Granny Square Doll Blanket

I have an amazing group of friends who donate doll blankets, clothes, and accessories every year for the donation and since I've added the baby doll snuggle snacks and the larger doll sleeping bags I haven't been making as many doll blankets.

Both these are projects that I can take with me when I have appointments or I'm going some place where I'll be sitting for a bit.

However, I found myself having finished with those items and time to work on blankets. I started with my seed stitch go to pattern but it was fighting me and I decided not to fight back. At some point I'll return to the blanket and figure out where I'm going wrong but I need a stress free blanket project and the giant granny seems to work. I finished this one and am about half way through a second one.

Easy Peasy Doll Blanket for 2021

I have some wonderful friends at Crochetville who send me doll blankets each year for the doll donation. However, I still make a few to add to the supply each year. They are relaxing projects and a great way to target yarn I want to finish off from my stash. This Lion Brand Yarn Ice Cream Yarn, Tutti Frutti has been hanging out in my stash for some time.

I always end up buying more than I think I'll need for a project and when I was done with the baby blanket I made with this purchase the remainder went to live in my stash. I finished off a ball and have another ball I started on but recently I thought I saw another skein hiding out. That being said a dent has been made and another doll blanket is ready to go out with this year's donation.

I used the Easy Peasy Seed Stitch doll blanket pattern from Annabelle' Afghans set which you can purchase here. I used an I hook for this project.

I just started the Tisket a Tasket pattern for my next doll afghan. I keep a doll blanket as a "travel" project. I don't travel much these days but I do find if I have to wait in the car before going into an appointment or I'm on a zoom call these are easy patterns to work on while waiting.

The one adjustment I made this time around is to list the stitch count in my phone notes so I didn't have to carry the pattern with me at all times. In the car it was easier to check my phone for the stitch count than it was to reach down and dig through the bag to find the pattern and read the notes about the stitch count for the row. I don't remember stitch counts when I haven't seen a project for a while so a quick refresher maximizes the time I work on the project.

Easy Peasy Baby Doll Afghan

When I ran out of yarn for the post stitch afghan I remembered I had another purple ball of the same kind of baby yarn in my stash, the problem it was a slightly different shade of purple and they didn't go together well. So after finishing that blanket it was time to attack the second big ball of baby yarn with another baby doll blanket and continue to grow the supply of blankets I have for the donation for this year.

I wanted to try something with a different pattern and texture so returning to Annabelle's Doll Afghan's which can be purchased here I chose her Easy Peasy doll blanket. I've made this blanket many times over the years as it works up quickly.

This is a seed stitch afghan and one of the reasons this is a favorite pattern of mine is for the most part the pattern comes out evenly at the end if you've counted correctly. I still check my stitch count every so many rows as I did pick up a stitch at one point and had to pull out the row in order make the number of stitches count correctly. However for the most part when you make a mistake you end up with the wrong stitch at the end of a row unless like me you add a stitch helping it to come out even.

In the past I've made this blanket with variegated yarn but I was pleasantly surprised with how nice the pattern emerged on a single color. The texture made for a very pretty doll blanket. I was able to continue my quest for using up orphan yarns by using the same baby yarn to trim this blanket as I'd used on the other blanket. I'm determined to finish off that skein as it is one of those skeins that isn't really large enough to complete a project on its own but not small enough that these little tasks have killed it off yet either.

Post Stitch Baby Doll Afghan

Every year I promise myself I'll do something about the ever growing and aging stash of yarn in my spare bedroom. I do get rid of some of it every year but at the end of the year I realize I haven't done as well as I need to to make any real dent in the problem. During the Christmas break I started targeting yarn that could be used up on specific projects. I had these huge round balls of baby sport yarn I'd bought years ago thinking I could use them for Barbie projects. When they didn't work out they got boxed and pulled out occasionally for small projects but it takes quite a bit to "finish off" one of these huge balls.

So I began putting them to use. I made one doll blanket and still had what I thought was sufficient yarn for a second. That turned out to be overalls optimistic. I started out making the Post Stitch pattern from Annabelle's Doll Afghans patterns which can be purchased here. The pattern does call for white trim, but I needed to also add white and start using up and orphan skein of vareigated baby yarn for trim in order to finish it all off. I rather like this blanket and it was a great way to clean out some yarn that needed to go. It is also one more blanket done for the donation finished before the New Year even had begun.

Doll Blanket

I've been reading lots of posts lately about crocheting in public or do you take your crocheting with you. Well I do. I'm not good at waiting with nothing to do. I will sometimes bring a book or my Kindle to read, but depending on what I'm waiting for I can find it hard to concentrate on reading. I do find simple crochet projects work well during these times.

The challenge is sometimes I'm working on projects that don't "travel" well. Sometimes it's because the project needs to be fitted to a doll. I won't travel with a doll. They are heavy, awkward to manage in public, and let's be honest it just draws unnecessary attention. Sometimes I'm working on projects that need to be sewn together and that isn't something I enjoy doing when I might have to stop unexpectedly to move. I also can't count on having a place to lay out complicated directions so having a project with fairly simple directions and repeats is an ideal travel project.

