Victorian Lattice Crochet Blanket

This is the latest blanket I have crocheted.  I made it for our newest niece, Renata.  She is so cute!  We can't wait to see her hopefully later this year.  We also get to be her godparents!

This blanket involved a lot of stitches I hadn't done before, and it was the first crochet blanket I've ever made with crocheted squares!  In the past I've made blankets either in rows or in a round.

The pattern I used for the squares came from Ravelry.  It was an easy pattern to follow after doing a couple squares, but I still followed along with the pattern for each square I made.  It isn't one of those patterns that you can quickly memorize and do without the pattern.  Not for me, at least.

I really like the little shapes and openings that show up in the square as it is being made.  It looks quite fancy without being over the top or too complicated.

The technique I used to join the squares was new to me.  I wanted a stitch that would keep the joins flat, because so often joining crochet motifs produces a ridge between the pieces, and I don't care for that look.  The method I ended up using is called a flat slip stitch.  I loved the effect it created and it didn't ripple the squares at all.

For the border I used the fairy shell stitch and crab stitch, which both came from my book of crochet stitches.  The shell stitch is very delicate while the crab stitch adds a neat twisted look to the edge of the blanket.

Not only were all of the new stitches fun to work up, but I also love the color combination I pulled together for this blanket.  I think I will be making more crochet square blankets in the future.  

One of these days I'll put together a blog post featuring all of the blankets I've made for our nieces, nephew, and our own daughter.  I think I'm up to eight blankets so far.  That's a lot of yarn!