Gifts for my friend Nicole

I finally remembered to upload the pictures of the gifts I sent to my best friend for her new baby.  I wound up sending a box to her, since I wasn't sure when I'd be able to see her again.  She emailed me to tell me how much she loved everything, and I was so happy.  I even got a picture of her older daughter wearing a hat I'd made for her.  :D

This picture to the right was one of the first things I made for the new baby...one of the first things I made when I started to crochet.  I think I was still getting the arms down.  My newer one is much better.  I'll post that when I find nice buttons to put on it.  (Not sure who the recipient of that sweater will be.)  The sweater is the cardigan pattern from Bella Bambina that I've posted before.  It's a really easy pattern, and Kelly has a excellent tutorial linked to the pattern.  The hat is the same hat that I made for my friend Sarah, but with this one I learned how to do the front and back post stitches, so it's the way it's supposed to look.  :-)  The pattern is Bev's Easy Round Baby Hat, and it was truly very easy.  It was my first experience with rounds.  I really loved the yarn I used, but AC Moore never seems to have enough skeins of it to make a blanket, so I had to be content with just this project.

I made this sweater and hat before Nicole knew she was having a girl.  It's Suzie's Pretty Shells Baby Sweater and Hat, and I received so many compliments on both the color and the pattern.  I used Bernat yellow yarn that I'd bought on sale.  It's nice and soft, and it's a really nice shade of yellow.  I'm very proud of this sweater, because it was the most complicated thing I'd done.  I added the buttons after I found out Nicole was having a girl.

It was so hard to part with this blanket.  It's the same pattern I used for Sarah's baby blanket.  It's from the label of a Baby Soft yarn I bought for my first project.  I like the pattern, and it's easy to work up.  I really love this yarn, though.  It's Red Heart Soft Baby Steps in Princess Smart Print.  It's just so soft and cuddly.  I would love to make something else with this yarn.

The hat on the top is a pattern my friend Sarah recommended to me, it's called a Basic Baby Beanie, and the pattern is on Ravelry.  If you crochet or knit, I would suggest joining Ravelry.  Not only are there tons of patterns to choose from, but there are groups to join that can really be helpful.  I haven't been on the site long enough to join as many groups as I'd like, but I plan to explore the site more thoroughly soon.

The bottom hat is Manner's Basic Baby Hat.  It had a chunk of the Princess Smart Print left over, so I thought I'd try the hat with it, and I liked the way it came out.  Both of these hats worked up really quickly, and I'll definitely make them again.

These last two hats are Suzie's Girlie Beanies.  I've made quite a few of these hats, because she has directions for four different sizes.  I even made one for myself to match my scarf.  I thought it would be cute to make matching hats for the girls.

My current project is a slanted stitch baby blanket.  I'll make a post of that some time next week.  At first I wasn't sure if I'd be able to do it, but it turns out to be something that is much easier to do than it looks.  I started it without a recipient it mind, but I recently found out my friend Melissa is expecting, so I'll be saving it for her. :D