Another sweater dress

I'm not feeling well, so I'm not really crocheting as much as I'd like to.  I started this last night.  Bella Bambina posted a pattern for it yesterday.  It's called an Azalea Dress.  I thought it was so cute.  I thought I'd try my first one with Snuggly Wuggly in Pixie Prints.  I have another yarn with pink and purple in it, so I'll save that to make another dress.

I started another Sweater Dress over the weekend, but I can't work on that for too long, which is why I started this new one.  The yarn I'm using for the other dress is kind of thick for the hook, I think, because it makes my wrist ache after a row or two.  I can take my time with that one.

This current pattern is working up fairly quickly.  It's my ninth item for the charity contest.  I'm so excited that I'm keeping up my goals.  If I get done a little early, maybe I can crochet some pants for a few of the sweaters I made.  :D

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.