I had to wait to post this one since is was a gift for a one-year-old. I think it turned out darling.This pattern was on Facebook thanks to Lion Brand Yarn posting the picture, and I thought it was perfect for a toddler gift. I used all Caron Simply Soft yarn, my favorite yarn of choice. And the pattern is from Repeat Crafter Me's blog. She calls them Playnkets (Play mat and blanket).
She only has the road going through the middle of the blanket, but I thought it would be fun to add the road around the border to have a connecting road for the cars. Just keeping using the same single crochet, chain one pattern stitch as the rest of the blanket to add the road on the outside.
I did use her suggestion on simplifying the car pattern and close up the back early to only have the windshield. Since I was giving this to a one-year-old, I couldn't use buttons for the wheels, so I used black felt instead. I cut two circles of felt for the wheel, tied a french knot with the car-color yarn in one and then stitched the edges together so the tires didn't flop around and were stiff. Then you stitch only the top half of the wheel to the car body so the bottom isn't folded under the car. The wheels took me longer than the car bodies to make, but patience won out, and they're very sturdy.
The gift was received with Ohh's and Ahh's, and as suggested,the perfect quiet toy for church.
