Under the Awning Baby Blanket

I was looking around online and saw a bunch of cute blankets by FeltedButton and decided on the Under the Awning Blanket as my first project for our baby girl coming in April 2017. Since she is coming in the spring, I didn't want to make a heavy blanket and I liked that this one seemed very airy. I used Bernat yarn and it wasn't my favorite. I loved the colors, but the yarn split so many times that it was frustrating to work with. I like the finished product, but I am bothered by my edges and how they didn't come out straight, even though I didn't lose any stitches. Oh well. It's just for us anyway. :)

Also, I didn't follow the border that was with the pattern. Since I didn't use as many colors, I wanted to just do something solid and I hoped that a ruffle would help hide the crooked edges.

Grinch Ornament

My kids have been really into the Grinch this year. It's so cute. They dressed up as the Grinch, Cindy Lou Who, and Max the Dog for Halloween this year and they ask to watch the Grinch movie every single day. Of course when I stumbled on this Grinch ornament I had to make it. I made it during a football game with Red Heart yarn and some safety eyes that I already had.

I found the free pattern on the blog, Sewrella, and it was perfect and easy to follow.

Spiderman Hat (kind of)

I don't love this project. I wanted to make a Spiderman hat for my son's 4th birthday coming up because he loves Spiderman. I saw a pattern for doing a web on a hat, and I decided to alternate the blue and red (Spiderman colors). The hat turned out okay, but I don't think that the black really looks like a spider web. Also, probably because I crochet tightly, it is too tight to fit my older son. So, to the almost-2-year-old it goes for his birthday.

I used the ideas from My Hobby is Crochet to make it.

Arrowhead Striped Blanket

My youngest is going to turn 2 very soon and last year I gave both his brother and sister crocheted blankets. Now it's his turn! I followed Caron's pattern for the Arrowhead Striped Afghan, but I changed the size of the stripes and although I love the tassels at the end, I left them out. I just pictured my son sucking on them and making them gross. But I think the blanket would look awesome with them. I used Hobby Lobby's I Love This Yarn.

Warm Toes Booties

Another friend is having a baby in a few weeks. Hers is a boy and I feel like there aren't as many cute boy patterns as there are for girls, but I did fall in love with these little boots when I saw them online. I used Hobby Lobby's I Love this Cotton. For the first time, following the pattern actually gave the expected size (usually I must crochet too tight because things always turn out smaller). I started out with the 6-12 month pattern because this baby boy has tall parents, so I am expecting long feet. Plus, he could grow a little over the next couple of months and still have time to wear boots. Well, I was surprised that they worked up to actually be the expected size for 6-12 months, so I made another set in 3-6 months, which I gave my friend last night.

The pattern can be found on Etsy.

Baby Wrap Boots

I still have friends having babies and I'm still not in the mood to make another baby blanket. I saw these boots a while back and have been wanting to make them because they are so cute. The pattern is by Lorin Jean.

I used Hobby Lobby's I Love This Cotton.

Easy Bag

I needed a quick project to make for my 5-year-old niece and I found this cute little bag on Pinterest. I was able to make it one evening and I think it turned out nice. I used some of Hobby Lobby's I Love This Yarn that I had left over from other projects. The pattern is from Tangled Happy.

Crocodile Stitch Pixie Hat

A while back I made a pixie hat for my baby boy. I love the look of pixie hats. When I stumbled on this free pattern on Pinterest, I decided that I had to make it. A friend is expecting a baby girl in the fall, so this will be perfect.

The pattern can be found on Stitches 'N' Scraps. I used some sock yarn and it was the finest yarn that I have used so far. It took a little while to get used to using such a small hook, but I really like how it turned out.

Baby Boy Blanket (Winifred pattern)

I have so many blanket patterns and ideas pinned on Pinterest. I had my husband scroll through them all and he really liked this one. It's a pattern by Little Doolally and the pattern can be purchased here.

It wasn't complicated at all, but it did have about a million ends to weave in. I took this picture when I was very far into the process of weaving them, but here's an idea.

Of all of the blankets that I have made, I think this one ended up with the straightest edges, so I must be improving!

There is definitely a front and back to this blanket (unlike some that look pretty much the same on both sides), but I think that the back isn't too bad, either.

