I am making this for my 2nd granddaughter (who is only 1 year old). I don’t want there to be fights over blankets. Mom lets her older daughter take everything from the younger one.

I am going to use the same beading pattern as the other blanket but only 9 different colors and all shades of teal. I want the blankets to be similar and yet different.

Bead choices in both my blankets were based on how many beads I had of certain colors that looked good together. The border bead in this blanket? The most beads I have of any color. I had other choices that would have worked, I just liked this one.

Yarn color was based on the yarn in my stash. I would have preferred a baby blue (light blue) but I didn’t have any or enough of any light colored blue to make the blanket. So, I had enough of this yarn and I think it looks great with the blue and teal beads.

The general idea of both beaded blankets was to use up stash. But to make a blanket I think that little girls would love. Even if I am using up stash, I have to like what I am making.

Pony Beads used

Middle section with diagonal pattern
opaque royal blue
opaque bright blue
opaque medium teal
opaque blue pearl
opaque pearl blue
opaque neon blue
translucent dark teal
opaque teal pearl
opaque green teal

Border beads - translucent turquoise only

Foundation chain - 102 with 5 mm hook.

I think it looks better to end the beaded row with 2 hdc so that it matches the beginning of the row that has ch 2 + hdc.

5 bead repeats + 4 beads per row = 49 beads per row
100 stitches per row

The problem that I had with starting this pattern was the lack of information as to how much yarn and how many beads were needed.

I am estimating about 1000 yards for a baby/toddler sized afghan. I am not beading the entire afghan because I am concerned about the weight.

I started with the middle section of my afghan and worked the rows to match how many rows I did in my first beaded afghan.

Then I worked a solid panel and then the beaded border on the end.

Then turned my afghan and worked an identical solid panel and beaded border on the other end.

Finishing with sc around the entire afghan. I used stitch markers in the corner stitches.

Final row count
Each beaded section follows the pattern of 1 row hdc and 1 row beads.

Middle Section
55 rows with 27 of the rows beaded. There was one row of hdc after the beaded rows in the middle section.

(hdc row, bead row) 27 times, hdc row

Solid Section - worked twice
23 hdc rows

Border - worked twice
7 rows total

(bead row, hdc row) 3 times, hdc row

Total Beads
1323 in middle section

147 in each border section

1617 beads total

Hooks used
I used an H hook (5 mm) for all hdc rows. The F hook (3.75 mm) for the beginning ch 2 and the hdc in the beaded rows. The E hook (3.5 mm) for adding the beads.

I used the H hook to make my afghan more flexible. I didn’t want it to be stiff. The beaded rows were worked fairly tightly so that the beads were secure.

Still, I used larger hooks than the pattern called for - I have a nicely flexible blanket and no gaping holes. I think it turned out great with the larger hooks.

Dimensions

width - 28 inches
height - 42 inches

Hindsight

With this blanket, I counted the turning ch 2 as the first hdc of the row. You can see that there are gaps at the beginning of the rows. By the time I realized that was going on, I didn’t feel like frogging that much of it and I just continued. I didn’t think it would look that bad. It does look that bad. But this is a blanket for a toddler, so, it will stand as it is.

The blankets were a hit with my young granddaughters. I hear they are dragging them around the house. They won’t be parted from them. They love the texture and colors.