Crochet Pattern for a Seafoam Bib

 My mother-in-law purchased this around 1975 at a church bazaar.  In the following nine years I used it with three different babies and found it was practical and decorative when the babies were going through their early  drooling stage.  Somehow I thought it helped them  look a little more tidy and helped keep whatever they were wearing underneath the bib a little drier around the neck.

As a novice in knit and crochet work I could not read the stitches of the original bib, but with the help of more experienced crafters I learned that the original bib was worked in single crochet, with a teeny tiny metal crochet hook.

How in the world I ever mustered the tenacity to fiddle around and try to duplicate the pattern, I'll never know, but I found/find the challenge fascinating.  The last one I made was done in purple cotton #10 thread, with a varigated golden cotton thread for the contrasting rows.

While in Sonoma, CA, a week ago, I delivered the purple and gold bib, and the purple little lamb washcloth  I  knit for my friends' new baby. 

If you want to try my version of  the bib pattern, the foundation row I start with is chain 27.

Single crochet in the back loop of each of 13 chain loops.

In the 14th chain loop make 3 single crochets, then make 13 single crochets in the following 13 chain loops.

Chain one, turn and single crochet in the back loop of each  single crochet stitch.

[Chain one, turn and single crochet in the back of each stitch until you reach the center; make three single crochets in the center stitch; single crochet in the back of each remaining stitch to the end of the row.

Chain one, turn and single crochet in the back of each stitch in the row.]

Repeat the pattern in the brackets until  the heart of the bib is as big as you want it to be.

On your last row,  single crochet up the side of the bib; when you reach the upper  corner of the bib begin chaining until the chain is long enough to form the side of the neck and a tie  for the bib.

Then  single crochet in each loop of the chain until you come to the top of the bib.

Single crochet across the top of the bib until you come to the edge.

Make a chain long enough to match  the other side of the bib.

Single crochet down the chain and continue around the bib  extending beyond the top of the bib to begin forming the side neck of the bib.

Chain one, turn and [begin single crocheting around the bib, putting 3 single crochets in the 3 point stitches of the bottom row of the bib.  At the top of the opposite side of the bib, chain one, turrn and complete single crochets in the back side of each stitch until you come to the next to the last stitch in the row.  Chain one, turn, repeat the pattern from the last bracket until you have made the size bib you want.]

[For the last row, chain three and single crochet in the first stitch then single crochet in the next few stitches] and repeat  the bracket until you have completed the row.  Cut the thread and weave in the end.

I almost did not give the purple bib away because I failed to decrease evenly on one side which skewed the whole bib...sigh; but then I figured that it was bright and cheery and would still be a soft drool catcher.  The pattern forms ridges in the fabric which may feel a bit rough to your fingers but if you rub the material on your face it is  lovely and soft.

Have you ever crocheted a bib like this?