Hooking on Hump Day – Crochet Baby Afghan

Hi everyone it’s Cindy here. Today I’m joining the Hookin on Hump Day blog hop to finish showing you the things I crocheted for my grandnephew Henry Charles. I previously showed you the baby rattles, and more recently the hats and booties I made. This week I am showing you the circular baby afghan I made to complete the set.

Lille Matelassè Circular Baby Afghan

The design is from a collection from Priscilla’s Crochet. She can be found on her website or on Ravelry. This afghan is from her Matelassè collection. I bet you are wondering what “Matelassè” is so here is the designers explanation.

If you’re not familiar with matelassé (pronunciation: må`lå`sã´) fabric, here is one definition:

Definition of MATELASSÉ: a double cloth of cotton or rayon or other fibers woven on a jacquard loom and used esp. for clothing, upholstery, and bedspreads and marked by raised floral or geometric designs with a
puckered or quilted appearance achieved by the interlacing of threads in the weaving or the contracting of threads in the finishing.

Courtesy Miriam Webster Dictionary

My intention while creating these designs was to imitate the feel of beautiful matelassé fabric and to translate that imitation into crochet. I hope you find the resulting patterns satisfying.

Center detail

I picked this afghan because I liked the texture and thought that might be interesting for little hands to explore. I also like to challenge myself and had purchased the matelassé collection initially to make a different afghan. This afghan finished at about 36″ in diameter which was just to gauge. I again used the Bernat Satin yarn and this is the “Sage” color.

Edge detail

I had explored the designers Ravelry page before I started this project and was glad I did. It’s difficult to see from the pictures but the area where the diamond shape is (seen above in the outer ring – before the scallop edge) is actually a series of chains worked in front of double and half double crochet stitches (US terms). Sorry to get all crochet geeky on some of you. It was good to look at some of the other projects from this same pattern on Ravelry before starting my own.

Henry Charles approves

As you can see I think Henry approves! He is such a cutie and a real joy to his parents and grandparents. My sister is lucky to live so close and has been a real help to her daughter and son-in-law.

I have an update on the hats I made for Henry. Either I needed to use a larger hook, larger yarn or he has a slightly larger head than most babies but the hats I made were too tight for him. Well what is a good auntie to do but make a couple more.

New larger hat fits well

I whipped up a couple more hats using a larger hook and in a larger size and the new ones fit. The above hat is the same pattern as one of the previous ones but in the larger size.

New two color hat for Henry

This hat is from the “Cuddle Bug Bunting Set” in the December 2012 Crochet World magazine. The pattern doesn’t call for two color yarns but I thought a solid color would look too boring. I also modified the pattern on this one to be larger than the pattern in the magazine. This one is made a bit longer so you can roll the brim of the hat up.

I hope you enjoyed seeing the baby afghan and new hats I made for Henry Charles.