The Baby Rainbow Sampler Blanket 2 is a small version of the Big Rainbow Sampler Blanket 2. It features all the different stitches used in the original blanket, just smaller. It's a great project for an ambitious beginner who wants to learn more crochet stitches and is perfect for gifting to your loved ones. This blanket is a journey in itself!
You can find the other pattern parts here:
Materials and preparation
The pattern is available in two colourways: A Organicon rainbow colourway, and a Catona gradient colourway. Instructions for both colourways are included in the pattern. Be aware that they do use different amounts of each colour for each version.
Yarn
| Label | Colour name | Code | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| Colour A | Oxygen | 219 | 4 balls |
| Colour B | Lucky Heather | 259 | 1 ball |
| Colour C | Perfect Plum | 257 | 1 ball |
| Colour D | Dahlia | 246 | 1 ball |
| Colour E | Swaying Tulip | 247 | 1 ball |
| Colour F | Pink Elephant | 248 | 1 ball |
| Colour G | Amaranth | 245 | 1 ball |
| Colour H | Red Rose | 244 | 1 ball |
| Colour I | Deep Tangerine | 224 | 1 ball |
| Colour J | Happy Sunflower | 238 | 1 ball |
| Colour K | Baby Chick | 239 | 1 ball |
| Colour L | Sapling | 213 | 1 ball |
| Colour M | Olive | 228 | 1 ball |
| Colour N | Bright Ocean | 215 | 1 ball |
| Colour O | Happy Thoughts | 264 | 1 ball |
| Colour P | Sleepy Cyan | 268 | 1 ball |
| Colour Q | Ticklish Turquoise | 267 | 1 ball |
| Colour R | Bluebell | 255 | 1 ball |
| Label | Colour name | Code | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| Colour A | Snow White | 106 | 6 balls |
| Colour B | Primrose | 522 | 1 ball |
| Colour C | Yellow Gold | 208 | 1 ball |
| Colour D | Peach | 386 | 1 ball |
| Colour E | Rich Coral | 410 | 1 ball |
| Colour F | Cornelia Rose | 256 | 1 ball |
| Colour G | Fresia | 519 | 1 ball |
| Colour H | Tulip | 222 | 1 ball |
| Colour I | Icy Pink | 246 | 1 ball |
| Colour J | Light Silver | 172 | 1 ball |
| Colour K | Chrystalline | 385 | 1 ball |
| Colour L | Tropic | 253 | 1 ball |
| Colour M | Sky Blue | 510 | 1 ball |
| Colour N | Lilac Mist | 399 | 1 ball |
| Colour O | Lavender | 520 | 1 ball |
| Colour P | Colonial Rose | 398 | 1 ball |
| Colour Q | Garden Rose | 251 | 1 ball |
| Colour R | Cherry | 413 | 1 ball |
Shop the yarn!
Do you want to make this blanket? You can find the yarn for this blanket in several stores, such as:
Crochet hook
3.5mm (US size E/4)
Measurements
Organicon blanket measures 110 x 85cm (43 x 33½in) after blocking. Catona blanket measures 122 x 94cm (48 x 37in).
Gauge/tension
Gauge is not critical for this pattern. It’s almost impossible to match gauge for all the different stitches, and since you’ll be making the blanket in one go you don’t have to worry too much about tension changing over time. We’ll have enough yarn leftovers to be flexible. If you want to make sure your blanket measurements are similar to the sample blanket, try to match this gauge for Organicon: 17 hdc and 16 rows measure 10 x 10cm (4 x 4in) with a 3.5mm hook. For Catona: 15 hdc and 14 rows measure 10 x 10cm (4 x 4in) with a 3.5mm hook.
Check your gauge by working a gauge square:
With Colour A, ch26.
Row 1 (RS) Starting in the second chain from hook, work 25hdc, ch1, turn. [25 hdc]
Rows 2-15 25hdc, ch1, turn.
Row 16 25hdc, cut yarn.
Take the measurements in the center of your square (so try not to include the top or bottom row, or the most left or right stitches). Measurements are more reliable that way.
Abbreviations (US terms)
- BLO
- back loop only
- ch
- chain(s)
- dc
- double crochet
- dc3tog
- double crochet 3 stitches together to decrease the stitch count by 2: (yarn over, insert hook in stitch, yarn over, pull up loop, yarn over, pull through first two loops on hook) once in each of three stitches, yarn over, pull through all loops on hook
- dc7tog
- double crochet 7 stitches together to decrease the stitch count by 6: (yarn over, insert hook in stitch, yarn over, pull up loop, yarn over, pull through first two loops on hook) once in each of seven stitches, yarn over, pull through all loops on hook
- FL
- front loop
- hdc
- half double crochet
- RS
- right side
- sc
- single crochet
- ss
- slip stitch
- s(ts)
- stitch(es)
- tr
- treble crochet
- WS
- wrong side
Repeat formats
- *….; rep from * once/twice/3x — Crochet the instructions after * and then repeat that section a further number of times as indicated.
