5 Little Monsters: Kennedy's Flower Garden Blanket

Kennedy's Flower Garden Blanket

Kennedy's Flower Garden Crochet Baby Blanket

A couple of months ago our newest little niece was born. For her baby shower I wanted to make a gift rather than buy one. I had been thinking for a long time about trying to crochet a blanket made with flower motifs. I had a few different ideas of how to make the flowers and how to join them and what kind of layout I wanted. I had some yarn leftover from some other projects in a few different shades of pink and purple, so with that yarn and the ideas I had I played around a little and this little blanket was the result.



I made it a join-as-you-go blanket because I hate sewing crocheted pieces together. It is made up of 8-petal flower motifs that are joined together and then the spaces left between the flowers are filled in with little green leafy motifs.


Each flower is about 6 inches across so to figure out how many flowers you need to make you first need to decide how big you want you blanket to be. I made mine on the smaller side, about 30 inches x 36 inches, so it was 5 flowers across and 6 flowers down for a total of 30 flowers. You will want to plan your color layout before you start. Because of the join-as-you-go nature of the pattern you will need to work the flowers in the order the go on the blanket. I wanted a random layout so I used an online layout generator. I knew that I wanted fewer of the dark purple than the other colors so I played around with it until I had a layout that I liked, I used the pattern generator at granny-square-colors.com. For my blanket I entered in 5 for the width, 6 for the height and 1 color per square, than I selected the colors, once you are done with that hit generate. If you don't like the first one just click on generate again until you find a layout you like.


Once you have decided how big you want it, how many colors you want to use, and you have a plan for the layout you are ready to start your blanket.

Kennedy's Flower Garden Baby Blanket

You will need:

  • Medium weight yarn in desired colors ( I used 4 different colors for the flowers + green: Red Heart With Love in Bubblegum, Boysenberry, and Lettuce; Red Heart Super Saver in Orchid; and some old dark purple yarn that was given to me without a label, I think it might have been Super Saver but I don't know the color)
  • I crochet hook

Crochet Flower Motif:

Ch 6 and join to make ring

Round 1: ch 3 (counts as first dc), 15 dc, slip stitch to top of ch 3 (16 dc)

Round 2: ch 5 (first dc + ch 2), dc in same stitch, [skip 1, (dc, ch 2, dc) in next stitch] repeat around, skip last stitch, slip stitch to 3rd ch of starting ch to join (16 dc, 8 ch spaces)

Round 3: starting in the next ch 2 space, ch3, (dc, ch 2, 2 dc) in same space, sc between next 2 dc, [(2dc, ch 2, 2 dc) in next ch space, sc between next 2 dc] repeat around (32 dc, 8 sc, 8 ch 2 spaces)

*Round 4 is the final round and is the round used to join the motifs, work the first flower normally and then each flower after join the petals that are touching each other following instructions below. Each time flowers are joined together you will join them with 2 petals. See the picture above for a closer look at where the joins are made.

Round 4: slip stitch over to next ch space, 3 ch (counts as dc), 6 dc in same space, sc in next sc, [7dc in next ch space, sc in next sc], repeat around, join to first ch 3 with a slip stitch

To join flower motifs, work round 4 normally except each time you get to a petal that needs to be joined to another you will work the first 3 dc, then with the 4th dc wrap yarn around hook, insert into 4th dc of the petal you are joining to, pull up a loop, insert hook into ch space, pull up a loop, yarn over, pull through 2 loops, yarn over, pull through 3 loops, work the last 3 dc to form your petal, repeat on the next petal and as many petals as need to be joined, continue other petals as normal. 

Join the flower before making the leaf motifs, add the leaves in after all 4 flowers surrounding it are connected. You will basically be using the leaves to fill in the gaps left after joining the flowers. 

Crochet Leaf Motif:

ch 4, join to make a ring

Round 1: ch 1, [2 sc, ch 2] 4 times, slip stitch to first sc to join

Round 2: ch 1, sc in each sc, [slip stitch in ch space, ch 3, slip stitch to sc between to flower petals, ch 3, slip stitch in same ch space, sc in each sc] repeat around to join leaf to each of the 4 flowers surrounding it. 

Once you have joined all of your flowers and filled in all of the leaf motifs you just need to weave in all of the ends and you are done with your blanket. 


 I hope you enjoy this blanket pattern. As I was planning it and working on it there were some times that I was questioning whether or not I was going to like it, but once I finished it I think it ended up being one of my favorite things that I have made. It was a fun and very girly blanket to make.

27 comments :

  1. You have created an heirloom-of-the-future! Your niece will wrap it around her children - if she is EVER willing to "give it up"!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well said! I agree with you, on it being a future heirloom! It's gorgeous.

      Delete
  2. Completely gorgeous...love it! Just shared it on the Fiber Flux fb page. :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. So beautiful! I'm mesmerized & I must make it! Thanks so much for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I love the colors you used and the pattern is gorgeous! Thank you for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
  5. It is just beautiful! I love the colours- a nice alternative to pastels. Thank you for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Just beautiful1 Love the colors - everyone makes pastels. I will definitely make this. Thanks so much for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I finished mine today. It is a wonderful pattern! I made mine 7 x 7 and it covers from my toes to mid chest when I am sitting. I made mine with all purple flowers and tea leaf green leaves. I also added a bit of a border.

    Thank you for this great pattern!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm so glad you liked it. I would love to see a picture of your blanket. I thought about adding a border but couldn't decided on anything so I just left it borderless.

      Delete
    2. Can u suggest some border Plse?

      Delete
  8. What a beautiful pattern! Thanks for sharing :)

    ReplyDelete
  9. I love join as you go projects, this is just stunning. Pinning for the day I have time to make this- thanks

    ReplyDelete
  10. Beautiful pattern. I came to find it on Moogly's HOHD and i am visulising it in pastels and rainbow brights.

    Thank you for sharing your pattern.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think it would look great in either of those color ways. I loved the way the colors I used looked but as I was making it I kept thinking of other color combos that would be fun to try. There are lots of different combinations that I think would look great.

      Delete
  11. THANK YOU, THANK YOU For sharing! I have been looking for the perfect flower to make a blanket that I had in mind for months. This is perfect!

    ReplyDelete
  12. I just completed this blanket and it is BEAUTIFUL! I added a border to make it a tiny bit more stable. Great pattern, thank you for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That makes me so happy to hear. I love hearing that people use my patterns. I would love to see a picture of it, I would especially love to see how you did the border, I thought about adding one but couldn't decide on a way to do it. I would love to see what you came with.

      Delete
    2. Hi, I actually loved the pattern. Want to make it for my 4 year old girl. Can you plse suggest some border ideas? Thanks.

      Delete
  13. When you are joining your flowers together, are they supposed to be both face up??

    ReplyDelete
  14. This pattern and colors are ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS (as the previous poster said!). I think this is seriously one of the most beautiful floral patterns I've ever seen! I know I can make this! I'm just getting back into crochet, but this I know I can do. This would also make a GORGEOUS doily or placemat, table runner, made out of colored cotton threads!!

    ReplyDelete
  15. There is an old story to the result that the saxifrage roots turn around rocks and advance into them to such an extent that the stone split in two. Regardless, it is a rough garden plant. It can be situated in dry, sandy spots just on the edges of a huge rock. It has white blossoming groups carried on furry stems.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Just a slight typo, round 4 3dc should read as 3ch (counts as dc)
    ~Ginette

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Arghhh...I wish that your advice on the typo hadve been corrected as I just got stuck for an hour trying to figure it out! Thanks, netty, for the help! I should have read the comments before starting....

      Delete