Twinsie Blankets

Remember back when I announced that Ethan and Kaylee had arrived? Well, in light of their arrivals I kicked their shower present into high gear at that time. You see Dana's shower was in June - and there was no way I was completing two crocheted blankets by that date. I promised she'd have them before it 'got cold' so at her shower, Dana received a Mickey and Minnie clad in mini-blankets so she'd have an idea of what was to come. :)

I didn't too bad. I actually completed them both by early September (so see I'm really only a slacker on the blogging portion of the program!) I gave them to Dana at our September book club and Kaylee was happy enough to model herself in hers.


Do they look familiar? It's the same pattern (and color in fact) that I made for my niece Kaylee and her arrival. :)

Welcome Kaylee and Ethan!

The much anticipated arrival of Blana's twins has finally happened! Yes, we've all been waiting and hoping for their safe and healthy arrival into this world and they made quite a debut this week. And they did just that, arrived safe and healthy - not even a trip up to the NICU was required! High APGAR scores! Good weights! What blessings!

Now all of us anxious fans who were waiting their arrival were kept in the dark for a bit of time... and I can't just sit idly by when friends of mine are in labor. I have to be doing something and so I began the task of making them baby hats. I love to be busy while my friends are in labor with something crafty, because it gives me something to concentrate on. As I crochet those little baby hats for each of them, it gives me time to pray for them individually for about an hour (give or take... I do have a busy toddler to still entertain now.) So as we all awaited information, I crocheted and put together a little welcome basket for the twins. :)

Meanwhile back at the hosptial... after quite some time, a sampling of delivery methods, and different birthdates, the twins finally arrived happy and healthy. I was able to go and visit them on Saturday at their home and spend some excellent quality time with the twins and their parents. So now I'm proud to introduce them.

Kaylee Elizabeth
Born August 10th, 2010
Weighing 5lbs 12oz

Ethan Tyler
Born August 11, 2010
Weighing 6lb 10oz

The happy family of four

Ethan is quite the sleep monster, and is so cuddly! Kaylee makes the most adorable faces and has the most precious hands (that is far from an exhaustive list of their cutness!) They are both a joy to be around and their parents are pretty darn blessed! Congrats, Blana!!!

A Baby's Hat **UPDATED**

It's been a while since I've posted something crafty, so when better than a happy *sunny!* Sunday morning to do so? There are many many babies being born around me! In fact since 2010 began 2 have been born, 3 have continued to cook, 3 more have been announced! Yep seven of my friends are or have been recently pregnant (one friend, Dana is carrying twins.) Lots and lots of joy is all around - and I really like to make something personal for each of my friends. However, I also needed something that was a bit faster on the creation side of things. With 6 more babies on the way - goodness that's a lot of crafting. :)

So I went on the hunt for something cute and my first stop was Ravelry.com - which if you have not heard of this website - it is a must for every knitter and crocheter out there. There is a lot you can do with the site from storing project ideas, to posting progress of your own. I find that it is an excellent site to find GREAT free patterns - and so I went on the hunt for a baby hat. I wanted something a bit different than the standard beanie - and I found a fellow crocheter that had a great pattern. Sorry, I can't post it directly on here - because she asked nicely for us not to, but here is the link to her Ravelry page. I think you have to join to view it - but it is really worth it, I promise!

This hat, after I got the pattern down, takes only a few hours. I usually can complete it within one day - depending on Ace's independence. I made a prototype using not 'baby' yarn - and it turned out great. Here is Kyler modeling it for me in the 'newborn' or 'small' size. It actually worked really well to keep the sun out of his eyes. I call that a successful design!

After I established that I had made it 'long' enough for a newborn - I then moved onto the yarn that I had bought specifically for this project: Bernat Softee Baby Yarn in Mango - ultimately I would not use this again for this project. While it turned out ok - a denser yarn that I used for the prototype would be far superior - so that's my learned tip with this project. Find a thicker yarn!

