A simple feather-and-fan pattern is just as easy to crochet as a ripple, but has a bit more elegance to it. Two self-striping colourways interchange from one end of the blanket to another in Fibonacci stripes. Worked in fingering weight yarn, the result is a delicate baby blanket that’s not at all fussy.
Adjust the size of the blanket easily, and work it in any yarn weight for varying effects.
This is an appropriate pattern for beginners, and it’s a satisfying, relaxing project for experienced crocheters.
Inspiration
Two spectacular elements dominate the landscape where I live, on the southwest coast of British Columbia: mountains and sea. The forested lands are rife with smells of earth and cedar. The sea is alive with fish and boats.
A couple years ago, my good friend moved from Vancouver, where I live on the mainland, to Victoria, on Vancouver Island. Recently, she had a baby.
I wanted to make the baby a blanket that reflects how we’re all still tied together by land and sea, even if we now live a few hours apart.
Two colourways in a machine-washable self-striping yarn intermingle as land and sea – one in shades of pale blues and greens, the other in saturated browns and greens and turquoise. Obviously, any colours can be used for this pattern. I look forward to seeing lots of combinations!
Details
Yarn: Fingering weight. Shown here: Crystal Palace Yarns Mini Mochi (80% merino wool/20% nylon; 195 yds per 50 g), 4 balls each in 312 Seafoam (A) and 119 Lake Trail (B).
Hook: 3.75 mm (F-5) or size needed to obtain gauge.
Finished Size: 29″ x 33″ (73.5 x 84 cm).
Gauge: 22 sts = about 3.625″ (9 cm) and 14 rows = about 4” (10 cm) in Feather & Fan pattern.
Yesterday afternoon, after several late nights of feverish crocheting, I finally finished the Land and Sea blanket. Have I mentioned I’ve met the baby I made the blanket for? So much for wanting it ready for his birth.
My friend Alexa came by last night, and she was kind enough to take some photos of the blanket. I hope to have the pattern ready soon.
I did a lot of knitting and crocheting last weekend, what with the poor-man’s retreat and all the quiet in my house.
Rae is turning out to be a delightfully mindless knit, especially since I finally figured out how to tell if I’m about to start an increase row (there’s one every fourth row of garter stitch and the thought of moving a marker every four rows gives me hives). Here’s how to spot the kfb on the wrong side of the fabric if you, too, want Rae to be as simple as possible: It looks kinda like a V. If there’s a plain-old garter ridge above one of those Vs, the next row is an increase row.
I've circled the increase. Can you spot one on every second garter ridge?
I’ve been in a rut and this post is part of a series I’m writing to chronicle my efforts to get out of it. Are you in a rut, too? Or maybe you just want to spiff things up a little for yourself? Join in. I’m calling it the Rut Race.
Most of the things I’ve been doing to get out of my rut have been new things, new approaches to old things, or things I haven’t done in a long time. But I’ve also been trying to make sure I keep doing things I’ve been doing that I know make me feel good.
Namely, I’ve been crocheting or knitting every night. Not out of obligation to my projects or to the people I’m making them for, but out of the simple satisfaction I take from the activity.
Mostly, I’ve been steadily progressing on my Land & Sea blanket. I didn’t have time at all to work on it during our trip back east, which saddened me. But I’ve been stitching a few rows a night since we got back, and I’m especially enjoying it because there’s more and more land in with the sea now.
And I’ve started knitting the Rae scarf by Jane Richmond for the knit-along my Friday-night Urban Yarns stitch group is doing. It’s so simple and lovely and I’m making it from a skein of stunning SweetGeorgia yarn I’ve had for a couple years.
I’ve been crafting throughout this rut, which makes this one different from others I’ve experienced. But I’m not taking that for granted. I’m making sure I attend to my crafting needs, for what good is getting out of a rut if I’m just going to fall into another one straight away?
I’ve never participated in WIP (work-in-progress) Wednesday before, but since I’ve enjoyed sharing my progress on the Land and Sea blanket, I figured doing so on a Wednesday wouldn’t be too much of a stretch. And also, I have another project to share. I’ve been crafty, people.
First, behold. I have completed the first (very small) contrast section on Land and Sea.
I hadn’t mentioned it’s not a one-colourway blanket, had I? Well. I wanted to call it Sea to Sky, but my friend Alexa already has a blanket with that name, so I had to get not-at-all creative. Regardless, I see the colourway that looks like the main colourway at this point as the sea, and the contrasting bit as land. You’ll see.
Second, my kid needs throw pillows. Like, pillows to throw. And land on. And roll around with. I have a few pillow forms, and I’m slowly making covers for them out of scraps and odd fat quarters. This is the first.
I dug around my Mighty Ugly stash and pulled out some scraps I’d rather use for this than that. And I felt very, very accomplished, for I did not use a pattern. I just cut and pieced and sewed, and look at that, a pillow cover!
As an added bonus, I learned how to make buttonholes on my sewing machine. Which, in case you’ve not had the pleasure of experiencing this feat, is amazeballs.
(I screwed one of the buttonholes up. See? But I don’t actually care.) All I have left to do is cut those suckers open and sew the buttons on.
Here’s a closeup of one of the buttonholes. Magic.
Hi! I'm a writer and editor, and also like a camp counselor for grownups. I help people have way more fun making stuff. Learn more about how right here.
Hi! I'm a writer and editor, and also like a camp counselor for grownups. I help people have way more fun making stuff. Learn more about how 