Pink Star Baby Afghan

One of my goals for the year was to make a baby blanket for a group I found on Ravelry called "Granny Squares for NICU."  The group link can be found by clicking HERE.  The group's founder, Sherry, collects granny squares and puts them all together to make blankets for babies in the Neo-natal Intensive Care Units (NICU) in two Little Rock, Arkansas hospitals.  When I first contacted the group founder, I did not have the right yarn to make squares for her blankets so I decided to make one blanket myself.  This is how the Sherry descibes the goals of the group on Ravelry:

We lost out sweet grandson. He weighed only 13 ounces. He was so very tiny, so precious.
The NICU staff wrapped him in a small crocheted blanket for us to spend a few moments with him.  Being a crocheter myself, I was touched that someone took the time to create such a unique blanket for our little angel. Right then I decided I wanted to be that type of person too. I wanted to start making blankets and donating them to the NICU and that’s what I did.  I use 4”, 6” or 8” granny squares in pastel colors, join them together and donate them. I use pastels but any color scheme will work. Its an easy way to use up leftover yarn.  I will also gladly accept 16 x 16 inch or larger finished blankets, preemie or newborn hats and baby washcloths.  I donate them to UAMS NICU in Little Rock, Arkansas and Arkansas Children’s Hospital in Little Rock, Arkansas.
I would love for you to join us and start giving of your time to bring some comfort to a precious little one and their family.

Here's my contribution.  The pattern link can be found HERE.  I used soft pink Bernat Baby Softee yarn primarily.  I realized the contrasting stripes are really essential to make the design "pop" so I added some white stripes with some sport weight Red Heart yarn I had on hand.  The pink yarn is so soft and floppy (not in a bad way) so the addition of the white contrasting stripes gave the blanket a bit more structure.  On the edges, I used some ridiculously soft and squishy fluffy white Plymouth brand "Oh My" yarn (a recent splurge).  This "Oh My" stuff feels like the softest terry cloth robe... a little unconventional for the edge of a blanket but I am glad I used it.