I wanted to design and make my own baby blanket, but I’m still pretty new to designing my own patterns.  I searched through my “The Crochet Stitch Bible” and looked for a stitch to make the base of my blanket.  I ended up selecting the filet squares stitch.  I like the simple look of the stitch and there is not a lot of lace for tiny fingers and toes to get struck in, but enough small holes to add some venting for a summer blanket.  If you pick up The Crochet Stitch Bible it includes the charts as well as the written pattern for the filet squares stitch.

Filet Squares Baby Blanket

Materials:

• G (4.00 mm) Hook
• 4 skeins worsted weight yarn (I used Yarn Bee Soft Secret Ombre Whisper)
• 1 skein worsted weight yarn in a contrasting color for the border (I used Peter Pan Cupcake)
• Yarn Needle
• Scissors

Instructions:

Chain 130

Row 1:  dc in 4th chain from the hook, 1 dc in next 5 chains, * [chain 1, skip next chain, dc in next chain] 3 times, 1 dc in the next 6 chains, repeat from * across.

Will end with 11 groups of 7 dcs and 10 groups of (skip, dc, skip, dc, skip).

Row 2:  Chain 3 (counts as first dc), turn, dc in the next 6 dcs, * [chain 1, skip space, dc in next dc] 3 times, dc in next 6 dcs, repeat from * across.

Will end with 11 groups of 7 dcs and 10 groups of (skip, dc, skip, dc, skip).

Row 3:  Repeat Row 2

Will end with 11 groups of 7 dcs and 10 groups of (skip, dc, skip, dc, skip).

Row 4:  Chain 4, skip 1 dc, dc in next dc, [chain 1, skip dc, dc in next dc] 2 times, *dc in the next space, dc in next dc, dc in next space, dc in next dc, dc in next space, dc in next dc = 6 dcs, [chain 1, skip dc, dc in next dc] 3 times, repeat from * across.

Will end with 11 groups of (skip, dc, skip, dc, skip) and 10 groups of 7 dcs.

Row 5: Chain 4, skip space, dc in next dc, [chain 1, skip space, dc in next dc] 2 times, *dc in the next 6 dcs, [chain 1, skip space, dc in next dc] 3 times, repeat from * across.

Will end with 11 groups of (skip, dc, skip, dc, skip) and 10 groups of 7 dcs.

Row 6: Repeat Row 5

Will end with 11 groups of (skip, dc, skip, dc, skip) and 10 groups of 7 dcs.

Row 7:  Chain 3 (counts as first dc), turn, dc in the next  space, dc in next dc, dc in next space, dc in next dc, dc in next space, dc in next dc = 6 dcs, * [chain 1, skip dc, dc in next dc] 3 times, dc in next dc, dc in the next space, dc in next dc, dc in next space, dc in next dc, dc in next space, dc in next dc = 6 dcs, repeat from * across.

Will end with 11 groups of 7 dcs and 10 groups of (skip, dc, skip, dc, skip).

Row 8:  Chain 3 (counts as first dc), turn, dc in the next 6 dcs, * [chain 1, skip space, dc in next dc] 3 times, dc in next 6 dcs, repeat from * across.

Will end with 11 groups of 7 dcs and 10 groups of (skip, dc, skip, dc, skip).

Row 9:  Repeat Row 8.

Will end with 11 groups of 7 dcs and 10 groups of (skip, dc, skip, dc, skip).

The pattern will start to look like the following grid.  My pattern ends with solid squares on each corner.

Repeat Rows 4 through 9 for 10 more times.  Will have 69 rows total.  Tie off.

I made the border solid and thick because I love the softness of the cupcake yarn that I used and I wanted a very soft thick border on the blanket.  If you can, add a soft fuzzy yarn for the border.

Join with contrasting yarn on the left edge of the blanket and add an sc border around the entire blanket (see round 1 for details).

Round 1:  Add 138 scs along the side of the blanket (I added 2 stitches per dc or 2 per row), turn to bottom of blanket and sc 127 across, add 138 sc along the right edge of the blanket (2 per row), add 127 sc across the top edge of blanket.

Round 2:  chain 4 (counts as first tc), tc in each sc around (add 3 tcs at each corner for the turns), join with slip stitch to top of 4 chain.

Round 3:  chain 4 (counts as first tc), tc in each tc around (add 3 tcs at each corner for the turns), join with slip stitch to top of 4 chain, tie off.

Weave in ends.

The finished product has a simple, classic look.  To be honest, I’m not crazy at how the yarn coloring turned out.  I didn’t like the color changing in this yarn, too splotchy, but once I got into the blanket I didn’t want to start over.  Plus, I liked the neutrality of these colors for a baby blanket, so I stuck it out.  Oliver seems to like it just fine, anyway.