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Kathy Merrick’s Babette Blanket

I’ve finally taken the plunge to start Kathy Merrick’s Babette Blanket which was featured in the Spring 2006 edition of Interweave Crochet.  First time I saw it, I fell in love because it reminds me of freeform crochet with the different sized squares and all the beautiful colors.  You can purchase the pattern in PDF format at Crochetme.com.

Organizing My Yarn Stash

I thought I could use my stash of worsted weight acrylic even though the pattern calls for superfine merino wool.  I want to be able to throw this baby in the washer and dryer and not have to wait ages for it to dry.  I could have used superwash wool, but my goal was to use up my stash of acrylics … except … I had to buy more yarn!  I added some colors and replenished several others that I was low on.

Babette Blanket Pattern Squares

The pattern for the squares is pretty simple; you just keep adding rounds to make the larger square.  The pattern includes tables that show the color changes for all the squares, but I am essentially winging this one in the spirit of freeform crochet.

I made one of all the square sizes, and that’s when I saw how dull the colors looked.  So I went out and bought some more yarn (Red Heart Super Saver) and figured I could get a better sense of color by making the 2-round squares, all 50 of them.  So that’s what I did first.

Then I made another 12-round square (the one with the turquoise border).  I crocheted 12-round square with the the navy blue  border by looking at one of the pattern photos and mimicking the color changes with my colors.  There’s a group on  Ravelry devoted to this blanket which I joined, of course.  It’s called the “B. A. H. B. C. A.” which stands for Babette & Hexagon Blanket Crochet Anonymous.

Learning About Color Theory

This is one project I’m really enjoying and not in any hurry to finish.  The big kick for me is that I’m learning about color theory via experimentation.  Now, I will say that one of the B. A. H. B. C. A. group members created an excel spreadsheet that lets you plug in your colors to randomly create color selections for all the squares.  I’ll take a look at it but I’m going to try not to rely on it too heavily.

These Old Yarn Colors Are Difficult to Find

Oh, by the way, I am looking for these two colors in either worsted weight acrylic or superwash wool.  They are Red Heart yarn colors from about 10 years ago which aren’t being made any more.

If you have or know anyone who has them in their stash and would like to sell them, I’d be happy to purchase them.  The  colors are a couple of shades darker than the photo.  My digital camera just couldn’t capture the true colors.