A lovely woman that I know is having her first baby! Of course, that requires a handmade gift - but it has to be practical too. New moms are far too busy and sleep deprived to deal with fiddly care instructions and complicated fastenings. This blanket hits all the marks. Made with a machine washable and dryable yarn, it has two simple slots to buckle the blanket over baby and keep it from getting lost, and just enough detail to keep it interesting.

Sizing: This is a car seat/stroller size blanket, but you could easily make it a crib or floor play blanket by adding extra cable repeats and chart repeats while omitting the buckle slots.

Materials: approximately 500 yards of worsted weight yarn and 500 yards of fingering weight yarn held together. I used 3 skeins of Berroco Vintage and 2 skeins of Berroco Vintage Sock. Feel free to substitute an aran or light bulky as long as you can hit gauge.