Hobby Lobby Trip

Turns out there's a Hobby Lobby about 15 miles from my mom's house.  Since we were visiting for Easter, I decided to make a trip to check it out.  I have a few patterns that recommend using "I Love This Yarn," and I was curious to check it out.  After I picked out all the colors I thought I needed for some projects, I found this really nice yarn called Surprise Stripe.  I plan to make at least a scarf with it, since the colors match my winter coat.  I can't wait to see how it works up.

Over the weekend, I finished the Sock Monkey blanket pattern that I bought from Sandy's Cape Cod Originals on Etsy.  I also started work on a sock monkey inspired baby cocoon and hat that I also purchased from Sandy.  I finished the cocoon, and all I have left is the hat.  As soon as I'm done I plan on taking pictures to post here.  

New project!

The last month and a half has been fairly busy.  I finished my round baby blanket, which is a great relief.  It's huge. I'll try to take pictures of it to post later in the week.  I finished a few other projects, too - I found out a few weeks ago that my sister-in-law is pregnant with baby #3!  I don't want to make too many things until we find out the sex of the baby, though.

A few days ago, I was checking out my mom's Etsy shop, Uniquely Yours Creations. (She has hand dyed fabric, quilt tops, note cards with original photography, and more!)  From there, I decided to check out one of my favorite shops, Sandy's Cape Cod Originals.  I posted the Bear Cocoon that I purchased from the shop awhile ago.  I settled on two new patterns: a Sock Monkey Toy Blanket, pictured to the right, and a Little Bear Toy Blanket.  She's got so many great patterns that I'll have to go back and buy a few more.  I wasn't sure if it would be too hard for me, but the directions are very easy to follow.  I'm not sure where this blanket is going yet, but I'm sure I'll find a home for it soon enough.  :-)

Knook

Just a quick update.  I hate that I haven't been updating as much as I want. I have to take some pictures of the newest project that I'm working on, a crocheted round baby blanket.  I started a blue one awhile back and got frustrated when I had to pull out about 16 rows.  I put it aside since my friend was expecting and worked on a blanket for her baby.  Quite a few projects later, I thought I'd pick up the round blanket again, but I wasn't sure if I was continuing it correctly.  Instead of ripping anything else out, I decided to start a new one using Red Heart Econo Baby in Carousel Print.  I'm about halfway done, and I can't wait to finish it.

I went to AC Moore tonight to look for a kit on teaching myself how to knit.  My mom taught me how to knit a long time ago, but at the time I preferred to crochet.  I had no luck finding the kit, but I did find this small kit to learn how to Knook.  Knooking is knitting with a crochet hook.  I was curious and had a 50% off coupon, so I bought the kit for $5.  The kit comes with 3 knooks, 3 cords, and a book with instructions and 4 patterns.  Luckily, the Leisure Arts website has how to videos to help a newbie along.  I'm currently working on the purl stitch.  Only time will tell if I'm doing it correctly.  Once I'm done with my sample stitches, I plan on making the Spa Cloth pattern in the book, since it's the smallest project in there.  I'll post my progress as I go along.

So excited!

I'm slowly finishing up this baby blanket.  Alexander James (who is as cute as a button!) was born last Wednesday, and I was hoping to have it done before my friend Sarah left the hospital, but I just couldn't do it.  (My left hand still gives me problems if I crochet or type for too long.)  I only have about five inches left to go, so hopefully I can finish it up this weekend.  I'll post a better picture when it's all done.  At least I'm done with the sweater and matching hat, and I have to pick out buttons to finish it off.

I was surfing through some crochet blogs tonight, but I'm unsure exactly how I found these patterns.  I wound up on Etsy and purchased these tonight.  I'm waiting to get the email with the patterns.  These are Animal Hat Patterns, and they are just so adorable!  I'm glad I decided to save the gift cards for Michael's and AC Moore for Christmas.  :D

New blanket

My friend Sarah is having another boy.  I decided to make the new baby's blanket the same pattern as Ben's, just in a different color.  I chose Red Heart's Soft Baby Steps in Blue Earth.  I really like this yarn.  It's so nice and soft.  I'm using the Lacey Baby Blanket pattern I found on my Lion Brand Babysoft yarn skein, and it looks totally different from the last two blankets I made of the same pattern.

I think I over-bought the yarn, because I wanted to make sure I had all the same dye lot.  I can always make the baby a matching sweater and hat if that's the case.  :-)

I'll post another picture as I get further along.

Baby Shower

I'm still slowly working on my yellow blanket, but I realized that I forgot to post the pictures of what I made for my friend Melissa's shower.  I think I posted all of these at some point, but I'll post them all here tonight.  I love this slanted shell pattern for the blanket.  I really want to make another one soon.  I decided not to crochet a border around this one, but I may try a border with my next one.

