KB's "Big Sister" Blanket

Generally, when a friend has a baby, I make a big sister or big brother blanket for the older sibling(s) as well as the baby blanket for the baby. The only exception is when someone has two children so close in age that the older is really still a baby and probably still using the baby blanket. Earlier this year, KB became indignant that I was making someone a big brother blanket and hadn't ever made her a big sister blanket. The explanation that she wasn't a big sister was pretty much lost on her. So I pulled out my pattern books and let her pick. She picked this flowery pattern although she wanted blue for the borders rather than pink as the book showed.


I increased the blanket size pretty significantly from the baby blanket in the book which was maybe 6 rows of 6 or 7 to this size. I think that all the centers are made from yarn we already had except maybe the orange. We also had the cream and green yarn from other projects so I just bought a few skeins of blue. I worked on the blanket for months, eventually vowing once again to never make another blanket that requires so much whip stitching. (See exhibit 1 (hmmm... I don't seem to have a post about exhibit 1 - I'll have to remedy that) and exhibit 2 for prior similar vows). A few months ago I nearly finished it but decided I needed to do another 9 flowers so that the blanket would be symmetrical, became frustrated, and put it away while I finished some other projects. Two or three weeks ago I tried to pull it out and work on it while she slept each night to finish it for Christmas but she started not going to sleep until after I was already in bed. I finished it Christmas night at my in-laws's house so now it will be her birthday present.

And those who craft will be amused to know that once I'd made around 80 of these flowers plus a few that I messed up and gave ChocolateDaughter for her dollhouse early on, I ran of out the green yarn this far into the final flower. That's right, I needed enough green yarn to do 1 more cluster stitch. R went through our stash and found an entire skein of this same yarn but with one strand of silver or white for accent so I did the final flower in that yarn. I doubt anyone will ever notice.

Baby Blanket

I finished a blanket for my cousin's second baby Sunday. Her first baby got this blanket.
This time I knew in advance that she's expecting. She had e-mailed me when she was coordinating about coming to my nephew's Bar Mitzvah last month and of course I saw her there. She also found out in advance that she was having a girl. I really liked this pink which is a sort of smoky-rose that I'm not sure shows up that well on a computer.

The pattern was pretty easy to learn and do but not that exciting. At the end, I basically had to repeat the pink strips but in rounds. Somehow it ended up gathering at only one end. I'm sure a complete perfectionist would tear the round out completely and do it again but I'm going with good enough on this one.

Big Brother Blanket Finished

This weekend I finished the big brother blanket for my co-worker's son. This is the brother of the baby getting this blanket. I usually like to make a big brother/sister blanket for the older sibling(s) so they don't feel left out. I make them a more freestyle and brighter blanket than the baby blankets. I usually also use tougher yarn. This one is 4 skeins of the rainbow RedHeart and 1 skein of the blue that matches the blue in the rainbow. I used a 3 row v-stitch divided by 1 row of 3 in one shells. I probably made it about 4 inches longer than I needed to make it but I wasn't going to tear any out once I checked the size. When we had decided it was long enough, I did 1 row of single crochet with the blue. As I did the final corner stitch, I literally had about an inch and a half left so I could sew in that woogie. No left-over and exactly enough blue. I have about enough rainbow left for 1/3 of a hat but I use a lot of rainbow so I'm not worried about it.

Baby Blanket Finished

Saturday I finished the baby blanket for a co-worker/wife expecting a baby near the end of September. It's hard to see in these pictures but the yarn is a light blue with variations of green and purple in it. I think it came out quite nice for this pattern. Speaking of the pattern, it's one of my favorite patterns. I think I've made this blanket 4 or maybe 5 times. I even once made the blanket, bonnet, and sacque that go with the pattern (R had to do the booties as they were just beyond my ability or maybe patience). Unfortunately, I copied the pages from a pattern book my SIL has an I have no idea it's name or source. I'd love to add it to my Ravelry records but can't find that info. Maybe the next time I'm up there I'll remember to go through her books and look for the stats on the pattern.

Anyway, I think it took me about 3 weeks to make which is pretty quick I think. Now I'm back to working on DoDo's flower blanket.

Baby Doll Blankets

Our friend Av turned 2 a few weeks ago and had her birthday party Saturday. One of the things Av really loves doing is putting all of her baby dolls to sleep, all over the living room floor and couches and putting blankies on them and patting them to sleep. So I spent the last month making the baby dolls some blankies. I used only yarn that I had in our stock of spare yarn and assorted patterns.

