This is Willow and her Cherry Blossom Blanket. Willow is the daughter of my close friend Kat. Although I have not met Willow, I like the thought that she has started her life and will (hopefully) always have something from me that is full of all of my good thoughts and love.This post is not as much a step by step tutorial, but it is one of my most favorite and most time consuming projects I’ve worked on. I will admit that by the time it was done, there was a part of me that wanted to keep it and I might have – if I was 2 feet tall.
What I used:
Flowers (butterflies)
Crochet Hook size C
DMC Mouliné Spécial 25 Six Strand Embroidery Floss
Blanket
Crochet Hook size I
Knit Picks Comfy Worsted Flamingo (5 skeins)
Knit Picks Comfy Worsted White (3 skeins)
Knit Picks Comfy Worsted Peony (5 Skeins)
Knit Picks Comfy Sport Bison (1 Skein)
Curved needle
Transparent thread
How it got started:
Originally, I did start this blanket following The Tulip Baby Blanket pattern. The problem is Crochet. Crocheting and I are like you and your best friend’s boyfriend. You have to get along because your best friend (we’ll call her “Awesome Finished Object”) is the most important thing in the world to you. But really, you think he sucks and if it wasn’t for Awesome Finished Object, you’d have nothing to do with him. Anyway, I bought all of the supplies for the “Tulip Baby Blanket” and completed the base and border. Then my BFF’s creepy boyfriend and I got into a HUGE fight. Tulip Baby Blanket Pattern
Going rouge:
I couldn’t figure out how to make the tulips and I was just about to give up on this project when a friend suggested I use the ‘butterflies’ I’d made about a year earlier for a un-finished project. I use the term butterflies loosely because really the butterflies are flowers with a string/antenna tied around the middle. 260 antenna severed and I had flowers. I used DMC Mouliné Spécial Six Strand Embroidery Floss to make the flowers, It’s the stuff you likely used to make friendship bracelets back in the day (which was a Wednesday by the way). I doubled it up and used a C hook. Flower Pattern
Branch:
I couldn’t find a pattern for the branch, so I winged it using the basics from a ivy vine pattern I found on Ravelry, a social networking site for knitters, and by staring at a canvas picture of a cherry blossom tree on my bedroom wall. Making the branch wasn’t hard, but constantly measuring it against the blanket to make sure it fit was very time consuming. I’d take pictures of how it ‘lay’ pinned to the blanket and then try to crochet it to continue that flow. It sounds easy in theory, but constructing a three foot branch with a bunch of little branches “randomly” shooting out all over the place is wicked complicated. Ivy Vine Pattern
Sewing:
Wretched wretched wretched sewing. Everything that came before I threaded the first needle was the easy part. This took longer then any other part of the 
project and I hated every part of it (we’ll come back to this). I basically lived in my dining room for six weeks sewing. I worked on the blanket almost every single day for at least eight hours a day. First I spent an obscene amount of money on yarn that matched each flower. However, I quickly discovered that was ridiculous and bought invisible thread. I didn’t know how to sew when I started sewing the branch/flowers on the blanket, so it looked atrocious (that wasn’t spelled how I thought it would be either). When I realized that what I was doing was absolute crap, I had to take it all out and start over but once I got the hang of it, things started movingly smoothly.
Done:
When it was done I had nothing to do. I sort of wandered around the house and felt very sad and restless and tried to cram more and more flowers on the blanket. Then, my husband suggested I make another blanket and I briefly considered sewing some flowers onto his forehead. I realized that although I may have hated working in a homemade sweatshop, I loved creating my own pattern, I loved watching something new and unique being created by my hands and I was sad when that ended.
[…] Thread Gail recommended embroidery thread in contrasting colors. Thankfully, I had a plethora of DMC Mouliné Spécial 25 Six Strand Embroidery thread left over from my cherry blossom blanket. […]
I love this blanket, thank you so much for sharing it. Inspiring!
Its gorgeous! Ravelry brought me here. Your blog is really inspiring!
Pinterest brought me here. And yes I too have a pinterest addiction. This bunny rug is absolutely gorgeous. Love anything Japanese. Colours are perfect. Best wishes, Carina
Lovely blanket!! Thanks for this recipe!
