Here we go! This is the finished baby blanket. :) I decided that I liked the way it looked without all the ruffle trim that the pattern calls for so I didn't trim it off the way the pattern called for. It's bigger then I thought it was. It turned out really pretty and the pattern is really simple. I laid it out on the couch to take the pictures and was really surprised at how big it really was.

I have to get back to work on the princess blanket. But first, I have to go get more yarn for it. I have to replace the pink that I used from the stash. I was hoping that I would have the Princess blanket done by now, but it got set aside. It shouldn't take me all that long to finish, provided I can remember the pattern for it. I have the directions, it'll just take a little bit to get into the rhythm again.

Also of note, the other baby blanket I made was received and liked. That makes me happy. I like making people happy. :) I have so many people wanting blankets that it's not even funny. I don't mind though. I don't know how soon I'll be getting to them. It all depends on how soon I finish up the one that's in my bag. I will start working on that one again this week sometime. It shouldn't take as long, since I'm working it a different way than originally planned. I made it too wide to be a lap afghan, but turning it made it the right length for one.

And thus ends the crochet updates. ;)

So, I started on another baby blanket for another pregnant friend.  I'm over halfway done with it, which makes me really happy.  It's beautiful pink and really simple to do.  I found the pattern online. It's a smaller scale of another pattern that I had, which makes me really happy.

I need to get about finishing the main pattern so I can do the trim and get it sent off.  I was bouncing right along, but decided to take some time off to read my book instead.  I haven't taken a new pic since I got more length on it, so this is when I first started it.

Hopefully I'll get it done and sent off in plenty of time.  I finally got the blue one sent off and it's been received, but I've not heard anything about whether she liked it or not.

I've turned into a monster. Seriously. Every time I sit down with nothing to do, I start crocheting. Yesterday and Today, I was playing with some really pretty cotton thread-like stuff that came from Peaches & Creme. I didn't like it to make blankets, it didn't work up as nicely as what I usually use. It was heavy and I didn't care for the feel of it. So, I went and found a dishcloth pattern that I really liked. It's called Over The Rainbow. I didn't think I'd be able to do it, just from looking at it, but I decided to give it a shot anyway. It worked up quickly and I really like the results of it.

Mom didn't care for the openness of the dishcloth, so she recommended that I find a different pattern if I was going to make more. I can see the point, since you want a surface to work with and the holes are defeating the purpose, so back to the site I went and found a really pretty heart dishcloth. It worked up easy, but I ended up miscounting the stitches, so it's uneven. I think I know how it happened, since I was watching a movie and chatting while I was working on it.

I also decided to play with some of the beautiful blue wool/mohair yarn that I have as well. I found this really pretty crochet pattern that I thought would look fantastic with the yarn color that I have, so I downloaded it.  Just for something a little bit different to work on since I don't have the right stuff for the princess blanket yet.

I found this pattern on freepatterns.com and thought it would be cool to try to work it up. It called for 2ply yarn and a K hook, but what I have is 4ply and I'm working with an H hook. It comes out to the same gauge, so it's all good. I like the way it's working up. It looks really neat and is working up quickly. I just hope that overall it doesn't take a ton of yarn to finish. I'll likely mix in a few white rows to break up the blue monotony, which will make it a lot easier on the wool. I've got a lot of rows left to go and I'm almost through one skein already.

Something else I've done with the pattern is to take it and cut it down to the width of a scarf and have been working that up with a skein of Red Heart soft sport yarn that my husband got me. It didn't work for the project it was for.  It was the wrong weight and wouldn't work with the hook that I use for it.  So I've got that in progress as well.

Since they were requested on another blog. The picture to the left is one of the 48 centers for the afghan that I have been making. I'd take a picture of the whole pile, but they're scary! But yeah. Those are the centers that I've been making. I still need to get the other shade of green for the next row of it. Then it's back to white for the final row. THEN it's time to weave the loops together and sew them together. After that, it's time to trim and finish it. I can't wait to see the finished product, which means I need to go yarn shopping soon. Won't be tomorrow, thanks to the weather, maybe one day next week will be nice enough. *bounce*

Today, I moved on to step two on a couple of them and put the green on a couple of the centers, just so I could take pictures. They look pretty cool, but they're going to be a pain in the ass to do to an extent, just like the centers were. I love the way they work up and how pretty it will be when they're woven together, but do a little, tie off, move to the next. It gets really monotonous and annoying, especially having 48 of them to do. Once I get more than a couple done and get a rhythm going, it'll probably go quickly. I got to the point where I was just firing out the centers like the world was ending. LOL

My next project is going to be my first afghan for donation. I've started the centers of the squares the other night, but I put it aside in hopes of finishing the baby blanket first. Tonight, however, I've spent the night trying to find a pattern that we KNOW we have somewhere around here. It's for the afghan that my mother made for me a couple years ago. We can't find the book and the pattern is not online as far as I can tell.

