So, new years resolutions already a bust...

One of my resolutions has already been slashed.. nope, make that 2.. but it is for a good reason!

I have gotten so much business in my baby shower boutique with custom orders, I have not had the chance to post a blog update, or to knit/crochet any charity hats.

Remember this?

I am making 2 of these sets for boys this week, is that a good reason to have NOT kept my end of the blogger resolutions?

Guess I'll need to do a few extras this week... or maybe next week, because.... drum-roll...............................



I am moving!

Again...

This time it is for the better, though I had to find homes for my feline friends and one of my super fluffy adorable puppies..... but it is for the best, and when I move again to a larger house, I can get them back, a very good friend from high school is fostering them until hubby gets into National Guard, and/or gets hired soon by ANY Oregon police department.

As for the crafty side... I love being able to multi-task.

Tonight, our Criminal Justice Club hosted a "Cop Movie Night" where we watched The Expendables.

Not as bad as I expected, in fact, much better than I expected. But seeing as I had budgeted for that time to be spent making a hat to match a blanket I have already finished, I still chose to crochet through the movie... while watching it most of the time. It is rather difficult to rip out a project with boucle yarn in the dark and pick back up to finish it......

That is a rant for another time though. Here is what I got finished at the movie:

Okay, so the blanket I finished while waiting for a yarn store to open up so I could get some yarn for a charity hat drive they were hosting... do those hats count toward my charity work?

Now, these are Sensations Boucle, and don't really follow ANY sort of official pattern. The blanket is crocheted with a J hook, in a basic granny square, the tonal yarn self stripes, and the hat closest to the blanket is made the same way, it is a 3 round granny square, then I started doing the rounds without the increases at the corners. So rather than "3dbl, ch 1, 3 dbl in corner space", it is just a "3 dbl in corner space."

The second hat, which is still a work in progress, is just a plain circle, worked in dbl then once I got to 4 rounds, I stopped increasing. This is a basic bucket hat but because of the drape of the hat, it will form better to the baby head.

Tomorrow I am doing feather hair extensions at the local Indoor Market, and then the rest of the weekend and into the week I am packing for the big move. While we may need to commute 4 days a week, the money we are saving in rent and laundry will MORE than pay for cost of gas.

I am also working through my scraps to get a decent stock of baby goods to toss up on my Etsy.. I have neglected it so much... whoops.

Do you ever get so bogged down that you have to prioritize your obligations?

Finishes, and Baby Showers

I have an endless list of holiday knitting, but woke up this morning from a dream about knitting designs...

But that is for a later moment. For now, I need to update you on some finishes, some gifts I have been waiting to blog about until they were given, and some decent weather to photograph some of my finishes from last month.

So, here is all is!

We will start off with Fynn and his baby shower gifts. My friend Taylor is expecting her first child. She and her fiancee are a very non-orthodox couple. They requested that nothing be "typical baby". The nursery theme is pirates, and the baby shower was themed Jungle.

That got me thinking, every new parent I know has a blanket that they really like to put on their baby's crib or to wrap them up in when they are running about town with their little one. I wanted the blanket I made for them to be a representation of their personality as much as a gift for the baby.

Here you have it:

Yep, that is right, those are pirate skulls on a hand embroidered baby quilt...I wish I could have gotten better pics of that, but the pic I got of the skulls up close were a bit too blurry to save.

I also gave with this set, a handmade card (should have gotten pics of that too), as well as a granny square blanket crocheted out of Joann Sensations Rainbow Boucle in Blue (self striping) and a matching hat, as well as a couple of outfits, and I will be taking washcloths and burp cloths to her in the hospital when she has baby Fynn, I didn't finish making them before the shower.

Next, I have been trying to get some photos of some of the finishes I have done, the main one being the climbing shells scarf that I did over a month ago.

With school and the weather being so annoying, I couldn't get anything decent.

This was my first attempt:

Not so great, right?

How about this one?

I decided to try something, I decided to go into the bathroom, turned on the light, used the mirror to see my digital screen and used the auto setting on my camera... That way, your camera isnt fighting the light facing you, it is only using that light.

 Next thing I wanted to show... I have seen those adorable ear warmer headbands that have fun buttons or cute flowers offset to one side or the other, they wrap under your hair and cover your ears for those cold mornings, and frosty nights walking the dogs or heading to school.


Here is my rendition:  The Head-hugger!

Really simple garter stitch with big needles and super bulky yarn... I will post a recipe for this design in my next separate post...


You will also be able to find it on Ravlery. It is SUPER warm, and I got so many compliments today at school.

I am about half way through my diagonal garter baby blanket with eyelet border, but didn't get photos yet, and I think I might do another version of the Back-2-School with Flair scarf in Lion Brand Homespun, also, I may have found an adequate yarn replacement for the suggested, but discontinued Moda Dea Dream I used on the original for this pattern...

