baby blanket

Welcoming a New Nephew

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My sister-in-law just had a baby on September 19th (a week after his due date). He’s my second nephew, joining the ranks of 5 nieces (none of whom he’s related to, although he does have loads of girl cousins on his mom’s side of the family – he’s the son of my brother and his wife). My first nephew is also the son of my brother and his wife, ironically enough, which means my mom is blessed with 5 grandsons and no granddaughters.

But enough about the family make-up. A new baby means, of course, a baby gift!

Here’s what I started with:

And here’s what I made:

When it came time to start crocheting, none of the patterns I looked at “floated my boat” so to speak, so I just did a basic one row of single crochet, one row of double crochet, repeat. Even with such basic stitches, I thought it turned out pretty :). Let me know what you think of it.

Cheers!

Baby Shower Gift

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My hubby’s cousin is expecting a baby girl about a month after our Small Fry is scheduled to arrive (4 1/2 weeks and counting!). Her baby shower is coming up in just under 2 weeks, so I made this blanket for her.

I didn’t make up the pattern; I got it from here. But when I was first starting to stitch it, it wasn’t exactly what I expected, so I took a couple of pictures along the way to explain to you guys what to expect so you’re not as surprised-slash-almost-confused as I was. In order to make the additional pictures make sense, I’m going to include the instructions here, but remember, I did not make up this design. 

Supplies needed: Crochet hooks (sizes noted in instructions), yarn (1 skein of “Caron International 1 pound” or other brand to equal 16 ounces/454 grams, 812 yards/742 meters), yarn or tapestry needle (for weaving in the ends), time, and love.

With a size K-10.5 (6.5 mm) crochet hook, chain 94.
Row 1: Turn. Skip the first chain. Single crochet (SC) in each additional chain – 93 SC total.
Row 2: Turn. Skip the first SC. Double Crochet (DC) in the next one. DC in the skipped SC. Continue to end of row. Chain 1.
Row 3: Turn. SC in each DC all the way across. Chain 2.
Rows 4-68: Repeat rows 2 and 3.
Edging: SC all the way around the blanket, except for the last row of SCs you did as part of the blanket. When you get to that row, slip stitch to the first SC. Switch to a size J-10 (6.0 mm) crochet hook. In every other SC all the way around,  {SC, chain 1, SC}. All three of those stitches happen in the same stitch. When you get back to the beginning point, slip stitch together. Fasten off and cut yarn. Weave in ends.

So that’s it :). I hope you enjoy making this project as much as I did!

Receiving Blanket

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I’m the first to admit that I’m not one to make up my own patterns, but I *kind of* did here.

When Munchkin was a baby, we had a receiving blanket from Old Navy (it was a gift) that was much nicer than the “normal” ones from the less expensive stores. It was two-sided for one thing, and made of nicer, thicker material for another. I took that basic idea and put this one together. I also took pictures along the way so I could share with you how to do it should you want to make one.

1. Cut your fabric. You’ll need two pieces each about 35-37 inches square, depending on how big you want your finished blanket to be. You can use the same pattern or a different one for front and back; it’s entirely up to you. I cut mine about 37″ because I just have a gut feeling that Small Fry is going to be bigger than either of his brothers. Time will tell on that account :).

 

2. Using anything round (you can see that I just used a can of water chestnuts) to round the corners. Mark around the can (or other item) with a marking pencil. Do this on all 4 corners of both pieces of fabric.

3. Cut along the lines of all 8 corners.

4. Pin your front and back to each other, right sides together.

5. Sew a quarter-inch seam all the way around, leaving just enough room to turn it right side out. 4-6 inches should be enough, but if you’re worried about it, you can always leave more.

6. Clip the rounded corners. Turn.

7. Press the edges so they’re nice and crisp. (Yes, my ironing board consists of a towel laid out on my table. We try to only have things in our house that are multipurpose, and an ironing board doesn’t meet that qualification.)

8. Pin the opening (from where you turned the blanket) shut. Make sure to fold the edges under so it matches the rest of the blanket. The last thing you want is raw edges.

9. Top stitch close to the edge all the way around, including the opening.

10. Enjoy your new blanket! I’m sure the baby who receives it will :).

Afghan 2 for Small Fry

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After finishing two fairly major projects, I was feeling confident enough to try something completely new, so I found a tutorial video for this pattern. It’s become one of my go-to patterns now. This one is smaller than the beige one; my thinking was that it could be used for “out and about” once Son #3 is here–it’s big enough to cover a carseat (or a baby in a carseat) completely, but small enough that it will be convenient.

It’s not perfectly clear in the picture, but it’s royal blue and sky blue (not white). The colors compliment each other beautifully :).

Here’s the tutorial video: