dimensions for a baby blanket? stitch direction?

[lily]

hi all.

 

I will be making a baby afghan for a friend of mine..she just recently got pregnant so this doesn't have to be finished for a while yet... but I keep returning to planning for it, since this is my only WIM for after Christmas that isn't a graphghan.. I need to plan SOMETHING!!! lol. ANd i know better than to mess with the graph pattern.

 

I have decided on Red Heart Soft Baby- "Bunny Print" for the yarn.... actually, the yarn JUMPED at me from the rack at Walmart and said "Hi! I'll be your baby-ghan" The hook I'll work out later. The stitch will be something I saw on CPList and recently used for my son's scarf. I love how this works up. It's pretty much sc,hdc,dc and works out so that the end of the row is always dc and the beg is always sc, and it's nice and tight and textured ever so lightly

(if you're gonna try this, make sure your starting chain is a multiple of three and if this wasn't clear enough plz let me know)

 

so here are my questions.

I'm intending this to be more of a "sleep under and keep warm" item or a 'lay down and play on" rather than a car seat blanket sort of thing.

 

So how big should it be? the size of a standard crib mattress? bigger, smaller?? I have not a clue. it has been so long since I have had babies that little around that I am perplexed. I don't even know if a square or a rectangle would be better.

 

which brings me to my next question. if a rectangle IS better... which way should my starting chain run? the short way or the long way?

[crochet smartcat]

I always make my flannel receiving blankets 40" square for babies. The size gives lots of room to wrap babies up or room to crawl around on for at least the first year. If you are hoping that the blanket will follow them into toddlerhood and maybe beyond, I would make it at least 36" wide by 48" long. You don't want it so big that it is cumbersome, but you want it big enough to cover a child on a restless night.

 

 

As for which direction, I almost always go width wise (the shorter measurement) and work until I reach the desired length. I also think patterned stitches look better when they are right side up rather than sideways, IMHO.

[threeolivemartini]

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[Sabra]

Roughly 40" is also the size I tend to use, I believe. You can always measure an actual recieving blanket. That's the size I've always found most useful.

 

Of course, I truly don't think there's any such thing as too big when it comes to baby blankets. I have an afghan for my oldest daughter that my mother made; it's about half the size of a "normal" afghan if not a bit more. Significantly larger than a typical baby afghan, in other words, and it was very useful when she was a baby & still retains its usefulness now that she's almost 4.