Free Crochet Baby Blanket Pattern for beginners

Please note that some of the links in my blog are affiliate links. I may earn a small commission if you purchase via these links, but the price you pay is not affected

The Kate Baby Blanket | Sunflower Cottage Crochet

Today's guest designer is a close friend who specialises in creating beautiful crochet projects for beginners. Alongside her generosity of sharing this pattern (and some corresponding patterns too), she also hosts the Preemie Crochet Challenge where all profits raised are donated to her local NICU.

The challenge encourages people to commit to making crochet projects that they can donate to their own local facilities - It's a wonderful event and will be back again in June on the Sunflower Cottage Crochet website.

Before I harp on about how fabulous Helen is, I'll hand over this post to Helen to properly introduce herself and share her baby blanket pattern with us:

Hi there! I’m Helen and I am the designer behind Sunflower Cottage Crochet. I am thrilled that Fiona wanted me to be a guest designer here. Crochet became ‘my thing’ when I was 14. My mum taught me how to make very simple granny squares with DC so I would make loads of them while revising for exams to give my hands and eyes something to do while I repeated dates etc over and over.

I have been married to my husband, Richard for 7.5 years (although we have been together for almost 24!) and we have a sassy 10 year old daughter. Like Fiona, I am a dog person and currently have 2 – Hugo, a 3 year old great dane (we call him Hugs) and Annie, a recently rescued border collie (a.k.a the Whirlwind).

In 2018 I pretty much fell into designing when I was asked to design something for a group I helped moderate for another designer. This became my Mixed Toffee Cowl. Then in 2019 I was asked to become a designer in Sunflower Cottage Crochet. The rest, as they say, is history.



 I design timeless crochet patterns for you, your family and your home. 2022 will see me concentrating on designing more garments and afghans with other home dec and accessories patterns sprinkled in along the way.

Today I am sharing my Kate baby blanket pattern with you.

It is part of the Kate Collection, named after one of my sisters. If you love the texture of this stitch combination used in this pattern, I have created a whole collection which includes a crochet wrap, beanie, scarf, cup cosy, and baby bonnet that also  feature the same stitches.

The Kate baby bonnet came about as an accident; I was designing my Kate baskets, playing around with different weights of yarn and the DK and Aran weight yarns started screaming baby bonnet to me.

For the first time ever, I simply had to put aside one design idea to start another. Of course, once the bonnet pattern was finished, I had to make a corresponding baby blanket to match!

You can find The Kate Bonnet pattern included in the printable PDF for the baby blanket linked below, and the bonnet pattern is written for sizes preemie through to 12 months.

You can purchase the printable pdf version of both patterns with an exclusive discount to celebrate the launch of my guest post with 30% off in my Ravelry shop using the coupon code COSYROSIE until 11:59pm 27^th March 2022. Simply click the button below.

Purchase the Printable PDF Pattern

You can grab a copy of the printable crochet pattern for both the Kate Blanket & Bonnet Set designed by Sunflower Cottage Crochet by simply clicking the link below.

Free Crochet Baby Blanket Pattern for Beginners

Skill Level: Advanced Beginner

Materials:

• Approximately 600 yards of DK (#3 weight) yarn
• 4mm hook
• Stitch markers to mark first and last stitches (optional)
• Scissors

Abbreviations: US terms (UK in brackets)

St(s)                              Stitches

Ch                                  Chain

MR                                 Magic Ring (adjustable ring)

Sc (Dc)                         Single crochet (Double Crochet)

HDc (HTr)                    Half Double Crochet (Half Treble Crochet)

Sl St                               Slip stitch

Sp                                  Space or bridge made out of multiple ch’s between stitches

Sk                                  Skip

FPDc (FPTr)               Front post Double Crochet

BPDc (BDTr)              Front post Double Crochet

BLO                               Work stitch into back loop only

Alt CH3                       Alternative chain 3 (see special stitches on how to use this)

Gauge:

• Is not important for the blanket as you can adjust width of blanket by increasing the number of repeats until you get the desired with. (See sizing information below on how to adjust the stitches to increase the width)

Finished Size:

• 30 x 35 inches

To increase the width of the blanket, increase your starting chain by multiples of 6

Pattern Notes:

• Whatever your skill level with crochet, I always recommend reading through this pattern before beginning. Get in touch if you need any help completing the pattern.
• The pattern is made rows.
• Chain 1, Ch2 and Ch3 does count as a stitch unless specifically stated.

Special Stitches

Alt Ch3 (Alternative chain 3) - This is a way of starting the row without using a ch3 to prevent the gappy look at the edges of your blanket.

At the beginning of your next row, turn your work, sc into the first st and then ch2. This counts as a stitch.

How to make this crochet baby blanket pattern

Row 1: Fhdc 175 (or any multiple of 6 plus 1) or Ch177 and hdc in third ch from hook and each chain across (or any multiple of 6 plus 3 to get the desired height) (175)

Row 2: Alt ch3, sk 2 sts, [2dc, ch1, 2dc] in next st, *sk2, fpdc in the next st, sk2, [2dc, ch1, 2dc] in next st. Rep from * to end--end with a dc in final stitch.

Row 3: Turn, alt ch3 (counts as a st), *in the next ch1 sp (2dc, ch1, 2dc), sk the next 2 sts, bpdc around the post of the next dc *. Rep from * to * until you work into the last ch1 sp of the row. Dc in top of the turning chain from previous row.

Row 4: Turn, alt ch3 (counts as a st), *in the next ch1 sp (2dc, ch1, 2dc), sk the next 2 sts, fpdc around the post of the next dc *. Rep from * to * until you work into the last ch1 sp of the row. Dc in top of the turning chain from previous row.

Rows 5-72: Repeat rows 3 and 4 until you reach the desired length.

Row 73: Alt ch2 (which is a sc and one ch) in the first st, hdc in each st and ch1 sp across. FO and weave in ends.

I hope you have enjoyed making this pattern as much as I did designing it.

It would be really great if you would share with me your Kate baby blankets! I love to see what twists crocheters put on my patterns, and how using different colours and yarns can give a project a completely different feel!

A huge thank you to Sunflower Cottage Crochet for sharing her beautiful pattern with us to create our own Crochet Baby Blanket. Don't forget that you can purchase the printable PDF of the Kate Baby Blanket, which includes a copy of the corresponding Bonnet here:

Ravelry - take 30% off with the coupon code COSYROSIE until 27th March 2022

Etsy

If you've enjoyed this pattern, why not find out more about this designer. You can find them here:

• Blog
• Instagram
• Facebook

*This pattern and its images are copyright protected and the sole property of Fiona Field/Cosy Rosie UK 2022. Please do not redistribute, transfer, sell the pattern, or alter it to claim as your own. *