Beautiful Sweater Dress

I'm on my sixth sweater for the Bella Bambina contest.  One of the things I made was Kelly's pattern for a Sweater Dress.  I used Caron's Simply Soft in white for the bodice and Baby Brights Ombre for the skirt.  I received so many compliments on it.  I really love the way the colors look together, and the pattern is much easier than I thought.  (I always seem to assume patterns are harder than they are, for some reason.)  I'm definitely going to make this pattern again.

Snuggly Wuggly Yarn

Since I decided to give the contest over at Bella Bambina a try, I went to Michael's on Monday to get some yarn.  I really liked Snuggly Wuggly yarn after I tried it for my friend's baby sweater, so I picked up a few skeins.  Besides the normal colors, like pink and blue, I saw that they now have a Snuggly Wuggly yarn called Mini Dots.  For my first sweater, I used one of the Mini Dots skeins called Daffodil Dots, which has flecks of yellow and green.  I think I have enough to make at least one more sweater.  Hopefully I can make a hat or two to go with them.  I think I might make the sweaters first and add the buttons at the end, so it goes a little faster.  I'm very excited about this, because the sweaters are going to a good charity.  :D

Two sweater projects

My first project was a Sweater Coat pattern from Bella Bambina.  I used the Snuggly Wuggly yarn in Baby Pastel Ombre, and I really like this yarn.  It's nice and soft.  I used yellow stars for the buttons, since my friend Melissa doesn't want to know the sex of the baby.  It's the first time I've tried this pattern, and I really liked it.

After I finished this sweater is when I started the round baby blanket.  I was so close to finishing that, when I discovered I missed a cluster and had to rip out around 6 rows.  As I was ripping those rows out, I discovered that I had been making one of the "corners" a cluster off for 9 rows, which threw that whole side off.  I had to rip out those rows, too.  I decided to take a little break from the blanket and make another baby sweater.  I've gone back to it since I've finished, and I can't wait to post it when it's finally done.

My second project is also from Bella Bambina, called Kelly's Sweater.  For this sweater, I used Caron's Simply Soft yarn in Pastel Green.  I really love this yarn.  It's so soft, and it's kind of shiny.  This sweater is for bigger babies; I think 6 - 9 months.  I used white pearly buttons, because I wanted to keep it neutral, since this is also for Melissa's baby.

For both hats, I used Manner's Basic Baby Hat pattern.  The one that I made with the Simply Soft yarn came out slightly bigger, which I hope will fit a 6 - 9 month baby.  I love this hat pattern, because it's easy and works up so fast.  I've made quite a few hats using this pattern already.

One last thing, Bella Bambina is having a contest. Kelly is asking anyone who enters to make 15 going home outfits for her charity.  I think I might enter; I'm hoping I can make 15 things in time.  If anyone else is interested, please head on over and read the post at the top of her blog.

Ruffled sweater

Here's a sweater that I made a few weeks ago.  I got the pattern from Bella Bambina.  I haven't added the buttons yet, but I will over the weekend.  It was the first thing I made with Bernat Baby Softee yarn, which is the same yarn I used to make the slanted shell stitch blanket.  I'm not sure where the sweater is going yet.  I would like to give it to my friend Melissa, but she doesn't want to know the sex of the baby, and I'm thinking that the ruffles are decidedly feminine.

I took a trip to Michaels last night and bought a skein of Snuggly Wuggly yarn.   Turns out the yarn was on sale. If I would have known, I would have grabbed a few more.  I'm going to make the coat sweater pattern from Bella Bambina with it.  I've been wanting to try the pattern since Kelly posted it.  I bought Baby Pastel Ombre, and I thought that it would be a good unisex sweater for Melissa's baby.  It also kind of matches the yarn I used for the blanket.  I can't wait to start it, but I'm still working on the round baby blanket.  I'm very close to finishing it.  I think I have six rows before I get to the border.  I'll post a picture of it when I'm done.  It's different from anything I've done, and the pattern was very easy once I figured out how to work the cluster stitch.

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.

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