Saturn and Neptune Baby Blanket with Comfort Swatches

Space/the night sky is definitely becoming a theme in the blanket requests. This one is for good friends that just had their first baby, a boy.

Full view of Saturn and Neptune blanket

This is a slightly different version of a Saturn and Neptune blanket I made for my brother's second child. But I never got around to taking pictures and writing a post about it before I gave it to him.

Also, now that I have my own child, and hopefully a little wiser in what is useful rather than merely nice, I skipped the teddy bear and made some comfort swatches for the baby.

Granny square and simple circle comfort swatches

Circle comfort swatches with holes

I call them comfort swatches because, while they are just swatches of crochet, I made them for our son as a comfort "toy" when he wasn't old enough to have a soft thing in his crib (Pediatricians really make you scared of the potential of suffocation. I rationalized that the swatches are very unlikely to do that.). Later I realized I prefer the swatches because they are easy to wash and replace. Though our son has a clear favorite, so I'm less sure how easy it would be to replace if we ever do lose it.

Main Info

Blanket

• Size: 27" x 27"
• Time: 13.5 hours
• Yarn: Big Twist Value Yarn
• 3 Dark Denim
• 1/2 Steel Denim Variegated
• 1/2 Neutral Territory Variegated
• 1/2 Cream
• 1/2 White (baby yarn)
• Hook size: U.S. H/8
• Pattern: Basic pattern on my blog

Comfort Swatches

• Size
• Original yarn circle: 5.5" diameter (not counting little loop at the top)
• Granny squares: 5.25" x 5.25"
• Bright circles: 5.5" diameter
• Time: < 1 hour each
• Yarn
• Big Twist Value Yarn
• Dark Denim
• Steel Denim Variegated
• Neutral Territory Variegated
• Cream
• Bernat Brights Blanket Yarn
• Surf Variegated

Thoughts on the process

Blanket

I'm no longer sure of the value yarn. As I said before this is the second blanket using this theme and I'm reusing the yarn for the planets from the previous blanket (hence the 1/2 skeins). However, the more I work with this yarn, the more it clearly feels like "value yarn," a.k.a. cheap. I have found that after washing a blanket, it is much softer, but I think I might stop buying this kind of yarn for future blankets.

Comfort Swatches

I made the first three comfort swatches out of the blanket's leftover yarn. I did this for the same reason I use that yarn for the stuffed animals, so the child has something made of the same yarn when they outgrow the baby blanket. Though, I am regretting a little not making a teddy bear since the swatches probably wouldn't be as much of a keepsake like the stuffed animal would have been.

Entire matching blanket set

The following two swatches are made from an entirely different kind of yarn because my son loves the Bernat blanket yarn for his comfort swatches. It has the texture of microfiber blankets, and he really enjoys holding onto them as he falls asleep. I love these swatches because they are a great distraction when he nurses. It gives him something to focus on, which is wonderful when babies get old enough to be distracted while nursing.

I designed the pattern for the Bernat swatches with two goals. First, I wanted to make a circle because my son's favorite is a circle and I had already made two granny squares. Second, I wanted clear holes because my son loves to stick his fingers through the holes and squeeze the swatch in his hands. I know of at least one other toddler that does the same thing, so I figured I might as well incorporate it if it was easy.

Below is the pattern I made after some experimentation.

Start with a magic circle

Rnd 1: 12 sc around, join with ss (12 st)

Rnd 2: *ch 5, skip 1 sc, sc, repeat from * 6 times, join with ss (6 loops)

Rnd 3: ch 2, *in loop 1 dc, 1 hdc, 1 sc, 1 hdc, 1 dc, in sc do 1 dc, repeat from * 6 times skipping the last dc, join with ss

Cut off and weave in ends

Some more photos

Close up of Neptune

Close up of Saturn