This past weekend we got to visit our new niece Juliana (Juju). If you follow me on Instagram, then you’ve already seen a few of these pictures.

The proud parents and their favorite team.

Dan and Juju.

Me and Juju.

Juju in her new hat which I actually brought home so I could finish it.

Isn’t she just so precious?  She’s such a good baby and she has two really great parents who adore her and seem to be falling into this parenthood thing quite well.

Another thing I was happy to check out while we were visiting was Juju’s baby blanket. I had made it and given it to Tricia and Ramon at the shower in July but I never took final measurements and I couldn’t remember the stitches I used.

When it came to making this blanket, I was very happy that Tricia preferred little to no pink. It’s actually quite hard to find a girls baby blanket that doesn’t have any pink in it. Of course there’s nothing wrong with pink but I think using other soft pastels can create a beautiful and unique look that has just the perfect amount of girliness.

The blanket measures about 35×35 inches. The stitch I used in the middle is a half double crochet, worked through the back loops only to create a ribbed look. For the border, I did two rows of double crochet; I went with a bigger stitch so that the satin ribbon would fit through easily and lay nice. I used a diaper pin (as suggested by a friend) to weave the ribbon through the border. This got the ribbon through easily without any snags.

Although blankets are considered quite easy to make, this is actually only the first blanket I have ever completed. I’ve started many but I would always get lazy and not want to finish or I wouldn’t like the pattern and I would quit . I guess I just needed someone extra super special to come along so I could get my ass in gear. Thanks Juju for being that special someone.