This project has been ongoing for a while. I first fell in love with the Hello Deer Baby Blanket pattern by Little Doolally when I saw my lovely Instagram friend @littlecosythings (if you haven’t already followed her, you should – she’s so talented!) making one. I’d been itching to try tapestry crochet but hadn’t found a project which captured my imagination until spotting this one – it’s just adorable! My best friend had recently announced her second pregnancy so I decided this would be the perfect new baby gift.
I opted to use Caron Simply Soft yarn for the blanket – it’s Aran weight as recommended in the pattern but also hard wearing and I love their colour range. I used the following:
Chartreuse (green), Chocolate for the body, Light Country Blue for the main background colour, and small amounts of Off White and Victorian Rose. I also used some DK yarn for the nose, eyes and flower.
The chart in Little Doolally’s pattern is great and really easy to read and it was definitely one of those projects I couldn’t put down!
A few people have asked me to share how I did the fabric backing for this so here are my thoughts…though I think it would vary depending on the project and weight of yarn etc.
This pattern involved stranding the yarn across the back of the work as you work with the different colours – you can’t crochet over them as there’s often 2-3 colours in a row and it would end up being very thick and uneven in places. So while stranding is the best solution, the result is the wrong-side of the blanket needs covering – hence the fabric backing.
I’d been holding off doing this bit until I found out what my friend was having – and she had a little boy! So I opted for a white cotton fabric with blue stars. There are instructions included in Little Doolally’s pdf and I don’t want to give away her pattern but you need to fold over a hem and iron some sharp corners before pinning the fabric into place. I made mine bigger than recommended as I wanted it to sit closer to the border. I used a simple hand sewing stitch (technically overcast stitch) to attach it. Make sure you don’t pull the fabric taut – it will cause the blanket to pucker on the other side! I made this mistake and had to re-do it! Make sure the blanket and fabric are both lying flat when you’re pinning it into place.
I’ve used cotton but you could use flannel or fleece if you wanted – this blanket was quite thick already so I didn’t want to add bulk, which is why the cotton is perfect. I also pre-washed it to avoid future shrinkage.
And below is the finished blanket! It measures 22.5″x 19.5″ – the perfect size for a pram blanket or it could be used as a little playmat!
hollypips 