Baby/Big Brother Blankets

I made blankets for a friend's baby and for her 6 year old.  The friend is mostly an online friend but we have met a few times.  I needed a project and thought she would appreciate it.  The blanket is one I may have made before from a book of blankets with large borders that I have.  It was fun and easy to make.  

 

 

I asked the friend what colors her son likes and see said orange, gold, yellow so I made this with assorted yarn - some that we had and some that I had to go and get.  I had a hard time finding the rainbow variegated but I do like the more orange/yellow/green variegated.  This blanket seemed to go very slowly which is strange because the last big granny square blanket I made was done in about 8-10 days.  

 

I'll see my friend this weekend to give her both blankets. 

Circle Sweater for Chiara

I have not posted in a long time.  I've continued doing some crochet although I've been projecting slower and slower.  I made this circle sweater and gave it to Chiara for Hanukkah.  She was very surprised in spite of the fact that I kept asking her to try it on.  I told her it was for a friend and she was completely believing.  I got the pattern from a site link on Ravelry but had to make adjustments (double crochet rather than double-triple). 

LD's Labyrinth Blanket.

LD holding the blanket

Labyrinth

When I was about to start on the blanket for our best friends's baby, I mentioned to her that I had tried to do a very fancy lace pattern (which Rachel ended up making) and found it too challenging. She suggested the labyrinth blanket (which I have made 4 times before) and I said it was too heavy for a baby.  So she suggested another blanket which I made.  But my plan was hatched.  Since her birthday is 9/9 and her due date was 9/10, I made a labyrinth blanket for her.  She was very surprised when we gave it to her on Monday.  

Ace's Baby Layette

Our best friends are pregnant with their first baby.  His due date is 9/10 but of course he could come at the end of August or first half of September.  I completed the gifts weeks ago or longer but have been waiting to post pictures until after the baby shower which was last Saturday.  In complete lack of surprise mode, LD actually suggested which blanket pattern she would like.  I don't know that she knew that there was a layette that went with it so hopefully that was a surprise.  I've made this blanket 3-4 other times but I enjoy the pattern very much.  Most recently I made it for a co-worker's baby two years ago.

The layette: blanket, sacque, bonnet, and booties.

ChocolateWife made the booties

It's hard to see but the bonnet has the same v pattern as the blanket

The sacque also has the v pattern.

I think it all turned out really well and liked the color very much.  ChocolateWife knitted or crocheted quite a few items as well including a knitted cap in the same green yarn. 

Star Baby Blanket

I finished this blanket a week or two ago for a co-worker who is having  a girl and a very traditional color scheme. It is the same blanket that I made a few years ago.  It is fun and easy although it gets very tedious on the last few rows.  I used partially leftover yarn and a few skeins of new yarn. 

We went to the shower on Saturday and it went over very well.

Livestrong Thank You Hats

While my performance in the Livestrong Half-Marathon was subpar (as expected), I out raised my previous totals for Livestrong.  I raised nearly $1900 this year which is about $400 more than last year and almost $1000 more than my first year running for Livestrong. 

 

When I started I had the idea of raising money for hats I would make with the suggested donation being $20 a hat.  I posted on both Etsy and a blog page (after getting permission from Livestrong and Etsy) but got no takers that way.  When I posted on FB, and mentioned the hats sometimes people would post and say that they wanted one. 

 

Mostly though, I just sent people a thank you hat or 2 or 3 after they made a donation.  After getting the donation I would send an e-mail and ask color preferences or just used my judgement. At first I stuck to Livestrong colors but quickly did whatever color people asked for.  And I really liked the black hats with Rainbow trim. 

 

Pictured here are some of the hats I made and sent out to say thank you to all my wonderful donors (and one happy recipient)! 

 

 

Doctor Who - Tardis Afghan

I have been working for months on a Tardis afghan for ChocolateSon's birthday.  I wanted it to be a secret.  For the first part I felt fine working on it in front of him because for a long time it was basically just a big blue rectangle.  A few times he or ChocolateDaughter asked what was I working on and I said a blanket for one of our friends or their Grandfather or a scarf but mostly they didn't care.  I got as far as the 3rd blocks of door cutouts twice only to decide that the dimensions were off and tear it all out and start again (twice). 

Once I got to the windows, I no longer felt I could work on it in front of the kids so every night I waited for ChocolateSon to fall asleep.  The schedule was tight and I was struggling to try to finish it.  ChocolateWife did the lettering on both the Police Public Call Box and the sign on the door and still the time was tough.  And then Tuesday evening I realized that the top stitching that I had done up until that point (about 2/3 of the top stitching) was on the back (because of the sign on the door).  I had to rip that all out and redo it.  Luckily Wednesday evening ChocolateWife helped me "sew in woogies" or the loose ends and I got it done in time. 

Chocolate Son was trilled to say the least and kept snuggling it yesterday when he was in the living room. 

The best shot of the afghan

Ash holding the blanket

As he opened it

 

Labyrinth Blanket

I finished another (my 4th) labyrinth blanket this weekend.  A good friend asked me if I would make one so she can give it to a friend's son (the friend had a baby so it will be a big brother blanket).  My friend is knitting the baby blanket.  I said sure and she bought the yarn. I didn't think that the variegated yarn would come out well on the solid background but I gave it a try and it looks great.  She was very happy with it and I hope the big brother will be as well. 

Baby Blanket

Some friends are having a baby in a few weeks and the shower is this weekend.  I actually finished this blanket a month or more ago but just haven't remembered to post any pictures.  It is from a book of patterns I have that has sort of repetitive bodies but impressive borders.  Some of the borders are bigger than the bodies. 

