Wrist Warmers

It's been a hectic few weeks.  We're waiting for a closing date for our house, which should be in the next week or so.  I've been sorting and packing like crazy.  There's still so much to do, especially since it's so close to the holidays.

I have been keeping up with my baby blanket project, though.  I'm a little less than halfway done.  I'll post a picture of that soon.  However, it's been so cold out lately, and my hands get so cold when I'm surfing the internet.  I made my mom some wrist warmers last year for Christmas, so I was thinking of making myself a pair, but...I found a pair of them when I was searching my stash box for some yarn to use!  I'm wearing them now.  I got the pattern for these Wooly Wrist Warmers  from Crochet Pattern Central.  They were super easy to make.  It's really just a double crocheted square that's slip stitched together.  So far, they're keeping my hands nice and warm.

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.

It's been too long...

I haven't updated in awhile, but we've been busy house-hunting...and packing.  We didn't intend on buying a house right now, but it just kind of snowballed since we looked at a house close to my brother-in-law and sister-in-law.  This is a picture of part of the backyard.  We have a gazebo and a solar green house!  How cool is that?!  Hopefully we'll be in the house before Christmas.

My friend Sarah is pregnant with her second baby, and she'll find out the sex of the baby this week.  So in between packing and the move, I'll have to find time to crochet a baby blanket.  I'll post a picture here as soon as I find the right yarn for my project and get it started...hopefully in the next week or so.

It's a girl!

My friend Melissa had her baby on September 15, 2010.  Of course, I had to dig out a girly color to make a dress for her as soon as I got the news.  I made Bella Bambina's Azalea Dress in Snuggly Wuggly pink yarn.  I love the buttons I used on it.  I need to find more...I think I bought them in Joanne's.

I made a matching hat as well.  I used Manner's Basic Baby Hat pattern.  It's super easy and quick to make, and it naturally folds up at the bottom.

Melissa's sister sent me a picture of the baby in my outfit that night.  She looked so cute!  (Of course, she looked cute before that. *g*)

I'm working on another dress in purple in a different pattern.  I'll post it when I'm finished.  I'm about halfway done, but I took today off.  Hopefully I can get it done this weekend.

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.

Hundred Yen Pouch

I haven't really been crocheting much lately.  I've been catching up on my reading instead.  I have so many books piling up!  I'm finishing up physical therapy for my arm, but my hand is still a little tingly, so I'm still crocheting kind of slowly.

I know I posted about the Hundred Yen Pouch awhile back, but I put it in my car before I could take a picture of it.  I brought it in the house today to empty it, so I thought I'd take a few pictures tonight.  It doesn't look quite the same as Melissa's, but it might because of the yarn I'm using.  (It's just some yarn I had left over from a scarf I made myself last winter.)

I'm going to try crocheting a little bit this weekend.  I have to finish up the last row of my Slanted Stitch baby blanket that I worked on my friend Melissa's baby.  About half of the last row came out while I had it stored away, so I just have to stitch that back up.  I'll take some pictures of Melissa's baby things before I wrap them up next week.