This blanket is gorgeous! I have a friend who is pregnant and the nursery décor is cherry blossoms. So….I am about to tackle your beautiful project. Thanks for creating this. I’ve looked up all of the patterns and am wondering which size flower you made.
Hi Heather,
I believe I used the smallest one. I made these flowers a few years before I actually used them, I also doubled up the thread and used a much smaller hook then was called for if i remember correctly so I would suggest trying a few out and deciding what you love the most!
That is one lovely blanket!
This is so lovely, I’m thinking about making one for my daughter,who is expecting her first baby ,thanks for sharing
Your blanket is so adorable. It is hard for me to follow a pattern, and I create as I go after my basic foundation of the project is completed.
Thank you for sharing your creativity, I like your writing style also.
Cindy
Hi! This blanket is GORGEOUS and I have been dreaming of making it for many months. I’m finally going to attempt it in purple, cream and beige. The branch has me scared though. Did you do that in one big piece or did you sew individual branches together? Do you have any further tips on the branch before I get started? Oh and don’t worry, I won’t be advertising or selling this. If I post it on facebook, I’ll be sure to link to you. Just for a sweet little girl coming soon. 🙂
Hi Carissa,
thank you! One of my biggest regrets is that i didn’t take more time to jot down notes as I was making this pattern. I didn’t realize at the time how much I would love this blanket. I was frustrated because I couldn’t follow the pattern of the original blanket and felt like I was just making a mess of it. If I had known how many requests I would have gotten for more blankets, cherry blossom hats, scarves, bags etc. I would have mass produced this branch!
Some day I will try to figure out what exactly I did!
So I went for it and actually produced a pretty darn close replica of what you did. I sketched it out first on a giant piece of cardboard and then followed my “pattern” using that ivy pattern you provided. It was surprisingly easy that way. There are a few branches that look a little different, but it was pretty darn close. I think it helped too just doing it without previous expectations. 🙂 I’m so excited for how it’s turning out and am most grateful for your artistic genius going ahead of me! 🙂 I can copy, but not good at creating. I’ll have to send you a pic of what it looks like in purple and yellow.
I FINALLY got the sucker done! It’s gorgeous, but I don’t like the purples and yellows I did as much as your original pinks. You weren’t kidding on the sewing… I’ve been sewing flowers to it for 3 months! Gaw! Never again, but so worth it! Thank you so much for your inspiration! It was so much fun to do this one! It doesn’t look like I can post a picture here, but message me if you’d like to see the picture. carissma2007@yahoo.com
Carissa, Can you send me a picture of the blanket. I would love to see it!
OMG! This is beautiful! well done! x
I absolutely love this blanket! Good work!
I aspire to have your kind of determination in this kind of creativity! Assessment job!
Awesome Job! :-).
Where did “assessment” come from? Lol I meant “Awesome” 🙂
LOVE this blanket. Thinking about tackling it!
Worried about the sewing because I am NOT a sewer! Any instructions or tips?
Hi Judy, I am not very skilled at sewing either. I would suggest you ask yourself this. Do you not sew because you hate it? if so this may not be the project for you. 🙂
However, if it’s a skill issue then I think you will be ok. Even after finishing this project I would still put my sewing skills are at the level of a fingerless monkey. As for tips – I would suggest that you place your flowers down onto the blanket and pin them down first and then sew around the t-pins. Many times I would layout an arrangement of flowers and then as I’d sew them down they would sorta shift around and not “bunch together” right. It sounds odd, but when you are placing so many of them on a blanket and they just sorta look like blotchy spots of pants instead of flower clusters it can ruin your blanket. I spent ALOT of time sewing and then pulling up flowers. So pin on the entire branch or even the entire section of the blanket, make sure it flows and then start sewing.
So don’t let the skill piece intimidate you… Instead be terrified of the time you will have to commit.
LOL! I love the process you described-you’re inspiring to me-keep at it
! The final result is beautiful-I will endeavor to make one myself! Thanks for sharing not only your lovely blanket but your story in creating it! I can soooo relate!!!
Hi. İm from azerbaijan. İ very like this blanket. But i dont know knitting this blanket. Please say me how to knitting this blanket.
Its gorgeous! What stitch you use for the baby blanket? 😉 Thanks!!!
The description/instructions have to be the best ones I’ve read EVER (I have a very similar relationship with knitting).
