Easy Crochet Baby Blanket!
~Phases of the Moon~
Celebrate the 1st nine months of life

This easy crochet baby blanket chronicles the Phases of the Moon for the time that your wee one was growing ~ but you couldn't hold him or kiss his face! Celebrate your special pregnancy (they are all special!) with this simple, yet personalized, baby blanket!

The idea behind this easy crochet baby blanket

As I admired the full moon one night, the idea of stripes for the phases and circles for the full moons began to develop. I wanted this new and unique baby blanket concept to be super simple, yet contain many possibilities for personalization. The design evolved, and this is the first Phases of the Moon crochet blanket. It symbolizes the time my delightful new granddaughter was developing in her mommy’s womb.

The moon is an action diva!

A lot happens with the moon! Besides phases, there are supermoons, blue moons, black moons, solar eclipses, lunar eclipses, blood moons, and cool names of full moons. Not to mention the pull it has on the tides! You can reflect most of these occurrences in your Phases of the Moon blanket.

During the last full month of my granddaughter’s gestation, November, 2016, the moon was closer to Earth than it had been since 1948. It won’t be that big again until 2034. So I presented this event in the Phases of the Moon blanket by making that circle larger than all the others. I also added two white rows to that full moon section.

How to Figure in what Moon Phase to Start the Blanket 

I used the 4 basic phases: New moon, 1st Quarter, Full moon, 3rd Quarter. Each yarn color represents a particular phase.

Since every infant’s development starts and ends during some phase of the moon, this easy crochet baby blanket pattern can be individualized for everybody you know. Besides the date of actual birth, you need to have knowledge of the conception date so you know in which phase to begin. 

You can figure that out in one of these ways:

     1.     Use the estimated due date from the doctor. Then count back 40 weeks on the calendar.

OR

     2.     If you know the first date of the last menses before pregnancy, then add two weeks for an estimated conception date. Then count the weeks to the delivery date.

After determining the dates, do a few minutes of research. I created a PDF to help you with this (see next section).

Each stripe (4 rows sc) of this easy crochet baby blanket pattern represents approximately one week. Four colors represents one lunar cycle. Naturally, for precious preemies, you'll crochet fewer weeks on the end.

PDF to help plan your easy crochet baby blanket pattern

Here is a chart is to help you plan this personalized baby blanket. Make any notes of special lunar occurrences. That will remind you to use an alternate color to highlight them.

Materials

Oh, how I searched for yarn that evoked a feeling of night sky! I finally decided on these and a 10.5 - K hook:

·       Red Heart With Love Metallic – black (6.5 oz.)

·       Red Heart With Love Metallic – white (6.5 oz.)

·       Caron Simply Soft Party – Violet Varg (6 oz.)

·       Caron Simply Soft Party – Silver Sparkle (6 oz.)

Your colors can be whatever you like, of course! Just keep the same color for each phase throughout.

All of these yarns are a medium (4) weight, but the Caron looks and feels a bit thinner than the Red Heart. So I used a 10.5-K size hook and crocheted a little tighter with the RH and a little looser with the Caron. Seemed to do the trick!

Baby blanket dimensions and the how-to

The final blanket measures 38x45 inches. This includes the border.

I chained 120 to begin because I wanted a blanket a bit larger than the usual hand-crafted baby blanket. This way, my granddaughter can use it through toddlerhood, if she likes. If you would like yours smaller, just chain 100 stitches instead. Your full moons can be placed wherever you like!

To see the easy crochet baby blanket pattern continue here.

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