In the last few months there were two new babies born in the family, so I used that as a good excuse to get my crochet up and going again. I made both of these granny square blankets as gifts and I love the way they turned out. For one, they weren’t finding out the gender until birth and I think that teal/mint color combo is a great gender neutral color combo (that isn’t yellow and green!).

Classic Granny Square Baby Blanket
adapted from these directions for a basic granny square

Crochet Hook: H/8 – 5 mm
Yarn: 3 colors of your choice, one skein of each

Directions:

Chain 4; join into a ring with a slip stitch.
ROUND 1: Ch 4, (3 dc into center of ring, ch 1) 3 times; 2 dc into center of ring; join to third chain of beginning chain with a slip stitch. Slip stitch from the end of the round until you reach the ch1 stitch at a corner. Continue with the next round.
ROUND 2: Ch 3, work corner (dc2, ch1, dc3) into the same stitch, work remaining corners: *ch1, skip over the 3 dc from the previous round, (dc3, ch1, dc3) into the same stitch; repeat from * two more times, ch1, join to third chain of beginning chain with a slip stitch. Slip stitch from the end of the round until you reach the ch1 stitch at a corner.  Continue with the next round.
ROUND 3: Ch 3,  work corner (dc2, ch1, dc3) into the same stitch, work remaining sides:* ch1, skip over the 3 dc from the previous round, dc3, ch1, work corner (dc3, ch1, dc3); repeat from * two more times, ch1, join to third chain of beginning chain with a slip stitch. Slip stitch from the end of the round until you reach the ch1 stitch at a corner.  Continue with the next round.
ROUND 4: Ch 3,  work corner (dc2, ch1, dc3) into the same stitch, work remaining sides: *ch1, skip over the 3 dc from the previous round, dc3, ch1, skip over the 3 dc from previous round, dc3, ch1, work corner (dc3, ch1, dc3); repeat from * two more times, ch1, join to third chain of beginning chain with a slip stitch.

IF YOU WANT TO CHANGE COLORS: Cut yarn, leaving a tail, and draw it all the way through the slip stitch to secure it.  Join the new color at a corner by drawing a stitch through a ch1 stitch. Continue with the next round.

SCALLOPED BORDER: 5 dc in same stitch, slip stitch in next space, skip 1 space, then continue with next 5 dc. 7 dc in each corner scallop.

I did 18 dc rows of cream, 1 dc row of mint/pink, 7 dc rows of teal/peach, then 1 sc row of mint/pink, followed by a scalloped row of mint/pink.

ABBREVIATIONS:

dc: double crochet
sc: single crochet
sl st: slip stitch