Knitting & crochet

Crochet diamond baby blanket

Gemma Evans

13 Jan 2016 — 3 min read

Crochet diamond baby blanket

It may sound like I've had a super productive start to the year but I actually finished this crochet baby blanket back in early December. Our friends had a baby boy and we gave them some presents to welcome him into the world; something shop bought, something handmade. But what to make a tiny baby? Well, blankets are always useful (I suppose my love of blankets makes me a bit biased). Especially when you've been born in December!

Ball of pale blue wool — Rico Baby in Ice Blue

Finding the right pattern took me a while but the simplicity of Olga Poltava's Diamond Stitch Baby Blanket (see pattern notes below) won me over. Scott had a conference in London one weekend so I visited the haberdashery department of John Lewis on Oxford Street to find some suitable wool. I was in there for ages - partly because I got distracted by beautiful wool I wasn't actually going to buy! So. much. choice. This Rico baby wool ticked all the boxes; soft, gentle, machine washable, decent colour - I don't know about anyone else but I'm not a fan of all the bright pastel shades for babies.

Wool blanket with diamond pattern — Crochet diamond baby blanket

Crocheting this pattern was really enjoyable. Easy to follow and once I'd crocheted a couple of pattern repeats I didn't need to look at the instructions anymore. The size of the finished blanket is adaptable: multiples of 10 + 7 for the width and 10 rows for the diamonds.

Scott's Grandparents bought me these "Handmade by Gemma with love" tags a couple of years ago. They're really handy; I sew them into things I knit or sew for other people so they know it's handmade.

Handmade by Gemma tag — 'Handmade by Gemma with love' tag

For the edging, I added a few extra rows of single crochet to create a thicker border.

Closeup of crochet diamond — Crochet edging

Big Bear has been my companion for 31 years. He was bought for me when I was born and is something I'd never get rid. I'm hoping this blanket will hang around for a while. Eventually becoming a blankie and when that is outgrown, this blanket might become a blanket for a cuddly toy.

I've starting started reading Yokes by Kate Davies. Lots of beautiful photos of knitwear!

Notes

Pattern: Diamond Stitch Baby blanket by Olga Poltava
Wool: Rico baby Classic DK
Wool colour: Ice Blue (023)
Balls: 5
Crochet hook: 4mm

Fem år

When we arrived in Stockholm, I embarked on a project to document the city every month, for one year. Plenty of people share the grammable spots but I wanted to show everyday normality and capture how the city changed during the monumental shift between Summer and Winter. Not just that,

Person crossing the road with pram in a blizzard

Around Stockholm, February 2025

February was a month of semlor, grey but longer days, more cold and continued lethargy. I looked back on previous posts for this month because I really couldn't think of much to summarise, and it's the same every year! So please enjoy the impressive number of

Around Stockholm, January 2025

January was a month of low sun, sledge travel, wildlife prints in the snow, crunchy pavements, gritter noise, long shadows, sunglasses, lethargic Stockholmers and white snow filled nighttime skies. Stockholm is a very clean city. Demonstrated by the remarkably small amount of litter in this mound containing several weeks of

Around Stockholm, December 2024

December was a month of snow, blue "daylight", cosy candles, big boots, wooly hats and darkness. We've handled Winter pretty well since moving here, but struggled much more this time around. I can't even really pinpoint why — our friends also said this Winter seemed

Notes

Read more

Fem år

Around Stockholm, February 2025

Around Stockholm, January 2025

Around Stockholm, December 2024