Needlework Monday - Ends Upon Ends - Crocheted Baby Blanket Progress Report!
Hello my fellow Crafties! It was another fun, long but tiring weekend. This time we celebrated my daughter’s birthday who was very happy to turn 8!!! When you have a big family you celebrate birthdays quite often. We have birthdays in the months of March thru July and then skip to September and November. Yes that’s a lot of celebrating! I’ll be featuring some of my mother’s sewing work soon! She custom made my daughter two beautiful outfits that she adores!!
I’ll get to the progress of my blanket here shortly. But as you can see above I have ends upon ends to sew in after the blanket is finished. I had a bad experience with crocheting in the ends as I worked along on a blanket. It was my first crochet blanket I made for my friend. I used the bobble stitch with multiple colors of yarn. I watched a video tutorial about crocheting over your ends so you wouldn’t have tons to sew in later. The blanket turned out lovely but the ends didn’t stay in and eventually the blanket started to come apart...so embarrassing. 🤦🏽♀️
So my friends I’m asking you today if you have any tips, shortcuts or secrets to make this crocheting the ends in technique “actually” work and “stay” in???!! I have been afraid to try it again ever since but I must admit I don’t like spending a whole day or two just sewing in these ends. 😓
Now onto my progress. I am about halfway finished. I like my baby blankets to be pretty wide and lengthy so that the babies will have plenty of room to scoot, crawl and roll around on. I also like them to be big enough to cover their car seats. It will end up a little wider and longer once I crochet the edging. I’m still shooting for the end of this month to be finished although I think it will be more like beginning of May before I’m actually done.
Unfortunately that won’t give me a lot of time to work on the other items I wanted to make for her. Hopefully I can at least make her a dress and a few headbands before she arrives. I know I can still crochet after she gets here but usually right after having a baby I take a little break from crafting. I try to sleep when the baby’s are sleep to have plenty of energy for nursing and taking care of everything. Hopefully when I report back to you in two weeks I’ll be just about finished.
Thanks for checking in on me :) I’m looking forward to seeing your posts today! I love all of the participation we’ve been having on Monday’s! Thank you for making the #NeedleWorkMonday tag a Fun Success! We have such a creative and supportive community! Yay! ❤️😁☺️😊
Logo/Banner created by @rigaronib!
Such a lovely progress. It is getting more beautiful, I must say. I hope you will find the solution about the ends soon so the blanket will last very long. Can't wait for the final result :)
Thank you so much for stopping by! 😊 I’m so glad you think it’s lovely! I think I have found the solution and now I’m anticipating getting to the end even more lol!
Hey, it is coming out AMAZING!!! I love how you alternated the colour pattern instead of repeating...
So, the tails...with so many, I would suggest a border, one row single where you crochet over the ends (which should be fine because they are already knotted). The single crochet should hold in the tails well because it is a tighter stitch...then a row of double.
The boarder will make a nice finished look, and soften the edges...and with one colour it will frame and tie the other colours together.
I crochet the ends in as I go unless I am doing a crazy afghan to use up random yarn...so I knot, then fold the tails over and crochet over them. There are two tricks...one is to stagger the tails, meaning don't leave both the same length...6 to 8 stitches, then stretch it out before cutting one tail...another 4 stitches, stretch it out again and then trim the second tail.
Stretching before trimming is the main key...it loosens the fibers to blend them into the other stitches so the tails don't pull out as the blanket is used later. Sometimes I have to go back and trim the tails here and there if one or two pop out, but there is no unraveling, because all tails were knotted before tucking them in.
Once the blanket is washed once or twice, those tails will felt into the rest of the fabric nicely, and will never pull out :)
Not sure if you can see the border on this one, but it was a winter crib blanket...it will help the blanket keep it's shape too...
And sorry I went MIA, I just got Super busy :O but I have your earrings listed as reserved for you :) https://www.etsy.com/listing/606223671/reserved-for-steemit-c-blue-and-green?ref=shop_home_active_6
If you can message me there I can explain how we do a trade with the listing :)
Awesome! Thank you for such a well descriptive solution. I love your suggestions. I always unknot the ends before sewing them in, I never considered leaving them knotted and them crocheting over them. I love Monday’s!! 😅😃 Just to make sure I understand, when you say stretch the ends you mean pulling them tighter right? Yes I can see the ends of your blanket which is beautiful btw! I normally do a fancy edge for girl blankets but I can still add that on after the single crochet and double crochet rows. Thank you so very much for you help and suggestions, you rock lady!!