Originally I made a ruffled sweater pattern to match the blanket, but Melissa didn't want to know the sex of her baby, and a ruffled sweater might be a little feminine for a boy.  I used the Snuggly Wuggly yarn for this sweater.  It might have been my first project with the yarn.  I liked the yarn so much that I've been using it for most of my baby sweaters.  I loved the little yellow buttons I found, and I wish I could remember where I got them.  Hopefully I can find them again.

I think this one is my favorite.  I used Caron's Simply Soft yarn, and I liked that it was a slightly bigger size than the other baby sweater patterns that I've gotten from Bella Bambina's blog.  I definitely would love to make more of these.

Melissa is due in ten days.  I'm hoping to try and make something else quickly once I find out the sex of the baby.  Like, I could probably make a cute sweater dress in a few days if it's a girl.  Not sure what I'll make if it's a boy.  Maybe a blue sweater or hat.  Although, I do have a pattern for a pumpkin hat I'd like to try, and it is almost fall.  (I'm so excited for fall!)

Victory!

I can tell I'm out of practice when I have to rip out my work six times before I'm able to figure out what's wrong with it.  Finally, on Wednesday's lunch, I was sitting in our break room just staring at the directions when I had my epiphany.  I wasn't counting the last single crochet on one row as the first single crochet when I started the next row.  (Sounds strange, but hopefully it's understandable.) Once I figured it out, I couldn't understand how I managed to miss it so many times.  I haven't measured it yet, but I guess I'm about a quarter of the way done. 

I did take pictures of my friend Melissa's shower gifts.  I just haven't had the time to post them yet.  They're on my laptop, which I don't have with me at the moment.  I'll do another post with them early next week.

Out of practice

I am trying to get back to crocheting, but since my left hand is still a little tingly, it's slow-going.  I started another Hooded Baby Blanket, like the one I posted awhile back.  I remember it being an easy pattern, but I am having a not-so-easy time of it this time.  I had to rip out about 6 rows and start all over again.  The end of the foundation row just wasn't sitting right, and it made the edge look lopsided the more I continued.  I'm using the Pound of Love skein in Pastel Yellow, and I'll post a picture when I get a little further into it.  (The picture below is the blanket I made a few months ago.)

I was intending on making the blanket for Bella Bambina's Blanket Blitz, but we'll see how long it takes me to make it.  Hopefully, I'll be able to make more than one blanket, but I'm finding my crocheting going slowly since I'm not yet 100%.

I also started to work on a hat for a friend's baby.  To make it a surprise, I won't be posting any pictures of that until I give it to my friend.  I'm very excited to make it, because I think she'll love it.  The pattern calls for two hooks: F & G.  Unfortunately, I think I started the hat with the F hook, which wasn't right.  (I know I did at least two rows with it.)  I'm going to have to frog that whole thing, too.  Thank goodness I was only about 7 rows in, and it's a baby hat.  :D

I'll post some pictures of the things I made for my friend's shower after I give them to her.  I just have to finish the last row of her blanket, and I'm done.  I would love to make another blanket using that pattern soon.  Maybe when I'm done with my modified Hooded Baby Blanket pattern.

New projects

I just finished the body of my Slanted Shell Baby Blanket, and while I try to figure out what kind of border to add to it, I decided to use up some of my scrap yarn with a giant granny square afghan.  For now I'm just using the left over red and white Red Heart Super Saver yarn I used to make a scarf for my friend Maryanne.  It's not really that big yet.  The white yarn kind of annoys me, though.  It's not as soft and easy to work with as some of my other yarns.

But, this week AC Moore is having a sale on Lion Brand's Pound of Love yarn and Bernat's yarn that's about the same size.  I bought two of each brand to save since they're not 2 for $10 very often.  Since I was getting aggravated with the granny square afghan, I thought I'd try one of the patterns that came on the label of the Bernat Baby Sport skein.  It's a round blanket, and the stitches are cluster stitches that I've never done before, so it was a little challenging at first, but I think I'm getting the hang of it now.  I've gotten a little further than this picture, but I thought I'd post the picture I put up on Ravelry.

I think this is going to turn out to be an interesting blanket.  I've never done a round blanket before, and I'm not sure how long it's going to take.  I don't have anyone in mind for this blanket yet, but I didn't have anyone in mind when I started the slanted shell blanket either, and now I'm going to give it to my friends Melissa and Brian for their baby that's due in September.  As soon as I finish the border on that blanket, I'll post another picture.  I really love the pattern the slanted stitch makes.  It looks like it might be hard, but it's really not.  I would recommend the patten to anyone who wants to make something that looks a little different.  (The link to the pattern is in my original post.)

Hooded Baby Afghan

I was visiting family last week, and had to start a new project, since I forgot to bring extra yarn with me for my current project: a slanted shell baby blanket for my friends Melissa and Brian.  I happened to pack a skein of Lion's Brand Pound of Love yarn, because I'm very close to finishing the slanted shell blanket, and I wanted to have something to work on at night.

I used the pattern on the yarn wrapper, which was a hooded baby afghan.  It's such an easy stitch, and I love the pattern.  The hood part was a little strange to attach.  I'll definitely make this pattern again, but I would like to try at least one blanket without the hood and make it a little bigger.  It's kind of small, but I think it's fine for a small (newborn) baby.