This one was really easy and fast. It was a sort of chain, half-double-crochet pattern that flew by. It was in a book we have of 63 granny square patterns to make a 7x9 afghan although I adapted the dimensions.



This pattern is from the same granny square afghan book. It's actually the pattern I used to make ChocolateSon's afghan (1 strip each of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, light blue, purple with rainbow variegated in between). It's called chevrons and peeps or something like that and is very easy to catch onto the pattern.



This one is a blanket I've made 4-5 times for different babies and I really love the pattern. I just stopped earlier that usual to make this smaller version. I don't know what book it's from - I got a xeroxed pattern from my SIL.



This pattern is the same pattern I used to make this blanket only instead of stopping at 13 rounds and sewing together a lot of them, I just continued and continued until I ran out of yarn.


This blanket is a basic v-stitch with a single-crochet border.


And another simple one - alternating double crochet with double crochet, 2 chain (skip 2) rows.

Baby Shower & Blanket

This weekend we attended a baby shower for some friends who are expecting a little boy in the next few weeks. This the blanket I alluded to a few weeks ago. I got the pattern off Ravelry and enjoyed making this blanket quite a bit. It included more counting that I generally find fast but it was a fun blanket and it took very little yarn. I think I used two skeins of the lavender and only had to start a second of white to do the border (not in the pattern).





We had fun at the shower. Everyone was invited but I felt like it wouldn't really be ChocolateSon's scene. When I asked ChocolateSon's godfather if he was going he expressed relief that he wasn't (even though his wife was one of the shower hosts) and said that ChocolateSon could come play with him. Well, that sounded great to ChocolateSon who apparently has some sort of male instinct telling him that he doesn't want to go to a baby shower (plus which I told him it would be boring and he would have to be quiet). He did get offended at the idea that men aren't necessarily welcome at all baby showers but I think that was a matter of principle. It sounds like J and ChocolateSon had a great time and played chess and other games. Later we were in the car talking about J babysitting and ChocolateSon interrupted to say that he thought he babysat J. So we asked why. As it turns out, he figured that since he went to J's house, he was babysitting him.

Anyway, the shower was lovely and the house was just fantastic. We walked in the door, took a look around, and ChocolateWife said, "Oh. I'm so glad ChocolateSon isn't here." Lots of breakable stuff.

Crochetted Cap

I finished making a cap for my friend A. Well, R finished making a cap for my friend A. My experience making this cap confirmed my belief that should stick to making baby blankets. Ok, baby, toddler, big blankets. I think the important factor is that I work in two dimensions. Every time I try to make something in three dimensions like a hat or elephant or sweater or whatever, I end up frustrated and re-doing a lot of work. I pretty much made this cap three times because I had to adjust the sizing so much R did one of the adjustment rows in the body of the cap and did the brim twice. I couldn't even stand to start the brim once. Oh, this cap is made from the yarn that is made partially from recycled water bottles so that's cool.

Anyway, it's done and I hope my friend likes it and that it fits her well. On a totally unrelated note... jeez do I need the back of my neck shaved! Look at that!




Weekly Workout Summary:

Again, not much. I started feeling sick toward the end of the week. It never really turned into much and I'm not sure if I fended off a cold or just had some allergies. I'd post the specifics but Google Calendar has been squirley all week and I can't get to my workout stuff. This week's not looking much better workout-wise so far.

Big Brother Blanket

I finished my friend S's little boy (K's) big brother blanket this week. This is the older brother of the baby I did the swirley blanket for. It's a simple v/shell stitch alternation which I find to be an easy and fast pattern to do. It's also pretty resilient for toddlers to carry around or abuse without doing much damage.

I texted my friend when I finished the blanket and said she could tell the baby that she can come now.

Baby Blanket

I finished this baby blanket for my friend S last weekend. I would have posted pictures earlier but I'm pretty sure S reads this blog and she's a facebook friend so the pictures have languished in the computer, just waiting for their metaphorical moment in the sun. The pattern consists of 52 (4 rows of 7 motifs and 3 rows of 8 motifs) hexagonal swirly motifs. Making them was quite fun and I never got bored of making them. It was nice after making the large afghan I made this summer to get to work on something so portable. I probably made 10-12 of them before I had the first three rounds of the pattern memorized but the 4-12th rounds were easy from the beginning. Actually, I miscounted and made about 5-6 extra motifs. Finishing the blanket meant whip stitching the rows and then whip stitching the rows together in the psuedo-rectangle and then putting a round of single-crochet (sc) and then a round of chain (skip sc), half double-crochet, repeat around.

The baby shower was last night so here are the pictures!