I chose to make Carrie's little girl a 'medium' hat - since she'll be born in June in So Cal. Not much need for a hat in the summer months there. I also made a tiny newborn hat using the same pattern, but I left off the brim of the hat - and I used Bernat Soft Boucle Yarn in Soft Rose. This yarn worked out great for a little newborn beanie! I was actually happier with that hat than my originally intended project. However, I gave Carrie the brimmed hat anyway - although I think I'll make her another one with thicker yarn too :) The pattern also has instructions on how to make a little flower to add to it - and I find it to be just darling. My bear as a model looked pretty cute with it on.


Updated on 7/1/10 - Baby Avery sporting the 'Soft Rose' infant hat I made.

A little birdie

It was only a little over 10 months ago that I started to crochet. To date I've completed two blankets, eight scarfs, a strand of garland, and two birdies! The heart garland was my first attempt with creating a rounded shape and so I thought with that success under my belt I thought I'd give amigurumi a shot. Amiwha?? Amigurumi is a Japanese term for crocheted (or knitted) stuffed animals and my Crochet Today came with the cutest little bird pattern. So I went for it. The hardest part was trying to get started and getting the 'magic ring' formed. I got the hang of it though and away I went.

This picture is actually of the first birdy that I made. Being the first go at translating the pattern into actuality it had its flaws. In fact the butt of this birdie is a bit short and stubby compared to the second one that I completed. However, I gave the second one away too quickly so I only have the prototype to show you. :) The second one though was far closer to what it 'should' be though. I'm currently working on the third birdie to give to a friend's daughter. This particular birdie is now Ace's and it is currently lost in the abyss called the toy box.

I used an I gauge needle, the body and wings of the bird are made with Caron Country Yarn, the beak is made with Lion Brand Cupcake Yarn in Lemon Drop, and then the eyes are just a basic black.

Garland of Hearts

A couple of weeks ago my friend Stacy posted one of her latest projects. It was the cutest heart garland. Considering I had just brought out my Valentine's decor to discover, I didn't have as much as I thought - this heart garland would be adorable to display.

One of the perks of this project is that it cost me $2.50. I purchased the multicolored yarn, but otherwise I just used yarn that I had from previous projects. Being relatively a new crocheter - I had never done anything with rounded edges - so a heart was a new challenge. The pattern was easy enough to read and Stacy helped me with the decrease issue I was having. After she walked me through that the hearts were super easy to complete.

I had originally set out to make 8 of them, but then upon reviewing the location I had in mind to put them, I realized that I didn't have the space for that many and so I settled on five. I started a little over two weeks ago and worked on these hearts in between other projects. Each heart took me about an average of 40 minutes (I'm not the fastest crocheter.) After I finished the 5, I strung them and hung them up on Thursday evening.

I think the feat I'm most proud of... is that I completed this project before the actual holiday :)

Scarf Mania

Yes, this past holiday season I was nothing short of a crocheting machine. I started in October but really didn't hit the ground running until November when I started to kick the scarf making into high gear. Yes, scarves were a prominent feature in my gift-giving this past Christmas. I made 7 as gifts and an 8th for myself. Although I will admit the one that I claimed as my own had been intended as a gift and therefore I had to make an extra one in order to have enough.

I wanted to do a different pattern for each of them this group of five was for four of my girl friends, the purple one is that one I made and decided to keep for myself, it also is the one that took the most time. The teal one was a tad laborious in parts, but I would certainly use the pattern again, in fact I'd use all of these patterns again. Here is the patterns for the green scarf and unfortunately the pattern link for the red scarf (which was a Lion Brand free pattern) was not saved properly and I have no clue which one I used. I free formed the blue scarf and the pattern was more or less (chain as many loops for the width of the scarf, dc in each ch, 'ch3 turn, then dc into dc of previous row*, ch1, dc' repeat until you achieve the desired length of the scarf)

The scarf on the left and far right are both using the simple double crochet pattern that I made up** and the scarf in the middle is using the same pattern that I used for the green scarf. The two on the left I made in October and the one on the right was my last one that I completed on Christmas day. :) Whew just in time!

* I cannot recall exactly whether or not I skipped a dc on the original row and then ch1 or if I dc in each and in between each ch1. But play around with it and you can obtain whatever look you want. That's the beauty of free form - as long as your repetition is the same it will turn out looking just fine.

