in next st, 2 trbc… ch 2… 2 trbc all in next st, dc in next 2 st, hdc in next 2 st, sc in next 4 st, hdc in next 2 st, dc in next 2 st, half trbc in next st* repeat to end, join to first dc with sl st

To join:

 Face squares right sides together, working in the back loops only (so the front will be visible when you finish), join with a ch 1 in the 2^nd ch of a corner, sl st all the way down the squares to the other 2^nd ch of a corner. Once all the squares are into rows, repeat these instructions but with the rows.

Edging:

Round 1) With color A - Join in any corner with a ch 1, work in 3^rd loop only - *2 sc, ch 1, 2 sc  in corner, sc in every st across* repeat around blanket, join to first sc with sl st

Round 2) Repeat round 1 with color B

These next instructions are not specific because depending on the size of your blanket you will end up with a different stitch count then I did.

Round 3) In corner: working in 3^rd loop only - sc, ch 1, sc – between corners, shell stitch – 5 dc in next st, skip next 2 st, sc in next st, skip next 2 st across and then repeat corner and shell instructions all the way around.

Round 4) 1 sc in every corner – Shell (5 dc in 1 st) in every sc and 1 sc in every 3^rd st of every shell, join to first st with sl st and tie off

Placement:

I made a 7 square long by 6 square wide baby blanket. I did not measure the exact dimensions of the blanket as I was making it as a gift for a baby shower that got planned a bit sooner due to the mommy to be moving. I used the squares requiring three colors for the outside long edges of the blanket and then alternated the squares requiring two colors on the inside. Really, you can do whatever you want with this design because it will look beautiful regardless!