Last fall when I was working on the Big Sister project I came across a perfect project that met my needs. The Little Angel Layette had an accompanying blanket which I didn't need for the Big Sister project as I'd already made a blanket for the doll. However, the pattern was perfect for my travel requirements. At the time I started this the fall I didn't have any projects on my hooks suitable for travel. I needed something I could take with me that would be simple to work and made me feel I was accomplishing something while I was dealing with wait times.

The day before an appointment in the middle of December I pulled this out and measured it against an 18" doll and realized it had reached the length I needed for it to be included in the doll donation. I finished it off. I was working on a doll changing pad at the time so that met the requirements for a simple travel project. I didn't start another doll blanket right away but there will be another one there soon I'm sure as it is nice to have a project with no deadline.

Technically I could have pushed and finished this blanket for the 2019 donation but I had plenty of blankets for the 2019 donation and this gave me a low pressure project finished for 2020. I've enjoyed having a project that doesn't have a deadline. I worked on it only when I was "traveling" and left it alone when I was home until it was time to finish it off.

Tisket Tasket Doll Blanket

As I was working on the Down on the Farm Baby Blanket I found I needed a couple of projects that were simple and easy to travel with which definitely wasn't the Farm blanket. After making the blanket for the Big Sister project I decided it would be fun to make a few. This one is the Tisket Tasket pattern from Annabelle's Doll Blanket Pattern set that can be purchased here.

Baby Doll Carrier and Blanket

I've been making good progress on the doll project, I'm just now catching up on making the posts. The doll carrier is one I make frequently and you can find the free pattern here.

I've been fortunate the last few years and do to the generosity of online friends I haven't had to make many baby blankets for the doll donation. I've had lots of donations that have covered the need. It was interesting to get back to making doll blankets. This comes from my favorite doll blanket pattern set which can be purchased here. This pattern is the Easy Peasy Afghan in the Annabelle's Afghan set.

My favorite part of working on this project was the color of the blanket. It was so bright and cheerful it was a joy to make.

Thankful Thursday: Crochet Hamburger and Fries

Once again I am thankful for thoughtful members of Crochetville who continue to support Aztec wishes Holiday Toy Drive. Saturday I received a package from another Crochetville Fairy Godmother with a hamburger with lots of condiments and fries. She also sent a beautiful granny square doll blanket for the toy drive.

Square Doll Blanket

Another Crochetville Fairy Godmother has come through with a doll blanket for my doll donation project.

I love the color and softness of this yarn. There are going to be some warm and comfy dolls this Christmas.

A Tisket A Tasket Doll Blanket

As I mentioned in a previous post I decided to get the 18 inch doll donation blankets out of the way while I was dealing with a head cold. I had enough energy to focus on counting, although I still had to go back and pull out when I lost count, but it was better than the challenge of trying to focus on making items fit. Blankets once wide enough, usually aren't a problem with dolls if you follow the pattern.

This is another Michelle Crean pattern and it came from Crochet 2016 Day-to-Day Calendar that I received for Christmas this year. There were several doll patterns this year, but this by far made putting the calendar on my Christmas wish list worth it. I now have two great doll blanket patterns in my pattern list.

I love the Easy Peasy pattern I wrote about a few days ago. However, after making two last year, I got a little burned out. I started this one first finished a skein and started on the Easy Peasy afghan and kept alternating until the Easy Peasy afghan was finished. Then it was just a matter of finishing off this one. Alternating the types of stitches I was doing made it much more fun to complete. I'm actually thinking about knocking off the doll afghans in my down time that always hits me when I can't make doll clothes. These were fun, easy, relaxing projects. They might be the distraction I need and something to put aside for another donation.

I did change the materials and hook size on this pattern too. I used 4 skeins of Red Heart Super Saver and and I hook for the project and I measured the length against the doll to get the size blanket I wanted for the doll.

Easy Peasy Doll Afghan

I love finding a pattern that you can make, enjoy, and repeat. Last year I found Michelle Crean's Easy Peasy Doll blanket pattern in the 2015 Crochet Calendar and made two for last year's donation. This year it was one of the first patterns I pulled out of my doll pattern binder to repeat.

I had nasty head cold and decided blankets required little more than counting to make sure the pattern would turn into the intended object. Doll clothes require trying on and making sure the items fit. So I opted for blankets. I actually started two blankets at about the same time, finishing this one first.

I changed the pattern using an I hook and Red Heart Super Saver. I tried the suggested yarn last year and with my tension the blankets were too small and I ended up using I Love this Yarn and Red Heart Super Saver for the 18 Inch doll blankets I made. It took me just barely 3 skeins to finish it off all in one color. If I'd used a contrasting color I probably could have used two skeins of the variegated and one of the contrasting color.