You know what I've realized from this blanket? I don't like the blankets that concentrate on big frilly borders because I don't like doing the borders.  You always have to make some weird number of stitches around the edge like 392 or something so you have to do some, count, back up, do them again, count again, etc until you get 392.  And then you start and by the time you get to round 4 of the border, the count is off again.  I didn't even do the last two rounds of this pattern because I couldn't get the count to come out right. 

I think it's safe to assume that the blanket recipients are not crocheters (I've never heard them mention it or post anything on Facebook) and that if they are, they don't have this particular pattern book so they won't know the difference.  Only ChocolateWife and I will know that it's missing a bit of border.  Nonetheless, I think it looks nice and it feels quite cuddly so they will enjoy it. 

Baby Blanket

I finished this blanket this week. Our friends and mekhutonim (sister-in-law's brother) are expecting their second baby next month. I made the Labyrinth blanket for the big brother and this blanket for the baby. I found the pattern on Ravelry. It was a fun but very stitch intensive and yarn intensive blanket. I used some remnant yarn but also bought 5-6 skeins of yarn for some base colors. It was a fun blanket to make but I also think that I made more mistakes on this blanket than any other. For some reason I kept forgetting to attach with a slip stitch between the bottom halves of the circles, particularly on the corners. Nonetheless, I think it is a beautiful blanket and will be appreciated.

Baby Blanket

I finished this blanket a few weeks ago for an old friend who I haven't seen in years but we've reconnected on Facebook. She sent out a "save the date" for her baby shower which gave me the time to make this quick blanket. It took me about 8-10 days to do a basic granny square stitch and I think it ended up a really fun pattern and color. ChocolateDaughter and I went to the baby shower and had fun and it was nice to see the friend.

Big Brother Blanket/Labyrinth Blanket

I finished my third Labyrinth blanket this weekend for our relative's (sort-of) son who will be a big brother soon. The first two were a big brother blanket and ChococolateDaughter's blanket. This time I made the background red and then used a blue yarn with silver in it for the walls.

Baby Blanket

This is the baby blanket I finished a few weeks ago for our friends' baby (coming in the next few weeks). I used a pattern I found on Ravelry. It was quite easy and fun to do and the soft baby yarn was so nice to use. Once ChocolateWife finishes a big brother gift for the family, I can send the two blankets and her gift along.

Big Sister Blanket

My friends are having their third baby next month. I made a new pattern for the baby blanket (I haven't posted picture for it yet) and this blanket for the "big sister" blanket. I'd never made a blanket like this but my SIL made us three blankets for Christmas (one for each child and one for our big king-size bed). It's basicaly a Granny square that just gets bigger and bigger. My SIL transitioned from the 3 dc to doing a V stitch once she got about 1/3 of the rounds done but I didn't like the way it was laying that way so I kept to the 3dc.

This was the fastest blanket I've ever done. I started it on a Thursday evening and finished it 8.5 days later on Saturday morning. It was fun to do and not challenging.

Labyrinth Blanket

I finished ChocolateDaugther's Labyrinth blanket this weekend. The blanket is a replacement for the first "big sister" blanket that I made her. That blanket is a disaster. I had been told in the first few years of my crocheting that you never tie a knot, you just crochet a stitch together to change from one yarn to another. It turns out that there is some other rule like only with thick yarns or something. This blanket is all baby soft yarn and all little pieces a few inches long and all started unraveling very quickly. I'd like to throw it away but ChocolateWife says it is fixable. To me it's upsetting and I'd rather not think about it.

In the meantime, when I made and gave the first Labyrinth blanket , ChocolateDaughter really liked it so I asked if she would like one. She was very excited so I've been working on her blanket simultaneous to working on the large afghan for my MIL and the baby blanket I also just finished. She was very excited about it and she and ChocolateSon started playing on it immediately.

I'm also really proud of the fact that the mother of the recipient of the first Labyrinth blanket posted a picture he drew of his favorite new and old presents - a plastic godzilla, his new bike, something else, and the labyrinth blanket!

Christmas Present Afghan

Back when I finished the filet crochet afghan for my niece, my mother-in-law was very taken with it.  ChocolateWife started making noises about how much her mother would love an afghan like that but I just ... wasn't committed.  Then earlier this year I started playing with the idea.  What color would she like? What size? What sort of pattern? 

I knew from my experiences making the earlier afghan and trying to make a filet crochet baby blanket this summer that I had a few constraints for the afghan. 1. I would make it all one piece as I had done the earlier afghan so I didn't have to sew pieces together. 2. I wanted the pattern to be symmetrical both vertically and horizontally.  I chose the pattern (poseys I think) from the same book that I got the other pattern (poinsettias) from and I was off.  The yarn is Caron Simply Soft which is very smooth to work with.  I also made the transition to a more ergonomic hook which I think was easier on my hands.  I started the project in September so it took me two or three months.  I'm very excited and proud about it and I think that my mother-in-law will be thrilled and very touched. 

Panel detail - the blanket has a 5 x 3 grid of these flowers

The blanket laid out on our king-size bed (my mother-in-law's is queen).

Another laid out view

LD's Birthday Shawl

I finished the shawl for my friend LD a few weeks ago.  The background on the shawl is that one day LD was at the house saying that she found a pattern on ravelry that she really liked but since it's crochet and she knits (she can crochet but does not like it), she was bummed. I said "I'll make it for you."  So she showed me the pattern and then a week or so later we went to the yarn store after a family dinner so she could pick out the yarn. She chose Dizzy Lettuce (a locally produced yarn - see this write-up).  I did not get the shawl completed by her birthday (9/9) mostly because I lollygagged about sewing in the woogies and blocking it. 

Ok... I'm having trouble moving the pictures around so... http://www.ravelry.com/