A Pirate's Life For Me Blanket

Hello, doll friends!

Recently, Mama had some amazing news for us: we're getting a brother! We're not exactly sure yet when he will arrive, but we're now slowly getting ready for him, and that includes clothes for him. It's never a problem when we get a new sister because we have tons of clothes for us girls to share, but with a boy it's a totally different story!

Mama said he likes pirates, and with that in mind she made some pirate-themed things for him, which I will show you over the next few entries.

The first one is a blanket, and let me tell you, we're all so jealous of this blanket and want to keep it for ourselves, haha! 😂

Take a look:

Josefina was the lucky one who got to model all of the pirate-themed things!

Isn't that cool? Such a neat blanket!

Please note: the reason I did not write a full pattern and pdf file and publish it is because not all of the pieces that make up the blanket belong to me, so of course I will not claim them as my own, and will give proper credit below.

To make the blanket, you will need worsted weight yarn, 4-medium in three colors. The colors used here are black, white, and red, but you can choose any combination you want.

You also need a crochet hook, size I - 5.5 mm.

I looked around for a skull with crossbones and found two patterns I really liked, so I incorporated their graphs into my design. They are:

* Motif for the bones:

Pirate Throw by Kim Rutlege

* Motif for the skull:

SKULLS!! by  Robin Brzozowski

Both of these ladies are on ravelry, and in order to see their patterns, you will need a ravelry account.

I made the bones exactly as they are described in the pattern, but for the skull I made some slight modifications:

~ Work original pattern all the way to row 2 in section “Bottom of the Skull (the nose and teeth)”. Then do the following:

~ Row 3 - ch 5, skip next sc, trc in next sc, ch 1, skip next sc, trc in next sc, ch 1, skip next sc, trc in next sc, ch 1, skip next sc, trc in next sc, ch 1, turn 

~ skip row 4 of pattern 

~ Add a border to the skull by sc all around it 

~ Fasten off, weave in ends

Once the bones and skull motifs were finished,  I thought something is missing....something needs to be added, so I made a graph for an easy crocheted bandana motif to put on the skull's head, which you will find below. I also added some ties to the bandana, and I will explain how I did this right here:

Pattern For The Bandana & Ties

If you follow the instructions below you will not need the graph, but I posted it anyway for your reference, or in case you would like to make some changes.

~ With red, ch 15 

~ Row 1 - sc in second ch from hook, sc across to end of row, do not ch 1, turn= 14 sc 

~ Row 2 - skip first st, sc 12 sts, leave last st unworked, do not ch 1, turn = 12 sc 

~ Row 3 - skip first st, sc 10 sts, leave last st unworked, do not ch 1, turn = 10 sc 

~ Row 4 – skip first st, sc 8 sts, leave last st unworked, do not ch 1, turn = 8 sts 

~ Row 5 – sc across to end of row = 8 sts 

~ Add a border to the skull by sc all around it 

~ Fasten off, weave in ends

This is how you make the ties: 

~ Insert hook in border on left edge of row 1, start red yarn 

~ ch 11, turn 

~ sc in second ch from hook across to where yarn was started, sl st in that st 

~ Insert hook one st above into the border, pull loop up 

~ ch 11, turn 

~ sc in second ch from hook across to where yarn was started, sl st in that st 

~ Fasten off, weave in ends

When all this was done, it was a lot easier for me to see how big my actual blanket needs to be, and I was aiming for a spacious one.

Pattern For The Blanket

~ With black, ch 72 

~ Row 1 – sc in second ch from hook, sc across to end of row, ch 2, turn = 70 sc 

~ Row 2-39 – dc across to end of row, ch 2, turn. After row 39, ch 1, turn 

~ Row 40 – sc across to end of row, start white, ch 2, fasten off black 

~ 2 dc in same st as ch2, work dc border around entire blanket, 3 dc in each corner st. After the last st sl st into ch 2, start red, ch 2, fasten off white 

~ 2 dc in same st as ch 2, work 1 red dc in each white st, 4 dc in each corner st. After the last st sl st into ch 2, fasten off 

~ Sew all motifs to blanket in matching yarn colors

~ Weave in all ends 

Alternatively, if you are on ravelry and would like to see my project page for the blanket, please click HERE.

(Design and pattern by Jo Em of Dolls of Suburbia)

❤ Maria ❤