Heck, the one that I'm working on (pictured left) isn't even available online. That picture was from an ebay auction of the pattern (linked on the image). Someone clipped the pattern from an old (1985) Annie's Pattern Club book.  I'm not sure that was the brightest idea for this person to do, but it's their loss, imho.  Annie's books are just a treasure trove of great patterns.  My mother made many a crochet baby blanket and afghan from those books.  I have the actual complete book. It's been well loved. (aka beaten up and abused) My mother has made several of them and they look really cool when they're all done and sewn together. She's done so many color variations that it's not even funny. I will be getting to work on the centers tomorrow or so, tho. I have 45 more to make. Then I can figure out what other colors I'm going to use.

This is the first hat that I made. I had a bunch of leftover burgundy yarn from an afghan my mother made for me, so I figured I would work up a hat for Rob with it. I made him model for me tonight so that I could post pictures. No, he didn't want to. Oh well. He didn't get much of a choice. :P I told him to put it on so I could take pictures, can you tell he wasn't enthused?

This is one of the head hugger hat patterns that I really liked.  It was a quick and easy project that I worked up in a few hours.  I'm a slow crocheter, since I get distracted easily by shiny objects.. or something.

This, my friends, is the completed  baby blanket. I finished it just after midnight last night. This is the first afghan that I've made and first large project that I've finished. I'm psyched about that. I usually get frustrated and bored, then toss stuff aside. So I'm really proud of myself for getting this done. I just need to get it packed up and mailed off to the mother-to-be. That means I need to get her address from her when I see her online again.  Hopefully that will be soon so that it doesn't sit around too long. *whistles*

This was done with no pattern other than a basic granny square crochet pattern.  I learned years ago how to make a granny square and this is the same principle.  Just much much larger.  It's one continuous square with two rows of white thrown in to break up the blues some.  I used Red Heart  Shaded Dusk for the main color and Red Heart White for the white parts.  Simple directions, just keep going 'round and round the square until it's 30" or more, depending on what size you want.

I was turned on to Head Huggers by a friend of mine. She mentioned the site to me and I instantly felt like it was something I wanted to take part in.  The premise of the organization is simple.  If you can crochet, knit or sew, you can take part.  Head huggers provides hats to chemotherapy patients so that they can keep their heads warm.

Head huggers has a list of different crochet hat patterns, along with knit hat patterns and even sewn hat patterns as well.  Once you complete your hat(s), you submit your caps and they can be distributed to various cancer centers around the country.

You do not have to pick a pattern from the provided list, you can choose to use whatever pattern you like.  You don't even have to submit your caps for distribution, you can distribute them on your own.  The point of the project is not to contribute to a specific place or person, but to contribute.

If you have any hat patterns that you think would work for this project, please do contribute them.  I'm always looking for patterns.

One of the projects that I've decided that I want to work on this year is to do something to give back.  I had thought about several different things that I could do to give back and I kept coming back to the idea of making afghans for the local nursing facilities in the area.

Many times you hear of people that put family members in a nursing home then rarely ever see them.  There are people who have no family, or have little to no personal items of their own.  I thought that it would be a nice gesture to make a lap afghan for someone and donate it.  There are ways to find a quick and easy crochet afghan pattern, something that you can work up quickly and make several of easily.

As soon as I thought of this, I shared the idea with my mother who is also a crafter.  She thought it was a fantastic idea and it's not overly costly, especially if you use left over yarns from other projects.  You can make some of the prettiest afghans with scrap colors, and never have the same thing twice unless you want it to be.

In many cases, you can contact your local art and craft supply stores and ask them for donations of yarns or other materials if crochet and knit isn't your thing.  You can even contact the yarn suppliers directly.  Some will send you supplies at no cost, or for shipping cost.  So give it some thought and see if you can come up with some sort of design for a craft project you can do to give back.

If this is something that you think you'd be interested in, contact your local nursing facilities, or even the local red cross, or mission to see if they would like to have donations.  Give back, it's good for your soul.

In my next post, I'll be writing about another crafting cause.

I sat down and tried to figure out just what craft projects I want to do in 2008 and most of them are crochet projects.  In case anyone is interested, I thought that I'd make my first post of the new year a list of the projects that I'd like to work on.

