Time out

Hello there,

although it's only been a few months since I've reactivated this blog, I'm afraid I have to take another break again.

I've never mentioned it before, but back in September 2016 I had quit my last job to figure out what I want to do (professionally) for the next few years of my life. Took a little longer than expected, and that's why I had a lot of time for crocheting and blogging :)

Well, in the beginning of July I started a new full-time job, and so I have to shift my focus again and give this new challenge my full attention. I hope you understand that with the limited spare time I probably won't be able to crochet and blog as much as I would want to. So I thought I'd better let you know that I'll be away from blogland for now, instead of letting you wonder what happened :)

Luckily, I was able to share some new patterns with you over the last few months, and of course they'll remain here on this blog, always accessible via my Patterns and Tutorials page.

Thanks for following me so far,

wishing you all the best,

Baby Sunburst Baby Blanket (with Square Pattern)

Hello, hello, hello!

Although I really love making baby blankets (and that's why I'd been making lots of them for sale recently), my favorite blankets are those that I make for friends, when a baby is on the way :)

When my friend was expecting her second baby (a little sister for the 2-year old boy), I asked her, what kind of blanket she'd like. She said that - since the little one would mostly wear her brother's neutral clothes in the beginning - she wanted a typical "girlie" blanket with girlie colors, flowers and stuff. So, what do you think? Is that a "girlie" blanket or not? :)

When my friend mentioned flowers, I searched Pinterest high and low for a pattern that I liked. And although I've found lots and lots of beautiful flower squares, somehow I couldn't make up my mind. Most flower squares are 3-dimensional, and although they are truly beautiful, in my mind I had the idea of a "flat" flower. Something like the traditional Sunburst Granny Square (I think the original designer is Priscilla Hewitt, please correct me, if I'm wrong).

Actually the Sunburst Granny Square would have been the perfect fit, but I thought it was a little bit too big: it's great for bigger blankets, but for baby blankets I somehow like to work with smaller squares. So I've tried to figure out a way to make a Sunburst Square, that's just a little bit smaller than the original.

Here you see the comparison, on the right is the original Sunburst Square (with 16 petals), and on the left is my adaption (a Sunburst with 12 petals):

Using the smaller version, I could join 9x9=81 squares to make a cute little blanket. I connected them with the last round in a continuous join-as-you-go method. Of course I've worked with Stylecraft Special DK again and used the following colors: Cream (for the background), Lemon, Apricot, Candy Floss, Fondant, and Sherbet.

Don't get me wrong - the original Sunburst Granny Square is perfect as it is, but if you ever want to make a smaller one, here's my version:

Baby Sunburst Square

based on the Sunburst Square by Priscilla Hewitt

Pattern Notes:

For this pattern I use US crochet terms. Starting with a "magic ring" (or sliding loop) we’ll need the following basic stitches: chain stitch (ch), slip stitch (sl st), single crochet (sc), half double crochet (hdc), double crochet (dc), and some

Special Stitches:

Puff-Stitch: *Yarn over (yo), insert hook into indicated stitch and pull up a loop to the level of your work* 3 times, yo and pull through all 7 loops on hook.

Double Crochet 4-together (dc-4-tog): *Yarn over (yo), insert hook into indicated space and pull up a loop, yo and pull through two loops* 4 times, yo and pull through all 5 loops on hook.

Round 1:

Start with a magic ring, ch1, and work 12 sc inside the ring. Join with a sl st to first sc and fasten off. (12sc) (The sl st does NOT count as a stitch!)

Round 2:

Join a new color with a sl st to any sc, ch-1 loosely (doesn't count as a stitch), and work (puff stitch, ch-1) in every sc around. Join with a sl st to top of first puff stitch and fasten off. (12 puff stitches)
(You can also start this round with a standing puff stitch instead of the loose chain)

Round 3:

Join a new color with a sl st to any ch-1-space, ch-1 loosely (doesn't count as a stitch), and work (dc-4-tog, ch-2) in every ch-1 space around. Join with a sl st to top of first dc-4-tog and fasten off. (12 dc-4-clusters)
(You can also start this round with a standing dc-4-tog instead of the loose chain)

Round 4:

Join a new color with a sl st to any ch-2 space, ch-2 (counts as first hdc) and 2 more hdc into the same space, ch-1. *(3dc, ch-2, 3dc, ch-1) into the next space, (3hdc, ch-1) into each of the next two spaces. Repeat from * around until you reach the beginning of the round (omitting the last hdc-group) and join with a sl st to top of beginning ch-2. Fasten off and weave in all ends.