** I don't believe I actually broke innovative ground with this pattern, in fact I am certain I could scour the Internet and find this exact pattern (with clearer instruction) pretty easily, but I did make it up from 'scratch'

Kaylee's Blanket

Ok it's been eons since I gave Kaylee her blanket, but it has taken me forever to post this blog about it. Yes, I've continued to be crafty as the weeks trudge on - in fact after Christmas presents are dispursed there will be a few more crafty blogs to come! However, since this was a Welcome to the World present that was handed to my favorite niece in September I certainly can blog about it now!

Yes, this project was done using the Pound of Love yarn in Lavender and the pattern that came with it. The pattern is relatively easy and it took me a few weeks of leisurely working on it to complete the blanket and only an hour or two to complete the hood and attach it to the blanket. I realized I could have made the blanket a tad larger since I ended up with about a skien worth of yarn leftover - so good to know for future blankets made using this pound of yarn.

Of course before shipping it to my brother and his wife I had to take pictures. Not wanting to have Ace complain in years to come that I dressed him in a purple blanket, so I used a teddy bear as my model.

I shipped Kaylee's blanket to her along with several outfits the day Jen went into labor. I was so excited to become an auntie! These pictures of Kaylee in her blanket are when she was just a few weeks old. She's so cute. It's hard to believe that she's already three months. :)

This one is just funny :)

I'm Crafty Too!

It's true, while I can't crank out masterpiece after masterpiece - I enjoy the arts and dabbling in all things crafty. I'd say I'm a pretty decent quilter - although don't have me venture too far beyond straight seams because I just don't have the patience. I enjoy scrap booking but many of my ideas are borrowed rather than invented... and most recently I've added dabbling in crocheting. I have tried before and that resulted in self-taught pot holders and coasters for Christmas to my mom and grandma. They amused me by being excited. I gave up after that. However, while out several months ago with my crafty friend Stacy, I got a new surge of excitement for the art of crochet. I found a book of baby blankets that looked fun and well, I decided that I needed something crafty that didn't have me chained to a table with several elements required before the crafting ever begins. And so crocheting is the perfect thing for me. I just need a ball of yarn and a hook and I am ready to craft!

I picked up Crocheted Baby Blankets On the Go at our local yarn shop and headed over to JoAnn's to get some yarn. This was back in May. I picked out some Lion Brand Cupcake Yarn in blueberry for Ace and with Stacy's help got started. Reading a pattern was a complete foreign language to me, even with the key. Where was I suppose to put the yarn? Who what? HuH?! Stacy patiently helped me get started and I was off! The pattern called for 5 skeins of yarn, I made it six and it called for a border - and I thought it didn't need one. So like the rebel I usually am I didn't stick with the pattern entirely. :)

Ace patiently and sometimes impatiently waited for me to finish the blanket (the yellow aka lemon drop was for the border I chose to leave off) and he was SO excited last week (before our city turned into a blazing sauna) to now have his blanket. He carried it around all over the place and played peek-a-boo with us. He truly was excited that he could play with it after all this time. Now to be fair to myself, I didn't work on it every day, I went a few days or even weeks without even touching it, but I wasn't lightening quick either. However, the important part is that it was enjoyable and it kept my hands busy while my boy napped in the car with me sitting in the front seat awaiting his return from slumberland. Or when he busy running around the room and I didn't want the tv on.


The blanket turned out pretty nice (in my humble opinion) there are obvious mishaps and it isn't entirely rectangular (I added some extra inch(s) at the end... not sure why at the end, but ah well) it was made with love and it will cover Ace for a long while. Heck it works as a lap blanket for me, it's long enough. Hehe Since completing this blanket I have started on another crochet project for my niece who will be arriving in September. I started this project last night an am well on my way! I'm using Lion Brand Pound of Yarn for this project in the lavender color (my brother said "no pink!", hmmph!) so the lavender is just as pretty! It's almost comical though at how LARGE this ball of yarn is, as it is just that ONE ball of yarn that makes a 28"x28" blanket with a hood! The pattern is super easy AND I read it all by myself! I'm so proud. We'll see how I do when I get to the hood, I'm a tad weary when I have to start shaping something. We'll see. For now, enjoy Ace in his cute excitement over his new blanket.