Hello to all you fellow yarn lovers, I’m Tiffany from Daisy Farm Crafts and I’m a grandma-in-training, anxiously awaiting for the day I can claim the official title. I’m so excited to share my gingham crochet picnic blanket pattern to the world-wide audience of Yarnspirations! I picked up a hook almost three years ago and started making baby blankets with hope and lots of prayer for a baby to be sent to my oldest daughter who has been struggling with infertility. Along the way, the blankets I’ve made have been given to other hopeful and new moms, and that’s a blessing in itself while we wait, for ours. But let’s talk about gingham! About a year ago, I started noticing gingham coming back into style and I really wanted to see if I could crochet it as a blanket. I’d only seen granny squares sewn together and I was wanting to create a more uniform look. I happened upon a checkerboard crochet stitch in one of my crochet books and learned the technique of carrying yarn. Once I figured that out, I got to work finding the right shades of color and I’ve been in love ever since. I always recommend working up a practice swatch to iron out all the kinks and learn how to keep your yarn from twisting. Trust me, it’s worth the extra time to learn how. And after you do, it’s fun to watch the blanket grow with each block of color change. I designed this gingham crochet picnic blanket with all single crochet, so it could be very beginner friendly. You will be switching color every five stitches and getting comfortable doing that needs to be your first priority. I used Caron Simply Soft yarn, which in my opinion, is the best yarn for baby blankets that need to be well loved. It’s washable and durable. Not to mention so snuggly. I was at first drawn toward the yarn for the colors. Caron Simply Soft has a wide range of colors making it easy to make gingham blankets in lots of different color themes. This royal blue and soft blue were just the shades I needed to accomplish the picnic checked look. Achieving a gingham look requires two shades of color in the same family, a lighter and a darker, paired with a white or off white. Although, if you are wanting the buffalo check look, you’d want to choose a maroon and red paired with black. So many options! One last tip: you’ll want to go up a hook size or two than you are used to when yarn is carried through otherwise, it will turn out like a doormat and be too stiff. Thank you again to the team at Yarnspirations for giving me this wonderful opportunity to share my love of gingham! Come and find me on Instagram or Facebook @daisyfarmcrafts so I can share your finished blanket. For more tips and to see other gingham blankets visit my website daisyfarmcrafts.com. XOXO, Tiffany Featured Yarns
