offset shell « GOODKNITS // a knitting & crochet blog

Crochet: Christening blanket

By Lisa Gutierrez on 02/22/2015

I get extremely flattered when someone asks me to make them something specific. My mom’s friend recently commissioned a Christening blanket for her new granddaughter. It’s such an important piece of a family’s history! I felt a little intimidated by the significance this might have, but she calmed me down and set me down a simple path: white and square-ish. That’s IT.

Naturally, I scoured the web for Christening blanket patterns and inspiration, but I ended up just using my favorite stitch pattern. The offset shell stitch has been made into many blankets for babies in my family (check out those posts here), so it felt like a good choice.

Crochet: Christening blanket offset shell

I used Bernat’s Softee Baby and a 5mm (US 8/H) hook. My beginning chain was 148 and I worked until it was just about a square. I’m not sure how many rows exactly. I made a single crochet border around the whole thing, then searched for a lacy border to add. I found about a bajillion charts of lace edges on Pinterest and ended up here where I found the lovely border I ended up choosing.

After figuring out the number of stitches in the pattern, I made another round of single crochet to adjust my stitch count. Luckily I wasn’t off by too much!

I think it came out lovely. It’s big and squishy and machine washable. It should last a really long time. Who knows, maybe this grandbaby will still have the blanket when she has grandbabies of her own.

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Crochet: Big Berry

By Lisa Gutierrez on 11/02/2013

Pattern: Offset Shell stitch blanket
Yarn: 6 skeins Red Heart Soft in berry
Hook: 6mm (US J)
Starting chain: 132
40″ x 45″
10/18-10/29: 11 days
See previous post for more photos/details!

After working the pattern, I crocheted this row: SC in first ch-1 sp, *Ch 3, SC in next ch-1 sp; Rep from * to end. This made the edge a bit more even. At the end of it, I immediately turned the blanket and started working down the side. I made 2 SC in the side of each row and then worked across the back of the beginning chain, up the other side, and across my last row. I made 5 SC rounds, then worked the crab stitch around once.

The baby shower is today and I’m super excited to give this to the mama to be! I hope she likes it.

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On the Hook: Big Berry

By Lisa Gutierrez on 10/23/2013

One of my cousins is having a baby in mid-December. It’s A GIRL. This is amazing because in the past 8.5 years, there have been 10 babies born to myself + my closest cousins and only 3 were girls. This is #11 and she’s a girl, so we only need 3 more girls in a row after her to be even! ha! Boys are fun, though. I love all the babies equally (though obviously mine are the best;))!

Anyway, I spent a little too much time thinking about what blanket to make and eventually picked the Offset Shell stitch. I’ve made a few of these blankets, but my favorite was Big Red. It was SO bright and SO big. I loved it. I considered making another chevron blanket, but I asked papa what the theme was and he said, “solid dark pinks…bold feminine colors…” so I began the hunt for the prettiest and boldest dark pink, newbie-friendly yarn.

I started on Friday while my kids were in school. My beginning chain was 132 with a 6mm (US J) hook. This gives me a width of about 37″, but the stitch pattern is semi-lacy, so it has a bit of stretch. I imagine it stretching out nicely after a wash or two. I only bought 5 skeins of yarn (Red Heart’s Super Saver Soft in Berry) to start, but I think I’ll need at least one more.

Each skein gives me about 13.75 rows. If I stick to 5 for the body of the blanket, it should be about 69 rows (39-40″ tall). I want to get to 42″, so I’ll work about 5 or 6 rows with the 6th ball before starting the border.

I’ll post again when I’m done. I’m about 2.5 skeins in. This pattern works up very quickly. I can work a skein in the time it takes to watch a movie. I finished a skein the first night and worked on it a few times over the weekend. I should be done with the 5 skeins by the end of the week.

What have you been working on? Any long term or semi-long term projects? I started this a little late, so I’m trying not to waste any time. I also want to knit or crochet some baby hats for her because, ummmm…winter is coming.

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Crochet: Big Red

By Lisa Gutierrez on 11/08/2011

It’s D.O.N.E. DONE! [update 1] [update 2] [border] [offset shell stitch]

36oz (1890 yards) of yarn (I used SIX skeins of Caron Simply Soft)
J hook
Beginning chain 160, 80 rows of offset shell stitch
4 rounds of single crochet border, crab stitch edging
50″ tall x 48″ wide
12 days

Let me know how your projects are coming along!! Feel free to add photos to the GOODKNITS Flickr group!

Big Red [part 2]

By Lisa Gutierrez on 11/03/2011

For the past 2 nights (the night I made my first update & last night), my husband and I watched the last few episodes of the past season of Breaking Bad. MY.GOSH! If you don’t know, the show is pretty intense and fast-paced. We watched 3 episodes each night, after the kiddos went to sleep. I sped through 2 more skeins of yarn! My hook was FLYING!

My current blanket stats:
J hook, 3 skeins Simply Soft yarn
Beg chain 160 (~48″ wide)
46 rows of the offset shell stitch (~27″ tall)

I’m out of yarn, so I will be making a trip to Michael’s, tonight. I am getting 4 more skeins. That should make the blanket dimensions about 54″ x 48″ when I’m done. I’ll do 3 more in the current pattern, then start the border with my last skein. The blanket will be substantially big. I hope it gets some good use!

Crochet: Christening blanket

Crochet: Big Berry

On the Hook: Big Berry

Crochet: Big Red

Big Red [part 2]

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