This blanket was designed for a coworker who delivered a 2 pound preemie baby boy. I wanted to make sure that he (and the nurses that cared for him) knew that he is special.
I understand that it is vitally important not to make lace eyelets in blankets to be used by the tiniest preemie babies, as their fingers or toes could inadvertently be caught in the holes and fragile bones could be broken.
This pattern was made with worsted weight yarn in a washable merino, but could just as easily be made in an acrylic yarn, or made with a different weight yarn, altogether. Size can be adjusted by adding additional blocks to the blanket, both in width and in length. Each block is an additional 15 stitches wide, although I think the blanket looks most balanced if it is an odd number of blocks wide, so I would recommend increasing the width by groups of 30 stitches.