Okay awesome, I will head over there to message you for instructions about the trade ;) No apologies, my life is always busy so I completely understand :)
Oh no sewing... Or better the "S" word. As you know sewing is my nemesis. But if I must sew in yarn, I fumble my way with very long tails which I firstly crochet over and then sew in diagonally. If I only crochet over the tails, they often come apart, as you described. But you have to take into consideration, that I normally crochet/knit garment which have a wrong side to hide all the ugly knots and sewed yarn ends.
Tassels would be a nice idea, but not for a baby blanket. Or braiding the yarn ends and then sewing the braids into the border... hm....
Nevertheless, your blanket is beautiful and the colour combination worked out perfectly. Again, I admire how much you get done.
I send you love
Oh yes, I know how you feel about the “S” word lol! I’ve never thought about crocheting over the ends and then sewing them in. Yes unfortunately when crocheting a blanket there is no where to hide those ends. I even like to hot glue the very tips down after sewing them in to make my finished work look even neater.
Hmmm now you’re on to something. Since I do have two ends by each other I could twist them together and sew them in as one. That would definitely save me a lot of time. Thank you so much for all of your ideas and suggestions...this is why I love my needlework peeps!!! 😘
I have just finished making a baby blanket for my first Grandchild, and I found that by knitting/crocheting them in with the next row when you change color, it helps secure them in place, and then making the border for it later just to keep it looking neat..My blanket has only 3 colors..
the blanket turned out wonderful. I'm sure your gift will be very pleased
Hi @icybc! Thank you so much for stopping by and leaving a suggestion. I love the blanket you made for your first grand baby, and congratulations! I love the light color combo you chose. So once you added your border did your ends stay in well? Someone above also suggested the same technique and then stated that washing the blanket once or twice will secure the ends in even more.
Thanks again for commenting :)
Hi @crosheille, once the border goes on, the connected color strings stay inside the border as you knit/crochet it right in the stitch itself. It didn't unravel even after I washed it..Thanks for hosting..I finally have a place to share my hobby :-)
I've dealt with ends the exact way @icybc describes--crocheting them in with the stitches themselves--but not when the colors were drastically different. And I tie knots for sure :)
That’s so great! Looks like this will be my solution since a few of you have tried it this way and it worked ;) Thanks so much for your input!
That’s great to know! Thank you so much for sharing that with me.
It’s absolutely my pleasure! I’m so glad you found a place to share what you love to do. If you ever have any questions just ask @crystalize or myself ;) It’s so nice meeting you!
That's really beautiful @crosheille !
If it hadn't been a baby blanket, I would have suggested leaving the ends and then including them as part of a fringe or 'mini' tassels... but 'safety first' : I would just take a deep breath and begin to sew them in 😶
That would have been a great idea for a regular blanket! Lol yes I will have to take a deep breath for sure. I plan to continue on as is for this blanket but I wanted some suggestions and ideas for the next blanket I take on. It would be nice to find a way to omit the torture at the end lol. 😅
Great progress. I like the color combination. And you made it in the right size. I made mine too small and mine only covers part of my daughter (babies grow so quick!).
Happy NeedleWorkMonday :)
Thank you so much for your feedback. That’s one of the reasons I try to make it roomy, these babies grow soooo quickly! Happy #NeedleWorkMonday!!! 😉
Its so lovely! I really adore those who are so patience enough to do this like tou because i cant. 😂😂 thank you for sharing i love it! ☺️
Thank you so much! I’m pleased you think it’s lovely~ 😊
The blanket looks great! My in-laws have a ton of birthday's this time of year too, so I know how that goes. The whole beginning of April has been pretty much all birthdays! I wish I could give you some advice on the ends of the blanket. If my mom were on Steemit, I am sure she could. I have seen lots of great knitters and crocheters on here though, so I am sure someone will step up soon.
Thank you!!! ☺️ I appreciate you wanting to help. Hopefully I will get some good advice from one of the crafters. Thanks for stopping by!!!
Very nice! I made baby blankets for each of my kids as well. Was such a nice thing to do while being pregnant. For the first one I knitted, but for the two others I crochet granny squares. A lot of work to assemble all pieces, but so pretty in the end. Good luck in finishing up yours! :) Helen
Thank you! Oh wow that’s really cool that you’ve made one for each of your kids too! It really is relaxing to do while waiting on the baby to arrive :) Thanks for the visit!!
Definitely a great thing to do while waiting... :) My pleasure!
Yea! I love this! It's so beautiful! She is going to love it. I love the size you're making it - will be helpful for it to be big enough to cover a car seat! :) Wahoo for progress!!
Thank you very much! It takes longer making it this size but it’s worth the time in the end. Yes Whooo Hoooo!!! 😃😄