Gifts to a dear friend

are always the best kind, and even more so when they are handmade.

My friend Kristi is expecting her first child, (and she says only child), on Halloween. She and I drifted apart through my attending college and her starting a family, but came back together during this joyous time in her life.

She is expecting a little girl, so I did what I do best...I started crafting!

 Here is the score:

 6 burp cloths, hand-sewn, 4 matching blanket, 2 accenting blanket

 1 sewn blanket at 45 in x 48 in, Flannel on 1 side, and quilted pink plaid on the other.

 1 store bought jumpsuit, and 1 handmade card...

1 Crochet granny square blanket in Sensations Boucle Pink

Of course, I forgot to take a photo of the card and the blanket in detail before I gifted it, but I might yet get pics of baby Lily wrapped up in it all.

Progress and plans...and some stuff about studying

This week, I have had too much to do and not enough time or energy to do it in.

Thursday, I started showing signs of a headcold.

Not to be put out of commission, I slammed a vitamin C pumped smoothie and went about my day...I worked through the discomfort and feelings of fire in my sinuses, and now I am without voice, or energy. I really should have taken the day off and slept...

Yesterday, I had a baby shower...the day before, I realized that the fabric I bought for the shower gift was still un-sewn and in it's original bag...whoops.

So I sewed like crazy through the baby blanket, fought with my sewing machine, and finally finished. I had a ton of extra fabric from the blanket, so I found my stash of terrycloth and made 4 matching and 2 coordinating burp cloths.

I would post pics, but my memory card reader has disappeared...

While I was in the next town over, I got an invite to another baby shower...on the same day as the one I am planning. So I have moved my friends shower 1 day back, and will be in the next few weeks, crafting for 2 showers at the same time.Starting with the Granny Square Blankie for Gavin

All of these crafty activities have forced me to put my own projects on hold, as least for a few weeks. I have been commissioned to make up a scarf and 2 hats for my neighbors grown son and his fiance. Those should be easy, once I get the motivation...

And in all of this, I have to remember that I am a college student and must keep up on my homework...speaking of, have you ever noticed that college professors get very jaded after a while...I was assigned an entrepreneur to research and write a report on, and it turns out she only did 1 thing worth reporting on...and I had to BS my way from a 2 paragraph paper to a 2 page paper...

I have put my Cropped Cardigan on hold for the moment being, simply because there is not enough time in the day to do it all...

Took a break from the world...

So Friday was my husband's 23rd birthday, and so we took a spontaneous roadtrip. Camped out at the beach in Rockaway Beach, Oregon...went to a craft fair, looked at some houses, and got to be kids again. We built a dam in the river that came off the mountain and across the beach, and we took a nap in the sand. Had a nice glass of wine and a mini-bonfire the last night we were there. And then it was back home and back to work.

When I got home, I decided to pick up some yarn to work on a blanket for a friend. She is having a baby boy in December.

She is swaying right now between a pirate theme and a dragon theme. I did a granny square motif, with a 10 round square in the middle alternating every 2 rounds between the 2 colors, and then I did solid colored 5 round squares around the border. All that is left is to stitch it all together, pictures to follow.

Also working on a little girls blanket in pink and yellow in a chevron pattern...it is adorable...I will put pics up when I get more of it done.

Owen is almost here!

Update on craftiness!

Don't have much time, but I felt the need to let you all know just how much progress I have made.

I skipped class today to deal with a headache, and to work on these. J's shower is Sunday!

This needs another 10 rounds of dbl and the ribbon, 8 rounds will be of teh blue, and the last 2 of the green (which looks blue here...)
This just needs to be stitched together, the blue is the back, and the frogs and other animals is the front. His name and the birth year are handstitched in black embroidery thread.

Let me know what you think!

WIP Wednesday!

So, not much to show you, only have 2 projects going right now.

The first project is the dress for my baby sister's baby girl. Her birthday falls on Easter, and so I am making her a super cute Easter outfit. I already showed you the hat here, and now I am working on a Maxi Dress. This is a top down sweater dress, so no seaming, which is cool. I took the pattern and used the top have, the shoulders then too some 'advice' from the mom, and tweaked it a little bit to make the dress more "twirly and swirly". Instead of doing an increase on either side of the markers, I am doing a YO before each marker, creating a visible "Swirl" down the shirt section of the dress. (Raveled Here)


Brooklin liked one of my tank tops last summer, so it will flow and fall like that one, tight around the bust to keep it in place, then flowy from the tummy down. She will love it (I hope)!
Need to go by the "dollar Tree" today, they have this yarn in stick, only a buck a piece, and in more than just these 2 colors, I need to pick more up for this dress and some for a few hats too.