After I finish the baby blanket from the previous post, I want to work on a special project for a lady whose family lost everything in a fire right before Christmas.  She collected a lot of things with lighthouses on them.  She had just gotten a brand new set of lighthouse canisters and lost them in the fire.  I want to find some different Lighthouse inspired craft projects to make for her.  I grew up with her family, in fact her youngest son was the first boy I had a crush on, so I want to do something for her.

If you have any good lighthouse patterns that are crochet or plastic canvas, let me know! I want to do as many as I can. :)

After I do that, I'm going to work on a couple of afghan's for next Christmas.  I want to make one for my nephew in blue and green and I'm considering making one for a close friend in bright pink.  I don't know what patterns I want to use for either of them, so throw crochet afghan patterns my way!

I also have plans on making a set of place mats for my mother, and work on expanding the range of stitches and styles I can crochet.  I'm kind of limited right now, but I'd like to get past the beginner patterns.  I want to make a Celtic knot throw for over our bed as well.  So, yeah, that's my 2008 plans.  What are yours, friends?

This is the project that I'm working on right now.  I am making a baby blanket for a good friend of mine.  She told me recently that she is having a little boy, so I thought that it'd be nice to make her a blanket.

I found in my travels this beautiful veragated blue yarn that I had to bring home with me.  At the time, I  had no specific project in mind, but I thought it was absolutely beautiful.

I started working up a simple, basic crochet pattern of a granny square.  Something I've always been good at making since I learned to crochet.  I put it aside after a short time, since I had no real plans for it and didn't want to waste the yarn.  Once I learned of my friend's pregnancy, I decided to turn it into a baby blanket.

I have no instructions for this, other than the basic granny square pattern that I was given years ago, just expanded to add rows to make it large enough for the blanket size.  Below is the basic granny square directions.  Give it a try and see if you can come up with a design of your own.

Standard Granny Square

Materials Needed:
Worsted weight 4ply yarn, any colors.
Size G or H aluminum crochet hook
Yarn needle

Abbreviations Used for this pattern:
* Ch------Chain
* dc------Double Crochet
* slst----Slip Stitch
* sp------space
* rnd-----round
* rg------ring

Directions:
RING: Ch 4, st in first ch to form ring.

RND 1: Ch 3, 2 dc in rg. Ch 2, *3dc in rg, ch3. Repeat from * 2 times more pulling the ring taught as you go then working the yarn tail into the last 2 dcs. Ch2, slst in top of ch3.

RND 2: Sl st in the first 2 dc's and in the first ch 2 lp. Ch3, 2 dc in ch 2 sp, ch2, work 3 dc in same sp. Work the following 3 times (Ch1, work 3 dc, ch2, 3 dc in next ch 2 lp.) Ch1, join with slst to top of ch 3.

RND 3: Sl st in the first 2 dc's and in the first ch 2 sp. Ch 3, 2 dc in ch 2 sp, ch 2, work 3 dc in same sp. Ch 1, work 3 dc in next ch 1 sp. Ch 1. Work the following 3 times (Work 3 dc, ch2, 3 dc in next ch 2 sp. Ch 1, work 3 dc in next ch 1 sp. Ch 1.) Join with sl st to top of ch 3.

RND 4: Sl st in the first 2 dc's and in the first ch 2 sp. Ch 3, 2 dc in ch 2 sp, ch 2, work 3 dc in same sp. Ch 1, work 3 dc in next ch 1 sp. Ch 1. Work the following 3 times (Work 3 dc, ch2, 3 dc in next ch 2 sp. *Ch 1, work 3 dc in next ch 1 sp. Ch 1.* twice) Join with sl st to top of ch 3.

Continue rounds until you have the desired sized square.

Changing Colors:
To change colors at beginning of each rnd Fasten off after slst to top of ch3. Leave yarn about 3" long and weave end into work before adding new color. Slst new color in ch 2 lp and proceed onto the next rnd in pattern weaving end into work as you go.

Tip for Keeping each Square SQUARE:
As you work the dcs for the corners, pull them to the right for the first side of the corner and to the left for the second side of each corner. Since you are working in a ch 2 sp, the dcs should slide freely so that they are tight against the dcs of the previous round.

Finishing:
Work 3 sc in corner; work sc evenly spaced along top edge to next corner; work 3 sc in corner; work sc evenly spaced to next corner; rep from * once more. Join with slip st to first sc.

Sources:
http://members.tripod.com/Crafty_Lady/grannysq.html
http://www.michaels.com/art/online/projectsheet?pid=e02066