Another baby afghan

I found a pattern for a slanted shell baby hat awhile back, and I decided to make it last night while I was watching tv.  I finished very quickly, so today I decided to look for a slanted stitch baby blanket pattern.  I found one at The Art of Crochet by Teresa, and that's what I'm working on now.  I had a little problem with the ends of rows when I first started out, but I quickly figured out how to end the row without adding a shell and distorting the shape.  I decided to use some yarn out of my stash: Bernat Softee Baby in Chiffon Print.  I'm using an H hook, because it's what I used to make the baby hat, and I liked the way it came out.  Once you get the hang of the slanted shell pattern, it goes very quickly.  I'll post another picture when I'm further along.

I'm supposed to visit my family this weekend, and hopefully that will include a visit to see my best friend, who's expecting her second daughter in a few weeks.  I'm going to pack up everything I made for the baby, and I'll take pictures before I do.  I'm really impressed with myself.  Before I started to crochet again a few months ago, I never thought I'd be able to make anything more intricate than the most basic patterns, but I'm learning.  :D

Almost finished...

So this is the baby blanket I'm working on for my friend Nicole.  I'm so excited, because I'm so close to being finished.  I'm hoping to give it (and some other projects) to her this weekend.  I'm going to take pictures of everything before I wrap them up so I can post them here.  The picture was taken with my cell phone camera, so the colors aren't as pretty as they are in real life.  The yarn is Red Heart Soft Baby Steps in Princess Smart Print.  I've gotten so many compliments on the blanket as I've been working on it.  I really love the colors.

I'm also happy because Michael's was having a sale on the Red Heart Baby Cloud yarn.  I have a pattern for a cute baby blanket from my Susan Bates learn crochet book using that yarn, so I ran up and bought some.  The biggest challenge was to find five skeins with the same dye lot.  Very frustrating.  I managed to find five skeins of Sunny Multi: a mix of yellow, green, blue, and pink.  I can't wait to see how it looks worked up.  I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do with the blanket when it's done, but I'm sure I'll figure it out.  *g*

I'm also working on a throw blanket for myself with a pretty pattern I found online.  I'm using Red Heart Super Saver yarn in Rose, and I think it's coming out very nice.  I'll post a picture of that when I'm further along.  I started it while I was waiting for the yarn for Nicole's baby blanket, so it's really not that far along yet, maybe 10 rows.  I'm not in a rush with it, though, because it's for me.  I'll be working on it when I have no other projects to do.

Yesterday was my friend Sarah's baby shower. I was so happy to finally give her all the stuff I'd been working on for baby Ben. I really need a better way to take pictures of my work. LOL!

First up was the baby blanket. I got the patter off a skein of Lion Brand Baby Soft yarn, but I used Red Heart Soft Baby Steps yarn in Mellow Yellow Smart Print. I love the feel of the Red Heart yarn. It was softer than the Baby Soft yarn, but the stitches didn't come out as tight, It's an easy pattern to work up, though.

Since it seems to use up more yarn than the Baby Soft, I ran to AC Moore's and bought up whatever they had left in the dye lot. I had a few skeins left over, so I made a sweater and hat as well.

I got the sweater pattern from Bella Bambina.  It's a very simple cardigan pattern that I love.  My husband helped me find some adorable turtle buttons in Joanne's (my friends have several turtles as pets).  The hat I got here: http://www.bevscountrycottage.com/preemieround.html.  I accidentally made an extra row, which made the hat roll up when I finished it.  I thought it made it a little more boyish, so I left it.  I believe I've posted about the hat and sweater before.  


The last items I gave was a sleep sack with a matching hat.  I made this one before I made the bear cocoon, so I had some idea how they worked.  I finished it fairly quickly. I still have some light blue yarn left.  I can't remember if it was Red Heart or Bernat yarn.  There was a sale when I got the baby pink, yellow, and blue yarns.  I like to roll the yarn into balls, so the label is most likely in the heart of the ball of yarn.  LOL!

I'm not sure how long the sleep sacks are really good for.  They might be better for preemie babies.  I loved making the hat.  I think that even if I didn't make the sleep sack that I might make up the hat again.  We'll see if this is something I can make for charity.


Right now I'm working on a baby blanket for my friend Nicole.  I'm using the Red Heart Soft Baby Steps yarn in Princess Smart Print, which I am crazy about.  I've gotten so many compliments on it.  (I did with the Mellow Yellow Smart Print as well.)  I finally joined Ravelry, and Nicole's blanket is the first one I put up.  I can't wait to look around the site more to get more familiar with it.


As I said in my photography blog, I haven't really posted in awhile, because my dad is in the hospital, and I just haven't been up for it.  I've had an upper respiratory infection, so I can't make the trip to visit him.  He's suffering from congestive heart failure, and they're still doing tests. Any prayers, well-wishes, etc. would be greatly appreciated.