Rainbow Baby Blanket

Last January, a new little nephew showed up and it is my intention that all new members of the family receive a handmade item from me.*  Since he was arriving in January in Iowa and would be living in an old farmhouse about a half-mile outside of town, I decided whatever I made would need to be very warm.  Enter the Rainbow Ripple Baby Blanket (ravelry link), made in Cascade 128 superwash.  It's been awhile since I crocheted a blanket, but the pattern was easy and uses double crochet which is what my fingers naturally want to make whenever I crochet for some reason.  

My ripple blanket, often
co-opted by Cate or the cat.

The Ripple blanket is an old crocheted blanket standby, and always reminds me of the 1970s.  My mom loves making them and I think we all have one.  She's never made a circular one, though, so I wasn't too worried the new baby would end up with two of the same blanket (quelle horreur!)  The original pattern called for Borocco Comfort in pastel colors which I substituted for Cascade 128 superwash in bright rainbow colors because wool is warmer than cotton/acrylic and I prefer bright colors for babies.**  I ran into a problem when I couldn't find an orange that I liked and so went with variegated red/orange/yellow instead.  I then added the variegated green because I thought it might look odd with just one variegated yarn.  The Cascade 128 was lovely to work with--a nice squishy yarn that made for a very snuggle-worthy blanket.  Cascade calls it a bulky-weight yarn but I think it's more of a heavy worsted or aran-weight (I also think their worsted is more of a dk weight).  The middle three colors on the blanket are all 1 skein each and the rest are 1.5-2 skeins.  I basically stopped when the blanket seemed "big enough" and got sick of double crochet.  It's a little less than the width of a queen size bed in diameter (which is 60 inches wide).

 Specs:

Pattern:  Rainbow Ripple Blanket; instructions were quite easy and I memorized the pattern quickly
Yarn:  Cascade 128; squishy and cuddly-soft
Hook size:  H
Made for:  nephew
Find it on Ravelry: here

The new parents were most appreciative of the blanket and have decided to give it a place of honor on the back of the living room recliner during he warmer months.  

*Unfortunately, sometimes intentions are all the little one gets because life gets in the way of knitting/crocheting/sewing and by the time I finish, the baby is starting kindergarten.

** And, it's called the Rainbow ripple blanket and who ever heard of a powder blue, pink, mint green, and pale yellow rainbow?