Lottie & Albert Butterfly Blanket
One of my most popular makes that I always get asked about is the Butterly Blanket I made last year for my friend's new baby. I loved making this blanket: just enough stitch variation to keep my interest over a larger project, but easy enough to remember the pattern after a few repeats.
The finished blanket is around 85x85cm, and uses a 8ply (aran/worsted weight) cotton blend yarn, which gives it the most beautiful weight. The pattern uses a crochet technique called filet crochet, which allows you to create grid-like lace patterns by chaining and missing stitches, and using just a few stitches
If you'd like to make your own, you can find all the details of the yarn and pattern I used below.
I used:
5mm (US H) crochet hook
Cotton Flowers Variegated Yarn Cake, Colour 110, 8-Ply = 188m / 205yds per 100g, 50% cotton/50% AcrylicAn amended Butterfly Garden Square pattern, by Chris Simon
The Yarn
I used a gradient yarn from Cotton Flowers yarns based in Germany, you can find a link to the shop by clicking here. I chose an 8ply (aran/worsted weight) in a beautiful colourway that went from light grey, through to pale pink, and back into dark grey.The 8ply doesn't seem to be available in to shop at the moment, but you may be able to request some by contacting the shop owner. You could also achieve a similar size by using two 4ply Scheepjes Whirls in the same colourway held together, or a variegated or ombre aran/worsted weight yarn.
The Pattern
I used a free pattern from Chris Simon on Ravelry, Butterly Garden Square, which can be found by clicking here. I am not able to publish the pattern here, as it does not belong to me, but please find the details of how I modified the pattern to create my full blanket below.The pattern is for a 12in square, which features two pattern repeats of the butterflies. I followed Rounds 1-11 of Chris Simon's pattern, then continued the pattern repeat until I had 9 rows of butterflies. My aim was to use the whole yarn cake, so if you are using a different yarn, you may be able to create another few rows of butterflies. The beauty of the pattern is that it is very easy to replicate over either a small or larger number of repeats.
To finish my blanket, I then added three rows of UK treble crochet (US double), and a final border of what I called 'modified crab stitch':
Modified crab stitch
*Insert hook into first stitch to the RIGHT (not the left as normal) from front to back, yarn over and pull up a loop (two loops on hook), yarn over and pull through both loops, chain one and miss next stitch. Keep working from * to your right around the blanket.
US to UK stitch conversion
H hook 5mm hookch chain
sts stitches
sl st slip stitch
sp space
sk skip
sc US single crochet (UK double)
dc US double crochet (UK treble)
tr US treble crochet (Uk double treble)
For detailed stitch descriptions, please see below.
Stitch Descriptions
Slip stitch Insert hook into required stitch, yarn over and pull up a loop (two loops on hook), pull the loop just formed through the first loop on the hook.US single crochet (UK double) Insert hook into required stitch, yarn over and pull up a loop (two loops on hook), yarn over and pull through both loops.
US double crochet (UK treble) Yarn over (two loops on hook) and insert into required stitch, yarn over and pull up a loop (three loops on hook), yarn over and pull through two loops (two loops on hook), yarn over and pull through remaining two loops.
US treble crochet (UK double treble) Yarn over twice (three loops on hook) and insert into required stitch, yarn over and pull up a loop (four loops on hook), yarn over and pull through two loops (three loops on hook), yarn over and pull through two loops (two loops on hook), yarn over and pull through remaining two loops.
Modified crab stitch
*Insert hook into first stitch to the RIGHT (not the left as normal) from front to back, yarn over and pull up a loop (two loops on hook), yarn over and pull through both loops, chain one and miss next stitch. Keep working from * to your right around the blanket.
You can also find Chris Simon's Ravelry page, and all her patterns here.
Happy making!
Lindsey x