And you did a magnificent job on the blanket-I’d like to make one for myself (I love cherry blossoms).
Hilarious blog!! Lovely blanket!!
You poor thing. You should have never joined Pintrest (although I’m so happy that I got to see this beautiful blanket on Pintrest). Now you will never get out of your ‘sweat shop’. Lol. I do love the blanket. Thank you for sharing both the details and your experience!
Its beautiful and awesome, you give me a wonderful idea to do paten. thanks a lot.
Beautiful! A true labor of love 🙂
I love your blanket, thank you for sharing and giving it a realistic time line.
Absolutely adore the cherry blossom blanket. I have saved photo for my next project, even though I have no grand daughters it is so beautiful I definitely will attempt this pattern. What was you original plan for all those flowers?
I am looking for something that will match my beautiful japanese art that I have on my bedroom walls. When I saw this your blanket, I knew I could build on this concept to work out my own creation. My concern is I have fibromyalgia and arthritis in my hands so was wondering what kind of stitch was used for the primary blanket. It looks to be tighter stitch than a double crochet but not as tight as a single. Anything much more complicated would probably be more than my hands could handle and still look uniform.
Thanks for the great idea. It is beautiful and very clever.
I love, love , love this post and your writting is just as beautiful as your blanket.
This is a really beautiful story. It matches perfectly with the beautiful blanket. I’m saving it for when my soon to be 20 year old daughter grows up and has her own baby. That’s how beautiful your story and blanket is. Thank you.
Your heartsung honesty is refreshing. Hugs for sharing your creativity! ❤️ Masterpieces have stories. I love yours 🙂 salute
lovely!!!
Its just beautiful, all the time and effort you put into it. Its truly lovely.
[…] Grab your “Memoires of a Geisha” book and curl up with this Cherry Blossom Blanket. The details is amazing but totally achievable. This pattern is free for use and can be found here at Craftyadalaide.com. […]
Gracias por compartir!! me encantan los almendros y esta manta es preciosa 🙂
I may never get around to making this, but it is beautiful. The most enjoyable part of it is your commentary. Hang onto that sense of humor whatever you do. BTW, I love my best friend’s boyfriend and hate knitting. Different strokes as they say.
Hi I am wanting to make this but I am wondering what kind of stitch is used in the blanket? Is it a regular crochet stitch or Tunisian crochet? I don’t know Tunisian
The pattern for the blanket can be found in the blog, but i do believe it’s regular crochet
Hi
I started a blanket for my mother while I was on holiday. I was nearly finished crocheting the blancket when I saw your blanket on pinterest. I have about 300 puff flowers which match the blanket. My blanket is just over the size of a double bed. I was wondering do you think I should still try and attempt your idea of the tree or will it be too daunting of a task?
wow! That blanket sounds HUGE! It will definitely be a chore but it sounds like you are almost there! Perhaps you could suggest that your mother help with the flowers. it could be a fun project to do together.
Crafty Adalaide,
I also found your beautiful pattern through Ravelry. As soon as I saw it I knew I had to make it for my niece who was expecting her first child. Your pattern was great to follow and I was thrilled with the finished afghan. Your wonderful pattern was exactly what I was looking for. Thank you Thank you!
Thank you so much for the comment. It’s such a treat to see that people are still reading and loving something I made so many years ago. 🙂
Beautiful blanket, what skill do you consider this? Easy, Intermediate, or Advance?
This is absolutely beautiful
Just want to say your blanket is lovely ,and your talent shows how well you are doing. Don’t let someone’s thoughtlessness spoil your pride in doing something well. God Bless you and yours
Awesome baby blanket I just love it. Thx for sharing ur beautiful work cheers
[…] http://craftyadalaide.com/willows-cherry-blossom-blanket/ […]
it is a very unique piece of work, i like it and planning to make one
beautiful
I was curious if you blocked your blanket at all? I’m in
the process of attempting this for my niece and didn’t know
If you blocked it before you did the sewing of flowers of after?
I love this blanket and you are super talented!!
Hi there, could you please tell me the type of stitch you used for the blanket itself please!
Beautiful and delicate!!!!!
I love this blanket, it’s beautiful! Thank you for sharing. Do you know how long it took you to make it?