***

Secondly, the scarf I showed you last week is well on its way and just over 1/3 done...



Again, this is done on the Knifty Knitter long blue loom, with 1 strand black acrylic (not sure the brand, but it is very soft) and 1 strand of the Sensations Rainbow Boucle in Red/black. the 2 strands are used as 1 throughout, wrapping around every-other peg zig-zagging down the board. I will be knitting this out to 300 rows, I am just past 100. That will make this scarf roughly 6.5 ft long. (Raveled Here) There is no official pattern, but if you would like to use this reference, please feel free.

First Finish of March!

Hunter's blanket is finally done, just some finishing touches on the bib, baby bottle cover, and hat, and it'll all be ready to give to the person who commissioned me to make it.

Tiff will be giving this as a baby shower gift in May, to the mother-to-be of her baby nephew.



Only took 2 weeks, and a lot of motivation. But I think it will be well received, it is so comfy!

New house, and new projects.

We finally got into our new house, and I have 1/2 of an entire room to myself for my crafts!

In other news, we went out to dinner with my in-laws the other day and discovered that the manager of our favorite Vietnamese Restaurant is expecting. Her name is Vicki, and she is not going to find out the sex of the baby, but I asked if she would mind if I made her a blanket.

I went shopping with my hubby the next day, and found some Bernat Baby Coordinates in gender neutral colors of green and purple. I have created it as a large ever expanding Granny Square. I started with a green center, and change to and from the purple every 5 rows. I will be adding a picot or shell boarder at the end, I have not decided yet.



Also, created a new blanket using Rainbow Boucle in pink. It is crocheted in a Granny Square, much like Vicki's blanket. Bust as the Rainbow Boucle has a natural color change, I will just crochet until it is large enough. I am binding the edges of that one with satin bias tape. This, I hope, will extend the usefulness of the blanket for many years, and maybe even many cildren. I still have my bias bound blanket from my childhood. It is still in good enough condition to wrap my kids up in (when I have them).

Photos and patterns will come soon, I promise.

My first baby blanket

I keep telling people about the baby blanket I knitted...it seems like forever ago that I completed it, it was only a year and a half ago.

My little sister was only 16 when she had her baby girl. Finances were not exactly stable, so rather than her spending money on things like coats and baby blanket, I wanted here to have plenty of hand crafted items so she could spend her money on things like formula, and diapers.

I started this project 3 months before the baby was born, and lost the project 1 panel in (I was moving) 2 weeks after the babies due date, I found it again (notice I said due date???). I told my mom that I would work her furniture store while she helped my little sister finish setting up the nursery/ her room. In less than 3 days, I finished the blanket. The baby was born the next morning. Baby Brooklin Nichole. April 4, 2008.


Shadow's (that's the mom) favorite colors were Pink and Purple, and I found a great Variegated Red Heart super Saver that worked perfect when doubled with RH Super Saver White. Alvin, yes like the chipmunk, ( That's the highly un-liked Daddy) liked Blues and greens, so i found another great RedHeart Super Saver Variegated and paired that with the white from the pinks and purples.

The blanket was made up with 3 panels of alternating colors.

All panels were knitted on the Purple rectangle loom by Knifty knitter.

I guessed on the length of each panel, I knitted (zig-zag or figure 8 stitch) a few inches in the first color and white until the panel started to set into it's correct width (after it starts to slacken from being stretched between the pegs) and measured how wide it was, then I knitted until it was as long in that color as the panel was wide, counted the rows (this is your base row count) every other section of color will be this many rows.

Switch to the other color and white, keeping the white uncut. knit the number of rows you determined from 1st section, and switch back to the first color. Knit the number of rows you have worked out. Bind off with your preferred bind off method.

This is 1 panel. You will make another just like this.

The 3rd panel will be made the same way, but switching the colors, so that you secondary color and white will be the first and last square of color.

When all the panels are complete, you will line up the stitches and stitch them together, I used whip stitch on the blanket shown above, but in the future I would use mattress or blanket stitch to avoid the bulkiness on the back.



I accented this blanket at each of the meeting corners in the middle of color with a daisy made on the KK Flower loom. Each flower had a pearl center, do not use beads that are glued in or just sewn in if this blanket will be used as a regular child's blanket. Shadow used this one to shade baby in her swing, so baby Brooklin never actually touched this blanket until she was almost 2 years old. By which time the pearls had fallen off in the wash or in the nursery closet. My next blanket, I might use large festive buttons, or leave it without centers, just have the flowers.


Additional ideas!

If you want to make the blanket for use in a car-seat, leave a section about 6 inch wide un-sewn int he middle of one of the panels as you sew them together. this gives adequate room to buckle a seat-belt through the blanket without pulling the warmth off of the babies feet.