Crochet Ripple Baby Afgahn

I love these ripple afghans and have been wanting to make one.  Dad has a co-worker/friend who is pregnant and due in February so I thought this would be the perfect time to try one, and since it is baby sized it wouldn't be a year long project. 

I started it back in the end of August thinking that, in my big plans, I would whip it right out in a couple of weeks.  But, alas, my interest waxed and waned until this last week when I did a big push and finished it up.  Watching four movies on New Year's Eve really got a lot of it done.  It measures about 40" by 40", just the right size to lay on the floor for baby to lay on or go over a car carrier when the temperature dips really low.  I made it out of soft, soft baby yarn so it will be cuddly.

There are tons of patterns on the Internet for these afghans, the Lion Brand web site has bunch of them.  This pattern I modified from another pattern to get exactly what I wanted.  I can't remember what my starting chain was but the basic pattern is crochet three double crochets, decrease three stitches using a double crochet decrease to make the lower ripple, three double crochets, increase three double crochets to make the top ripple, three double crochets, and then start with the decrease again.  By the time you have gotten going on it you can almost sit in the dark and do it because the pattern is so repetitious.  You can probably tell the pattern better by looking at the picture above than from my instructions. 

Now I just hope the mom and baby like it as I know that people like the matching, themed, name brand baby gear instead of homemade, but this mom is pretty down to earth and it's not her first baby.