If you want to join the squares with a continuous join-as-you-go method like I did, you only work the first three rounds and then connect the circles in one continuous process using the 4th round of the pattern (i.e. with hdc's on the sides and dc's in the corner) with the ch-1 spaces and corners as joining spots.

I hope you've enjoyed this pattern! :)

A Tale of Five Blankets: Chapter 13

Hello World,

there's one more blanket left in my collection of baby blankets that I've made recently for my shop, and this might even be my favorite one (maybe because it took sooooo  long).

This blanket is made with 324 tiny 2-round granny squares that I've joined together while working the second round. So, 324 squares - that means 648 ends to weave in, plus some for the border. Phew, no wonder it took me so long :)

This blanket was inspired by two other projects, that I had seen years ago, and ever since then I had wanted to make a similar blanket. One is Sandra's Giant Granny Patches on Cherry Heart, the other one is Rajeswari's Giant Granny Patch Blanket on Diaper Mum.

Based on Sandra's and Rajeswari's color palette, I've made some substitutions here and there and added some more, so I finally ended up with 20(!) different colors of Stylecraft Special DK:

Cream

Stone

Mocha

Silver

Saffron

Apricot

Shrimp

Fondant

Lipstick

Claret

Plum

Pale Rose

Clematis

Wisteria

Aster

Cloud Blue

Aspen

Teal

Meadow

Spring Green

Since the blanket already had a good size for a baby blanket, I've only added some more rounds of dc and finished with the border I had already used for my Starlight Baby Blanket.

Although I've mentioned in the beginning, that this was the last baby blanket in my collection, there's still one more blanket to show - one that I made not for sale, but as a gift for my friend's second baby. It's a Baby Sunburst Baby Blanket, and I'm gonna tell you all about it in my next post. :)

Thanks for visiting today and I hope to see you soon back here,

A Tale of Five Blankets: Chapter 11 & 12

Hey there,

I'm back today with a new episode of my Tale of Five Blankets.

Today I want to show you two blankets with a similar color palette.

For the first one (above) I've worked with Stylecraft Special DK in Storm Blue, Duck Egg, Grey, Stone, and Cream. The pattern is Dots'n'Dashes by Darla J. Fanton, that I had already used several times before. I've made this blanket for my shop, and since it sold pretty quickly, I thought I'd make another one with similar, "boyish" colors.

If you're a frequent visitor of my blog, you recognize this pattern (my favorite one) at once: it's the double-ended crochet baby blanket pattern which is available for free on Woman's Day.

On one side I've worked block stripes with the Stylecraft Special DK colors Storm Blue, Duck Egg, and Mocha. For the back side I picked Cream.

Although I usually work with bright rainbow colors, I have to say that I'm pretty pleased with the way these two blankets have turned out :)

Spoiler ahead: if you're a fan of colorful blankets, you shouldn't miss the next chapter... :)

See you then and have a great day,

c2c-Pattern: Baby Lion

Pattern: Made in K-Town by Barbara

Please respect my rights as designer:

do not sell, share, translate, or publish any parts of this pattern (including pictures)

online or elsewhere without my permission.

Do not claim this pattern as your own.

Based on a free lion clipart, this graphic pattern

was processed, edited and simplified with the online-tool Stitch Fiddle.

Feel free to sell the finished items you’ve made from my pattern!

If you do, a link-back to my blog www.made-in-k-town.blogspot.de would be great.

Thank you!

Some General Notes:

To use this pattern, you should be familiar with the c2c-technique. A good tutorial with instruction videos and further ressources can be found on http://thecrochetcrowd.com/corner-corner-graphghans-beginners-tutorial/

The pattern does not include instructions for the border.

The pattern contains a chart and also row-by-row instructions for the color-sequence in table format. To keep the structure clear, I offer this pattern as a 3 pages PDF.

More pattern notes are included in the PDF.

I hope you enjoy this pattern!

>>> Download Baby Lion C2C PDF <<<