Heart Baby Blanket

I've been working on a baby blanket for a friend. I thought I was doing great, finishing before the baby was due, despite starting late. However, the baby was early and I still had to mail the blanket. She was born on Thanksgiving and the blanket should arrive today. Oh, well. It's the thought that counts, right?

Here's the square that I used.

And the finished blanket.

All snuggied up

My mom also brought me some wonderfully soft Patons Divine in pink. It's not hard to guess who that will end up on. There's really only one person in this family that loves and adores pink.

Since we walk to school (1/2 mile each way), I wanted to find/make something for her that would help ward off the semi-cold morning temperatures that we get in Arizona. It may not get that cold here, but my daughter likes to dress for summer in the middle of winter. Life with her involves lots of compromises. A snuggie/slanket/sleeved blanket was one of those. So while I'm still going to have to fight with her about the appropriateness of skirts verses pants when it's cold outside, I can keep her somewhat warm regardless. And I won't have to worry about her blanket hanging out of the stroller and dragging on the ground. I won't have to keep pulling the blanket around her to keep her warm. Best of all, she loves it.

Eternity Squared Afghan

Sometimes you see a pattern that you just can't resist. The Eternity Squared (8-inch square) Pattern was one of those for me. Mostly because my husband and I thought it was perfect for his mom. Even the name of the square reminded me of her. So we made it for her for Christmas. Yes, WE made it. My cute husband actually learned enough for me to walk him through a few stitches so that it could be from both of us. Then he saw how fast I crocheted and accused me of showing off.

Since we're cheap (I'm not ashamed to admit it) and my mother-in-law is coming to visit, we're giving it to her this week! That way we can see the look on her face and we save on postage (yarn is heavy). Plus we're pretty excited that it's done.

Daisy Charity Square

I have to admit that I've become addicted to Crochetville.org. One of the reasons is all the great people and the other being all the great patterns. Here is an example of both.

A woman named Krystal came up with a wonderful daisy afghan square. She decided to give it away for free to anyone that requested it with just one condition. All you have to do is make up one square and send it back to her. Then she puts them together and donates the afghan to charity. With postage around a dollar, it's not a bad price for a pattern and for a small service opportunity.

She's currently holding a contest. Everyone who sends a square will be entered into a drawing. The winner will be able to choose the non-profit charity that receives the afghan and in whose name it will be given.

To request a copy of the pattern, to read more on the contest, or to view the two beautiful afghans already completed, go to Krystals Blog.

Here's my Daisy Square -already off in the mail!

The Beginnings

I first learned to crochet from my mom. I was about 12 years old when she taught my sister and me at the same time. We crocheted some of the same things -fridgies, matching elephants, and even started afghans that neither of us finished. With the unfinished afghans came a long pause before I picked up the crochet hook again. Next it was to make a blue ripple afghan during high school. I was in college before it was finished. During that time I did complete a baby blanket that I gave to a roommate for her first baby -Eliza. And then came another long pause. Are you noticing a trend yet?

After getting married I made a granny square afghan with scraps. Since my crochet history was not extensive enough to have much of a yarn stash, the yarn came from Mom's stash. I figured it was only fair that I give her the finished product in return. The next blankets came right before my first baby. I wanted to make something that I could pass on to each child. So my son got a green, off white, and purple ripple blanket. Coincidentally, those were the same colors that we had at our wedding 19 months earlier. I also made a white blessing blanket from a sparkly white yarn. And then came another pause. Working (at home, at work, and at church) kept me busy for quite a while.

Here is the white blessing blanket that was used for both of my kids. Here it is with my daughter and the heirloom dress she was blessed in (her grandpa, aunts, and cousin were also blessed in this dress).

Then came a move, more time on my hands, and another pregnancy. Actually, 2 pregnancies (only one was mine)! First came a white blessing blanket (Heartwarming Wrap) for my niece (picture of niece and blanket below). It turned out beautiful and much bigger than I had planned -oops! Since I made a blanket for my son, I now wanted to make another for my daughter. Searching my mom's patterns, I found a great pattern for a heart baby blanket which also turned out huge, but beautiful. The cousins were born 8 days apart in Feb 2006.

At the same time my husband began hinting that he wanted a blanket too. I owe this to my sisters-in-law who had each made an afghan for their boy friend/fiance for Christmas 2004. So I set out in search of a manly crochet pattern. I found one (All-Star Granny) that looked close enough to Aztec suns to please a history teacher husband. It was also made using the school colors from his 2 universities (Northern Arizona Univerity and Brigham Young University). Many thanks to my mom for helping on that project. We worked hard at keeping it secret and trying desperately to finish it before Christmas. It was done a week later and he was thrilled with the results. The picture shows the afghan on my queen-sized bed to give you an idea of the size.

After the last three blankets in such a short amount of time (5 months), I was ready for a break. Plus I had just had a c-section, a new baby to take care of, and a 3 year old to finish potty training. Then came a move, and getting settled in our new home. I did get to make a baby blanket for charity -an on going project at church. The blankets are being donated to the hospitals on the Indian reservations here in Arizona. I was asked to helped direct the children's program at church. A big task. So I finished my baby blanket, turned it in, and planned to put my projects on hold for a while.

If it weren't for my sister and Mr Rogers, I would be scrapbooking right now instead of crocheting. For my son's birthday Aunt Sarah made a couple DVDs of PBS kids shows. One of which showed Mr Rogers visiting a friend that sews stuffed animals. So of course my son liked that idea. One thing led to another and we were soon surfing the net in search of stuffed animal patterns.

So my crochet obsession began and keeps evolving. At first I was content to follow a pattern, then I started altering patterns. Now I'm onto making my own patterns and contemplating selling a couple (so I can fund more projects). My son keeps encouraging me with all my projects. My husband is trying to learn how to roll his eyes to fully express his enthusiasm for each new project.