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

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

Basic Baby Hat

Late last night I decided to start another baby sweater.  There were two cute sweater that Kelly from Bella Bambina posted on her site recently, and I decided to go with the baby sweater with ruffled bottom.  Since I didn't have any Snuggly Wuggly yarn in my stash, I decided to go with Bernat Softee Baby yarn in Chiffon Print. I finished the project this afternoon while I was watching tv.  I only have to figure out which buttons to put attach, and then I'll take pictures and post it here.  I wish I had the patience to figure out how Kelly did the chain attachment she had pictured, but I'll have to ask since I couldn't figure it out from the picture.  :-)

I did ask Kelly about the hat she had posted with the two sweaters I liked, and she shared the link with me.  I really like the yarn the designer used.  I decided to go with the leftover yarn with which I made my friend Nicole's baby blanket as a trial run.  I like the way it came out, so I'll probably make more of them.  I also found a new blog to follow: Manner's Crochet and Craft, and you can find the pattern to the hat here.

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.