~Crochet Shell Blanket~

Shell blankets are beautiful. In my opinion, the shell stitch is one of the simple and prettiest stitches crochet has to offer. I've made 3 shell blankets but I gave them away before I could take a good picture. I know, not very smart. I kept thinking that I will make another blanket and take a picture of that one. I said that several times and the last time, I actually took a picture but it was a quick one on my phone. Now, here I am wanting to share my shell pattern with you and I only have a blah picture I took with my phone. Luckily, my good friend Kim was nice and gave me one of her shell blanket pictures. Isn't she sweet to share? The funny thing is I used the same yarn she did on one of my blankets except for the girl version with pink, white and brown yarn. 

The yarn we used was Red Heart's TLC Baby yarn. The blue, white and brown multicolor yarn in the picture is called, Snooky. The pink, white and brown I used is Neapolitan, like the ice cream flavor. You can check out their other solids and multicolors here.

I have also made this blanket with Red Heart's Soft Baby Steps and Hobby Lobby's exclusive yarn, I love This Yarn. I am making another crochet shell blanket with 10 different colors and each row I change to a different color. You can do ombre colors, stripes, rainbow, etc.

NOTE: Please do not post my full pattern on your blog. I love to share so you are welcome to provide a link on your blog to mine for the pattern but please do not copy it. Thank you so much! 

~Supplies~
Size G crochet hook for the Red Heart TLC baby yarn used above in the picture.
Size I crochet hook for Red Heart's Soft Baby Steps or Hobby Lobby's I Love This Yarn.  

~Abbreviations~
ch= chain stitch
sc= single crochet stitch
dc= double crochet stitch
shell cluster= 5 dcs in the same stitch

~Foundation Rows for both sizes~
Foundation row must start with multiples of 6, +2 (so add 2 chains at the end of your foundation chain for the height of your single crochet.) It helps me if I chain a little more loose. If that is hard for you then use 1 size larger crochet hook to help achieve this.

~Size G Hook & Yarn~
I've made 3 shell baby blankets. The first was with the Red Heart TLC and I used size G crochet hook. 
For my foundation row I chained (124 +2). It measured approximately 36" across. *For a larger blanket chain (154 +2) for 44" across.

(* For size G crochet hook and yarn I made 28 Rows so my first blanket measured 36"x54". The 2nd blanket was square 44"x 44" so I crocheted 23 Rows.

~Size I Hook & Yarn~

The other two blankets I made with Red Heart's Baby Soft Steps and Hobby Lobby's exclusive yarn, I love This Yarn (Links are above in 2nd paragraph under the picture.) I used an I crochet hook. I made my foundation row with 100 chains (100+2) for 36" OR 122 chains (120+2.) and measures about 44".

(*For size I crochet hook and yarn I made 18 Rows so my first blanket measured 36"x54". The 2nd blanket was square 44"x 44" so I crocheted 14 Rows.

~Row 1~
Sc in 2nd ch from hook, sk 2 chains, 5dc in the next ch,
*sk next 2 chs, sc in next ch, sk 2 chs, 5dc in next ch- repeat from * until end of the row. (You should end the row with a single crochet) 

ch3 then turn (ch3 counts as first dc in row 2)

~Row 2~

add 2dc in same stitch (1st chain of your turning 3 chain- the turning ch and 2dcs = 3 stitches which is a half shell cluster and helps keep things even along the sides of the blanket)

sk 2 chs, sc in next st (which is the 3rd dc in the shell cluster or top center of shell cluster from previous row. If it helps to think of the shell clusters as hills and the single crochets as the valleys then you sc at the top middle of the hill and shell cluster in the valleys), sk 2 chs, 5dc in next st 

*sk 2 chs, sc in next st, sk 2 chs, 5dc in next st, 
Repeat from * until the end of the row. (The row should end with a half shell cluster which is 3 dc)

For odd rows 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 17, 19, 21, 23, 25, 27

Follow instructions for ~Row 1~ above, always ending these rows with a single crochet. Remember, if you begin a row with a sc then you will end it with a sc.

For even rows 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24, 26, 28
Follow instructions for ~Row 2~ above, always ending these rows with a half shell cluster which is 3 dc. Keep in mind that if you begin a row with 3 dcs then you will end it with 3 dcs.

*When you have reached desired length, end the last row and fasten off. Or refer to the top under Foundation Rows for the 4 different number of rows I used the 4 different sizes.

If you would like a border you can add one or leave it as is. You can also do a single crochet all the way around the whole blanket and at the corners you can make 3scs or sc, ch 1, sc to give it a more finished look. You can make 1 round or up to 5 rounds of the sc as well. 

I will share another border pattern with you soon. Look for it on my Ombre Granny square Afghan post. It will also include one of my tutorials on Youtube.

Thanks for visiting my new blog. I hope my instructions were detailed enough for you. If you have any questions with the pattern or you notice I have an error just let me know. Happy Crocheting!