July 4th Crochet Baby Blanket

Materials:

• RED HEART® Super Saver®: 4 skeins 938 Stars & Stripes A, 1 skein 385 Royal B
• Susan Bates® Crochet Hook: 6.5mm [US K-10-1/2]
• Yarn needle

Special Stitches

• beg-Puff (beginning puff) = Pull loop on hook up to about 1/4” (6 mm), [yarn over, insert hook in indicated space and draw up a loop] 3 times, yarn over and draw through all 7 loops on hook.
• Puff =  [Yarn over, insert hook in indicated space and draw up a loop] 3 times, yarn over and draw through all 7 loops on hook.
• beg-Puff-V (beginning puff V-stitch) = (beg-Puff, ch 2, Puff) in indicated space.
• Puff-V (puff V-stitch) = (Puff, ch 2, puff) in indicated space.

Notes

1. Blanket is worked in rounds, beginning at center, with right side always facing.
2. Every 6th round is worked with a different color, B. To help keep the hexagon more even, join yarn in a different ch-2 space each time the color is changed.
3. For a larger or smaller blanket, work more or fewer rounds. A larger blanket may require more yarn.

BLANKET
With A, ch 6; join with slip st in first ch to form a ring.

Round 1 (right side): Beg-Puff in ring, [ch 2, Puff in ring] 5 times, ch 2; join with slip st in top of beg-puff—6 Puffs and 6 ch-2 spaces.
Round 2: (Slip st, beg-Puff-V) in first ch-2 space, [ch 1, Puff-V in next ch-2 space] 5
times, ch 1; join with slip st in top of beg-Puff—6 Puff-V, and 6 ch-1 spaces.
Round 3: (Slip st, beg-Puff-V) in ch-2 space of first Puff-V, [ch 1, Puff in next ch-1 space, ch 1, Puff-V in ch-2 space of next Puff-V] 5 times, ch 1, Puff in last ch-1 space, ch 1; join with slip st in top of beg-Puff—6 Puff-V, 6 Puffs, and 12 ch-1 spaces (2 ch-1 spaces across each of 6 sides).
Round 4: (Slip st, beg-Puff-V) in ch-2 space of first Puff-V, *[ch 1, Puff in next ch-1 space] twice, ch 1, Puff-V in ch-2 space of next Puff-V; repeat from * 4 more times, [ch 1, Puff in next ch-1 space] twice, ch 1; join with slip st in top of beg-Puff—6 Puff-V, 12 Puffs, and 18 ch-1 spaces (3 ch-1 spaces across each of 6 sides).
Round 5: (Slip st, beg-Puff-V) in ch-2 space of first Puff-V, *[ch 1, Puff in next ch-1 space] 3 times, ch 1, Puff-V in ch-2 space of next Puff-V; repeat from * 4 more times, [ch 1, Puff in next ch-1 space] 3 times, ch 1; join with slip st in top of beg-Puff—6 Puff-V, 18 Puffs, and 24 ch-1 spaces (4 ch-1 spaces across each of 6 sides).
Fasten off A.

Round 6: With right side facing, join B with slip st in ch-2 space of any Puff-V, beg-Puff-V in same ch-2 space, *[ch 1, Puff in next ch-1 space] 4 times, ch 1, Puff-V in ch-2 space of next Puff-V; repeat from * 4 more times, [ch 1, Puff in next ch-1 space] 4 times, ch 1; join with slip st in top of beg-Puff—6 Puff-V, 24 Puffs, and 30 ch-1 spaces (5 ch-1 spaces across each of 6 sides).
Fasten off B.

Round 7: With right side facing, join A with slip st in ch-2 space of any Puff-V, beg-Puff-V in same ch-2 space, *[ch 1, Puff in next ch-1 space] to next Puff-V, ch 1, Puff-V in ch-2 space of next Puff-V; repeat from * 4 more times, [ch 1, Puff in next ch-1 space] to end of round, ch 1; join with slip st in top of beg-Puff—6 Puff-V, 30 Puffs, and 36 ch-1 spaces (6 ch-1 spaces across each of 6 sides).
Rounds 8–11: (Slip st, beg-Puff-V) in ch-2 space of first Puff-V, *[ch 1, Puff in next ch-1 space] to next Puff-V, ch 1, Puff-V in ch-2 space of next Puff-V; repeat from * 4 more times, [ch 1, Puff in next ch-1 space] to end of round, ch 1; join with slip st in top of beg-Puff—6 Puff-V, 54 Puffs, and 60 ch-1 spaces (10 ch-1 spaces across each of 6 sides) at the end of Round 11.
Fasten off A.

Round 12: With right side facing, join B with slip st in ch-2 space of any Puff-V, beg-Puff-V in same ch-2 space, *[ch 1, Puff in next ch-1 space] to next Puff-V, ch 1, Puff-V in ch-2 space of next Puff-V; repeat from * 4 more times, [ch 1, Puff in next ch-1 space] to end of round, ch 1; join with slip st in top of beg-Puff—6 Puff-V, 60 Puffs, and 66 ch-1 spaces (11 ch-1 spaces across each of 6 sides).
Fasten off B.

Rounds 13–30: Repeat Rounds 7–12 three more times; do not fasten off B at the end of Round 30—6 Puff-V, 168 Puffs, and 174 ch-1 spaces (29 ch-1 spaces across each of 6 sides) at the end of Round 30.

Edging (right side): With B, slip st in ch-2 space of first Puff-V, ch 4 (counts as dc, ch 1), (dc, ch 1, dc, ch 1, dc, ch 1, dc) in same ch-2 space, ch 1, sc in next ch-1 space, *[ch 1, (dc, ch 1, dc, ch 1, dc) in next ch-1 space, ch 1, sc in next ch-1 space] to next Puff-V, ch 1, (dc, ch 1, dc, ch 1, dc, ch 1, dc, ch 1, dc) in ch-2 space of Puff-V; repeat from * 4 more times, ch 1, sc in next ch-1 space, [ch 1, (dc, ch 1, dc, ch 1, dc) in next ch-1 space, ch 1, sc in next ch-1 space] to end of round, ch 1; join with slip st in 3rd ch of beginning ch.
Fasten off.

FINISHING
Weave in ends.

ABBREVIATIONS
A and B = Color A and Color B
ch = chain
dc = double crochet
sc = single crochet
st(s) = stitch (es)
() = work directions in parentheses into same st
 [] = work directions in brackets the number of times specified
* = repeat whatever follows the * as indicated.