Little Bo Peep Layette

My brother is going to have a cute baby boy.  I crocheted a blanket from a pattern called Little Bo Peep Layette. The designer is Michele Thompson.  The cover of my leaflet fell off, and was lost long ago... But it was published by Coats and Clark in 2000.  Today I will review the pattern, and share some photos.

 I used denim blue, light blue, and white yarn.  I chose Lion Brand, Pound of Love.  I purchased one Skein of each color, and I have enough left over to make a baby sweater and hat.   I used sizes U.S. F, and U.S. G hooks.

I did make this blanket years ago, and made a mental note to never make it again.  I remember that it just seemed to take forever to make.  This was before I learned to knit though....  and acquired a much greater degree of patience.

This afghan starts with a checkered section.  The directions were well written, and easy to follow.  I started this while my boyfriend and I were driving to Vegas.  I forgot to repeat the rows 3-8 that the pattern had clearly written out for me to repeat, and completed a light blue section before realizing I made the mistake.   What a rookie thing to do!!!  I refused to rip out the 30 rows of sc that I just completed.  I would normally rip it down to the repeat, but I find doing rows of nothing but sc extremely tedious. I ultimately decided that I would leave the 3-8 repeat of rows off the last section of the afghan.       

 
Everything in the pattern (of the body of the afghan) is correct. It was fun to complete the checkered sections, but I found myself having to bribe myself with various treats to finish the sc sections.  

The sheep were fun to make.  it involves making a loop stitch.  Very interesting doing it over the first row, but you will get the hang of it by row three if you haven't come across it before.  The pattern directions for the sheep are written correctly. The original pattern uses tiny buttons for eyes, and ribbons around the necks of the sheep.  For safety reasons I made french knots for the eyes, and omitted the ribbon bows around their necks.   I also made eleven sheep instead of twelve, and placed three sheep (instead of four)  in the middle section.   A quick note... being left handed, my sheep face left instead of right.

Overall I enjoy the pattern..  It is well written, yardage requirements are accurate, and the finished afghan looks the way it should.   After spending many years knitting, it wasn't nearly as tedious as I remember it being from years back.   I love the way it turned out, and hope that Eric and Amber like it as well.    I would suggest this pattern to anyone, advanced beginner and up, this pattern uses sc, and dc.  Then loop stitch is introduced in making the sheep, which are sewn in place after completing them.  Although a bit of patience is required. 

Note:  if you sew through the top half of the sc you wont have any of the sewing yarn showing on the back side at all.  

I know that this pattern was also published in a thicker book by leisure arts.  I would have mentioned it before, but it was a book have given away, and forgotten the name of.   I would be happy to answer any questions about this pattern, if any of you decide to make it and need help or want to complain through sc sections :).

Heather