- (…) once/twice/3x — Crochet the instructions between brackets the total number of times indicated.
- […] — Indicates the amount of stitches at the end of a row or round.
- (…) in same st/sp — Indicates that all instructions between brackets are worked in the same stitch or space.
Notes
- The pattern for this blanket is long. To keep track of where you are, I’ve divided it into different parts. Each part introduces a new section with Techniques and also contains a crochet diagram.
- In most rows you’ll make a ch1 before turning your blanket. This is a turning chain and does not count as a stitch. If you find a ch1 is too small, you can also make a ch2. This depends on how tight you crochet.
Colour layout
Adjusting the size of the baby blanket
Lengthwise, it’s really simple: Add or remove more sections. Widthwise it’s simple too, but benefits from some background info.
Short explanation
You can subtract or add multiples of 24 to the blanket to change size. You could increase the size by making 169 hdc, or 193. Or make it smaller with 121 hdc. Every 24 stitches measure ~ 13cm (5in) in the Organicon blanket and ~14cm (5½in) in the Catona one.
Long explanation
You might be wondering: 145 is not divisible by 24? That’s correct. But 144 is. I added an extra stitch because some stitch patterns need a final ‘+1’ stitch. Imagine: A Catherine Wheel consists of a stitch repeat of 6 + 1. Without the +1, you wouldn’t have a stitch to adhere your final Catherine Wheel. It would just flop about.
24 is a great number because it’s divisible by many other numbers: 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8 and 12. It means that if you have stitches with these stitch repeats, you will only have to adjust the number of repeats, not the actual repeat instructions.
You see, every pattern row in this pattern follows the same formula: (the part before the first stitch repeat) + (stitch repeat) + (the part that says how often you need to repeat the stitch repeat) + (the part after stitch repeat, this often contains the ‘+1’ stitch). And I ensured every stitch in this blanket has a ‘stitch repeat’ that fits in 24.
When a stitch repeat fits in 24, you only have to adjust the third of these four components: the part that says how often you need to repeat the stitch repeat. The part afterwards usually sorts itself: if you have a stitch repeat of 12 and only 5 stitches left, you can be pretty sure you reached the end of your row. So, there's no need to count out all the repeats!
Part 1 Weekly overview
Techniques
To keep the pattern organised, I placed the techniques on separate pages:
Crochet pattern
Foundation rows (Rows 1-2)
We will set up the blanket with a couple of solid, white rows.
With Colour A, ch146.
Apache tear section 1 (Rows 3-8)
The Apache tear is a decorative stitch that can be used in many ways. It works with all stitch multiples, so you can adapt its basic concept to pretty much any idea!
If you feel that grabbing only the front loop is too loose, you can grab both loops of the stitch, or even the loop below the front loop.
The ends of the Apache tear sections tend to flare a bit, which we’ll sort out with blocking later. If you feel the flare is too prominent, you can start and end each row with a sc in the final stitch instead of an hdc.
Granny Stripe section 1 (Rows 9-12)
The Granny Stripes have been used in the first sampler blanket. I enjoy these stitches as they’re a crochet staple and work up quickly.
Catherine Wheel section 1 (Rows 13-18)
You might have seen the Catherine Wheel in my previous blanket, like the Granny Stripes. It’s a stitch that looks beautiful from the front and the back. It’s intricate and solid-looking, making it perfect to add to this blanket, too!
Since we’re only going to work one row of Catherine wheels, the next row will look like Row 14, but it will not be exactly the same. If you crochet 7 chains as the ‘top’ row of the Catherine wheel, you can imagine that all your next rows would have quite a big gap. Instead, we’ll be securing the chain to the Catherine wheels. This way, you can continue with the rest of your blanket without big gaps. Basically, we’re mirroring Row 13.
We’ll need to ensure we’re returning to 145 hdc in the next row. This means counting! Luckily, we can look to Row 13 for help. Each Catherine wheel took up 6 stitches (1 sc, 2 skipped stitches, a wheel, and 2 skipped stitches again). So we just need to make 6 stitches per Catherine wheel, plus the final stitch that we used to fasten the last wheel to get back to 145 stitches.
Diagrams
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Comments
shonni
July 25, 2024 15:10
shonni
July 25, 2024 15:12
Kirsten
July 26, 2024 09:54
Rebecca
December 30, 2024 06:47
Joan Thauberger
October 17, 2025 21:33