State Fair Award Winning Design!

Fidget blankets are good for the young and old alike. Keeping fingers active has been said to calm minds and provide a soothing effect. This fidget blanket provides activities and textures such as floppy elephant ears, fuzzy clown hair, a looped lion’s mane, plus moving flowers and popcorn kernels. The appliqués were designed to minimize sewing. For example, the lion’s ears are attached while crocheting his head, the head is then crocheted, not sewn, to his body, which is then crocheted to the pedestal. All appliqués were designed in this fashion. The appliqués have to be sewn to the background squares, but sewing has been minimized with careful design. Appliqués were independently tested.

Blanket dimensions: 40” x 40”* Yarn, hook size, and tension will impact the overall project size.

Materials

• Hooks – 3.75 mm, 4.5 mm, 5.0 mm, and 6.0 mm
• Yarn – 4 weight. The project uses three main background colors (e.g. red, white, and black), plus additional colors for the appliqués. If you want to replicate the colors pictured, they are as follows:
• Caron Simply Soft, Red* - 686 yards
• Caron Simply Soft, White* - 686 yards
• Caron Simply Soft, Black* - 542 yards
• Caron Simply Soft, Sunshine - 122 yards
• Caron Simply Soft, Soft Heather Gray - 50 yards
• Caron Simply Soft, Royal Blue - 18 yards
• Caron Simply Soft, Taupe - 25 yards
• Caron Simply Soft, Bone - 19 yards
• Caron Simply Soft, Soft Pink - 8 yards
• Caron Simply Soft, Pistachio - 5 yards
• Caron Simply Soft, Kelly Green - 24 yards
• Remnants from my stash for flower petals and juggling balls (~ 4 yds per color) If changing background square colors, estimate 95 yards per small square (6 total) and 382 yards for the center square. Remember to subtract this amount from the required yardage for the red, white, and black totals listed.
• Tapestry needle
• Scissors
• Fiberfill - a minimal amount for the clown’s nose and the juggling balls
• Felting needle, fine to medium gauge, for shaping details (optional)