Pink-Orange Shill-Shell Blankie

My toddler is going to be moving into a big girl room in a few months, which I'm planning to decorate in bright pink and orange. I bought some yarn in those colors (plus a few more) (Painted Desert, #1289), without much idea of what I'd do with it; I just wanted something for her room. I ended up with a blankie.

Sock weight yarn was a little fussy to crochet with -- I hadn't tried it before -- but I just loved the colors on this. Plus, the wool-nylon blend is super-soft and silky; feels lovely in your hands. And machine-washable, which is key for kid items. Ty-Dy apparently makes a 10-ply worsted weight cotton version of this color (#289); I'm not normally a fan of working with cotton, but people claim this yarn is really soft. Maybe I'll seek it out at some point.

As it was, I didn’t have the patience to crochet a whole blanket out of this yarn, but I ended up with a cute little blankie for her dollies, or a cape, or whatever else she comes up with…

The Shill Shell Shawl pattern was easy to memorize, and had enough variety in its three rows to keep it interesting. It only uses two stitches (single and double crochet), so totally do-able for beginners as long as you can count. :-) I'd recommend the pattern to others; I think it'd make a pretty summer shawl, and be much easier to work up in a slightly heavier yarn, like the recommended 5-ply sport weight. (My yarn was 3-ply).

If I decide I want the blanket to be larger, I might do three more squares (probably in different patterns, maybe one more crochet and two knit) and attach them to this square. But not sure I have the patience to do that in this yarn.