crochet clamshell blanket: begin!

Finally, something crochet to share with you!  I’ve started a blanket using the clamshell tutorial from Cherry Hart (click here for free pattern).  This has been on the to-do list literally for years!

clamshell blanket beginnings
So far, so good.  I changed a couple things in the pattern: I did a foundation sc rather than a chain and row of sc, and I’m using a different stitch when the pattern says to ch 3 at the beginning of a row, just to make it look neater.  The pattern is not hard to memorize and is easy to work.

Here’s the color palette I’m working with:
clamshell blanket palette
It’s KnitPicks’ Brava Sport yarn, which is really soft. I think the dark purple will be for a border.

Well that’s all for now.  There’ll be an update soon!  Thanks for stopping by!

4 tips for making baby shower gifts

baby hat

Above is a gift I gave to my coworker at the last baby shower I attended.  This weekend I’m going to another baby shower, and I’m trying to narrow down options for an appropriate gift.  I’ve got some tips to help:

  1. Use cheap yarn.  Baby things can get messed up.
  2. Use yarn that’s soft enough for a baby’s skin.  This might mean counting out your favorite wool, even if it feels soft to you.
  3. Use yarn that is both machine washable and dryable.  This will help busy moms clean your gift easily, meaning your gift is more likely to get used if the mom isn’t worrying about getting it dirty.
  4. If you want to use a natural fiber, try cotton or bamboo.  They’ll keep the baby warm if you’re making something wearable but they will still breathe, keeping the items from being too hot.

With these tips in mind, I’ve found a few items in my house that are already complete and waiting to be gifted to a soon-to-be mom.  The first is made of Stylecraft Special DK leftovers from a previous blanket (100% acrylic):

baby blanket 1The second is also acrylic (maybe Caron Simply Soft?) and has been around for a couple of years:

baby blanket 2Both of these blankets are soft, made of acrylic, and machine washable and dryable.  Since I’m not sure if I’ll have time to make something else, it’s a choice between the two, but the 4 tips apply to almost anything you want to knit/crochet for a baby.

What are your favorite things to make for babies?

Thanks for stopping by, see you soon!

 

been busy — hats!

Hello everyone!  I hope you’ve all been doing well.  I apologize for my little break in blogging — I’ve just been so caught up in some positive changes at work!  I do have some finished projects to share with you though, so here we go!

baby hat 2 for annaThis is a baby hat made for my coworker Anna — she’s having a baby in February and we’re having a shower for her this Friday!  This was done using KnitPicks Brava Bulky yarn and I used this hat pattern, which has different sizes available for any person’s head!

baby hat 1 for annaThis second baby hat is a highly improvised version of a design.  I don’t really like how it turned out but it does function the way I wanted it to — it’s really stretchy and can be rolled down to make it longer when Anna’s baby gets a bit bigger!  The yarn used for this one was I Love This Cotton by Hobby Lobby.

hat for uncle bruceThis is the third Giftie Slouchie Beanie I’ve made (they only take a few hours), and it’s for my Uncle Bruce, who has recently discovered that he has cancer.  It seems serious, but I haven’t been able to see him because he lives in Arkansas (which is a really long drive and I shouldn’t be taking off work yet, since I’m still a relatively new employee).  My parents have seen him and they said that he might like a hat to keep his head warm, since he’s losing some hair.  This hat was made with Berroco Vintage Chunky.

When my parents were in Arkansas recently, they also visited my Dad’s parents, who were incredibly generous and gave me this:

pianoIt’s an old Estey piano, and I believe my great-grandma bought it.  Now it just needs to be tuned!  I’m so happy to have a piano in my home — I took lessons for a long time when I aws younger and have started to miss playing.

That’s all for right now — there might be some big news coming, but we’ll have to wait and see for that!  Let me know how you all are doing since it’s been a while!

 

 

 

 

crocheting from leftovers

I love using leftovers because it makes me feel like I’m being economical.  The past 3 days I’ve been making this baby blanket out of leftover Stylecraft DK:

babygrannyI used the join-as-you-go method for the squares, since I hate sewing/crocheting them together at the end (although it does look neater).

babygrannycloseHere’s pictures of the border and corner:

babygrannyedge

babygrannycornerAnd no, these were not taken at my house.  My internship has better light and I only saw 1 person today so I had plenty of time.

And guess what?  The cluster stitch, which I recently made a tutorial on, made an appearance (although I clustered 2 instead of 3 stitches together):

babygrannyjoinMuch the best way of joining granny squares at their corners — keeps the border from becoming ruffle-y.

It felt good to be crocheting something again afters such a long break.  I am sorry it’s been so long since I’ve shown you a crocheted item.  Very shameful for a blog called “not your average crochet.”

The baby blanket is kind of small, though… It’ll have to be for a newborn or something.  I just ran out of yarn for some of my colors and I couldn’t put the blanket’s colors into imbalance by continuing further.  I dunno.  Maybe I could use it for something else?  I mean it’s not like I know any babies, or any friends who are about to have babies.  I don’t know what else I’d use it for, though.  My dog does not get such nice things because she unwittingly tears up yarny things with her claws.  *sigh*  The blanket might just stay stowed away until someone I know has a baby.  I could donate it, I suppose.  We’ll have to see.

Well, that’s all for now, thanks for stopping by!

[Edit]:  Btw, did you know that Deramores isn’t stocking the Lucy Pack?  I looked to get another one and it’s gone.  I’ve emailed them to see if they might be getting it back.  I don’t know where else to get one. 😦

leftovers

Not only am I full of leftover Thanksgiving food, I’ve also been using my leftover yarn:

 

I’m crocheting baby hats out of the leftover Stylecraft Special DK to donate to the hospital for the newborns.  I’ve got quite a few shades of blues and pinks, but that’s just what I’ve got so far.

Dad reminded me today that we leave for Dublin in exactly 3 weeks, so I started knitting some fingerless gloves.  I’ll post pics when I get done with one of them.  I’m not sure that I will finish the Weasley Sweater I’ve been working on in time for the trip since I’ve only just started the back of the sweater, but we’ll see.

That’s all I’ve got for today, thanks for stopping by!