Crochet Ripple Baby Blanket + Scheepjes Organicon

Completed this baby blanket not long ago. It's for the first baby of my friends DT and AL, who's due end of January. It was actually completed 2 weekends ago. This has been a big project for me and took me around 2.5 months to complete. I started in mid November but ended up frogging several rows when I changed my mind about the pattern. Come to think of it, this would be the first crochet project I've completed in the new year...?

Actually, considering the range of baby blanket sizes (which I find confusing), I'm not sure I can call it a baby blanket as it's an awkward size and a little short (around 36" by 36"). It seems I did not measure the length of the foundation chain properly.

Crochet ripple blanket in Scheepjes Organicon yarn

The pattern is based on the ribbed ripple crochet pattern by PlanetJune. Omitted the ribbing and so-called "levelled" the top and bottom of the blanket with single crochet, half double crochet and double crochet stitches, similar to making a long wave stitch pattern.

Also, a crochet tip that changed the way I started crocheting in rows starting with the double crochet stitch. I managed to get clean, gapless sides by following this crochet tip called the stacked single crochet. In short, one first makes a single crochet stitch into the first stitch, then makes the second, stacked single crochet stitch into the left leg of the first stitch. I first learnt of it on this video tutorial by Littlejohn's Yarn. There are several tutorials out there, and some examples are these tutorials by Malloo Knits, Edie Eckman (video), Tonya Bush (video).

Another method is the chainless double crochet (see this tutorial by Moogly). However, I struggled with twisting the loop and no matter how I tried, my starting double stitch looked wonky. Guess I need to practice it. Personally, I find the stacked single crochet method easier and well, that's the deciding factor when the project is more than 100 rows!

The blanket border was made with single crochet stitches and the edge finished with reverse single crochet stitches (or crab stitch). I like how reverse crochet stitches give a finished, decorative touch to edges. Not to mention it also makes the edge feel a little more solid.

Crochet ripple blanket in Scheepjes Organicon yarn

The yarn used was Scheepjes Organicon yarn, which came recommended at one of my go-to local yarn stores. Not the most budget-friendly choice, but the soft hand feel of this GOTS organic cotton yarn is just so good!

So, though the child's gender is already known before I started this project, I still elected to have gender neutral colours. Not really for any politically correct reasons or similar. The colour scheme was really just a practical consideration. If my friends had another child and use it, or if they choose to gift it later on, without having a headache about the gender question.

Anyway I went a bit overboard and ended up using 5 colours. Though I liked the colourful effect, weaving in the ends was a real pain. And the colour scheme ended up a little too blue-green and on the cooler scale that I originally intended. Still, I do feel quite fuzzy when looking at it, and am quite please that I completed it.

Scheepjes Organicon (l-r) No.220 Broken Almond, No.214 Glacier, No.229 Spearmint, No.264 Happy Thoughts and No.210 Buttermilk

Materials & Tools:

• Pattern based on the ribbed ripple crochet pattern by PlanetJune (without the ribbing), top and bottom edges based on the long wave stitch pattern, border worked in single crochet stitches and finished with reverse single crochet stitches (aka crab stitch)

• Yarn, fingering weight, around 11.5 × 50g (170m) skeins for a 36 inch × 36 inch blanket
I used Scheepjes Organicon No.210 Buttermilk (1.5 skeins), No.214 Glacier (2.5 skeins), No.220 Broken Almond (2.5 skeins), No.229 Spearmint (3 skeins), No.264 Happy Thoughts (2 skeins) (from Tiny Rabbit Hole)

• 3mm crochet hook
• Stitch markers
• Scissors
• Yarn needle

Crochet ripple blanket in Scheepjes Organicon yarn