Baptism Blanket - free crochet pattern

I had a request last night for the pattern for this blanket:

Truth is, I made it up and used my KAL (knit-a-long) creation skills to create the image. (eh - I'm not a big knitter -it takes me forever and I make a lot of mistakes - but I have fun with washclothes with pictures on them). Instead of the purl replacing a knit stitch, I used a ch1 space to draw the picture, dot matrix style.

I make this rectangular. Typical sizes I get asked to create are 24x30 (baby) and 32x40 (toddler)

So here's the pattern:

generally, I use a 5.5 mm hook with sport weight yarn (my fave - knit picks shine sport).

Row 1: dc foundation chain row (how to HERE) made to the desired width minus double the height of a dc (that's the trim)

Pause -
1-Since gauge is not that big of a deal for this pattern, count your stitches here - it just needs to be an even number. I make various sizes of this blanket and have never written down the number of stitches. The toddler blanket shown has about 100 stitches across. My gauge is generally around around 3-4 stitches per inch.
2- Grab some graph paper. Using your number of stitches, draw out your image using 1 square across = 2 stitches (double crochet) and 1 square down = 1 row. For the toddler blanket, I use 10 holes (20 stitches) as the width of the vertical portion of my cross (width of stipes) centered on the blanket, 10 holes (10 rows) including the top row down to the patibulum (crossbar), the patibulum is a total of 56 stitches wide (10 holes out on each side including the last hole that makes up the stipes). The stipes continues down an additional 19 holes/rows for a a total of 38 rows down. Yours doesn't have to be the same as mine.

Row 2 & 3: ch2 turn, dc in the same stitch, dc across, dc, ch2 turn
Row 4: assuming 100 stitches (use your graph if you got something different or have a wider or narrower stipes), dc in same stitch as the ch-turn, dc 39, *ch1, skip a stitch, dc in the next stitch* repeat from * to * 9 times, dc 40, ch2 turn
Row 5-12: dc in the same stitch as the ch-turn, dc 39, ch1, dc 18, ch1, dc 40, ch2 turn
Row 13: dc in the same stitch as the ch-turn, dc 20, *ch1, skip a stitch, dc in the next stitch* repeat from * to * 9 times (the last ch1 should be under the ch1 space), dc 18. *ch1, skip a stitch, dc in the next stitch* repeat from * to * 9 times (the first ch1 space should be under the ch1 space in the row above), dc 21, ch2 turn
Row 14-21: dc in the same stitch as the ch-turn, dc 20, ch1, dc 56, ch1, dc 21, ch2 turn
Row 22: dc in the same stitch as the ch-turn, dc 20, *ch1, skip a stitch, dc in the next stitch* repeat from * to * 9 times (the last ch1 should be under the ch1 space), dc 18. *ch1, skip a stitch, dc in the next stitch* repeat from * to * 9 times, dc 21, ch2 turn
Row 23-40: dc in the same stitch as the ch-turn, dc 39, ch1, dc 18, ch1, dc 40, ch2 turn
Row 41: dc in same stitch as the ch-turn, dc 39, *ch1, skip a stitch, dc in the next stitch* repeat from * to * 9 times, dc 40, ch2 turn
Row 42 & 43: ch2 turn, dc in the same stitch, dc across, dc, ch2 turn
Row 44: ch2 turn, dc in the same stitch, dc across, dc, ch2 do not turn

Pause -
Starting trim rounds here - you can do any trim you want. I kept this one simple with 3 rounds. You can pick a different one that you like better if you want.

ROUND 1- turn the blanket so that you are working down the side of the blanket, sc in the same stitch as the turning chain, sc down the side putting 2 stitches in the side of every dc. At the corner, ch1 and sc in same stitch. sc across; at the next corner, ch1, sc in same stitch, sc 2x in the side of each dc; last corner now, ch1, sc in the same stitch, sc across except the final stitch where the ch 2 is. Join with a slst in the ch2 space. ch4  do not turn
ROUND 2 - dc in same stitch as chain, working down the side of the blanket, *ch1, skip a stitch, dc in next stitch* across. At the corners, ch2 and dc in the same ch1 space. join with a slst when you get around. ch1, do not turn.
ROUND 3 - In the ch2 space, sc-ch1-sc2. sc in each dc and ch1 space. In the ch2 space of the corners, sc2-ch1-sc2. join with an invisible join slst bind-off.

I don't write a lot of patterns. Please let me know if you have any trouble with it or find a mistake. Thanks!

Don't want to make it? I can make it for you! Check me out on Etsy!

update: I was asked for a pattern for a throw-sized blanket. I use math to expand this so I don't know if it works quite right but here's the throw sized version: 

the typical size of a throw blanket is 50”x70”

If you’re using the same materials I used and about the same gauge, doing the oh-so-fun ratio math, your blanket will be 156 stitches wide x 90 rows long which is a little longer than a traditional throw but it makes for some easy math with the cross!

to turn all these rows, I ch2 and the first stitch was in the same stitch as the ch2

R1 - foundation chain dc 156 stitches 
R2-5 - dc across 
R6 - dc 58 stitches, ch 1, skip 1, dc in the next stitch 20 times (40 stitches), dc 57 stitches (156) 
R7 - dc 58 stitches, ch 1, skip one (will be directly under the first ch-space), dc in the next stitch, dc in the ch-space, dc in the next stitch until you have one ch-space left, ch 1, skip one, dc in the next stitch, dc 57 (156) 
R8-24 - dc 58 stitches, ch 1, skip one (will be directly under the first ch-space), dc until you are at the ch-space, ch 1, skip one, dc in the next stitch, dc 57 (156) 
R25 - dc 10, ch 1, skip 1, dc in the next stitch 24 times (48 stitches, the last ch-space will be under the previous row’s ch-space), dc 37, ch 1, skip 1 (the ch-space), dc in the next stitch, ch 1, skip 1, dc in the next stitch 23 more times (24 ch-spaces total), dc 10 (156) 
R26 - dc 10 stitches, ch 1, skip 1 (will be directly under the first ch-space), dc in the next stitch, dc in the ch-space, dc in the next stitch until reach the center section, dc in each stitch until you read the next ch-space, dc in the ch-space, dc in the next stitch until you have one ch-space left, ch 1, skip one, dc in the next stitch, dc 9 (156) 
R27-44 - dc 10 stitches, ch 1, skip 1 (will be directly under the ch-space), dc until you reach the ch-space, ch 1, skip one, dc in the next stitch, dc 9 (156) 
R45 -dc 10, ch 1, skip 1, dc in the next stitch 24 times (48 stitches, this will line up with the top ch-space), dc 37, ch 1, skip 1, dc in the next stitch 24 times, dc 10 (156) 
R46 - dc 58 stitches, ch 1, skip 1 (will be directly under the last ch-space), dc in the next stitch, dc in the ch-space, dc in the next stitch until you reach the next ch-space left, ch 1, skip one, dc in the next stitch, dc 57 (156) 
R47-84 - dc 58 stitches, ch 1, skip one (will be directly under the first ch-space), dc until you are at the ch-space, ch 1, skip one, dc in the next stitch, dc 57 (156) 
R85 - dc 58 stitches, ch 1, skip 1, dc in the next stitch 20 times (40 stitches), dc 57 stitches (156) 
R86 - dc across with a dc in the ch-spaces (156) 
R87-90 - dc across

I like to add a border but you don’t have to. There are whole books written on different blanket border patterns! The one pictured is a simple border: sc around once then ch 1, skip 1, dc in the next stitch and then sc around again. A picot would also look nice or something more elaborate like pineapples would also look great!