V-Stitch Baby Boy Blanket

It seems like everybody I know is having a baby. It has been fun to make some baby blankets. I am almost done with another blanket, and it had a lot of color changes, which meant a lot of ends to weave in. I was in the middle of weaving all of those in when I started this blanket, and I wanted to do something with minimal weaving. I intentionally did this with three colors so that I could just carry the colors along the side instead of cutting them off each time I switched. 

I learned how to do the v-stitch from the blog, Repeat Crafter Me. I played around with some different borders for this one. The first one I tried used a v-stitch, but it was 2dc-ch1-2dc, unlike the v-stitch for the main part of the blanket, which was dc-ch1-dc and it started to ruffle. A ruffle would look nice, except that's not what I was going for with this blanket. I couldn't keep my one year old off the blanket. :)

Next I tried some triangles. I couldn't decide if they were fun, or if they were weird.

Finally I settled on a boring border of herringbone stitch and a crab stitch. I did it on the wrong side (the blue part of the border is the back side), but I'm still happy with how it turned out. This was my first time using a herringbone stitch and I think it looks cool. More interesting than a plain double crochet.

And now it is washed and ready to give away! I still have more friends that are having babies, but I've got to make them something else. I'm ready for a break from baby blankets, at least once I finish the last one that is in progress. Hopefully I can post that one soon!

(Another) 10 Snowdrifts Christmas Tree Skirt

I finished my second tree skirt using this pattern. This time I used Hobby Lobby's I Love This Yarn in Antique White. I like this color and the texture better than the one I made last year. This one is a gift, but I might make another with the same yarn to replace the one I made for us!

Baby Boy Blanket

I saw this design on Pinterest a while back and I pinned it. Every time I scrolled past it I wanted to use it, so finally, I did! The instructions for the ellipse design are found here at this link. I recently got the book, Around the Corner Crochet Borders and I used border #94 . I decided to make the border a little smaller, though, so I only did the second half. I wish my edges were more straight, but I still really like how this one turned out. I used Hobby Lobby's I Love This Yarn.

Baby Girl Blanket

I love that I have friends and family that are having babies. I really like making baby blankets. Baby blankets are smaller, so they're not a huge project, and I get to play around with different designs and colors. Also, it's less stressful than trying to make clothes and hoping you are getting the sizing right. I saw this Beautiful Lilac Baby Blanket pattern and decided that it would be fun.

The pattern has a different border than what I ended up doing. While crocheting the border, I misinterpreted the instructions and my border started ruffling because I was putting in too many stitches. I decided that I liked it that way (I had been wanting to try out a ruffle border sometime anyway), so I just went with it.

Baby Boy Blanket

I actually finished this up a couple of weeks ago, but I never got around to weaving in my ends. Now here's the finished product. I used Hobby Lobby's I Love This Yarn.

Broomstick Lace Infinity Scarf

Ever since I saw some broomstick lace projects, I was intrigued and wanted to try it. After I finished up all of my Christmas crocheting, I decided to finally give it a try. I followed the video on B.Hooked Crochet. The video was great at explaining how to do it. I don't have any large knitting needles (or small ones, for that matter!), but I saw the idea online to use a turkey baster since they are around the same size. So that's what I used and it worked just fine.

I used Red Heart Unforgettable yarn in the color Tidal. I hated it. Absolutely hated it. I love the colors and the final look, but no matter how careful I was with the yarn, it fuzzed up a lot. On each row, after getting the yarn wrapped around the baster, I took my scissors and tried to trim off some of the fuzz. This helped, but it made everything take longer. While I was stitching the two ends together at the end, the yarn broke on me three times. I like the finished product, but I will try different yarn if I decide to make another one, just to save me the frustration.

Baby mittens

I made these mittens for my 1 year old using Red Heart Soft Baby Steps yarn in Blue Earth Print. I followed the pattern at this link. The pattern was really easy to follow and I made them in one evening.

Scrap Basket

I had a bunch of scrap yarn left over from various projects and I wanted to clear through some of it since I don't have much space to store yarn. I decided to try the same basket that I made a few months ago, but this time, instead of using two strands of super bulky yarn, I used five strands of my scrap yarn. I don't think this is the loveliest color combination, but it is colors that my daughter loves and the basket is just being used to hold some of her toys, so it's good enough! 

Like before, I followed the pattern on Crochet In Color.

Ripple Stitch Baby Blanket

I made this blanket for a friend's baby boy coming this year. I followed the instructions on Daisy Cottage Designs and used Hobby Lobby's "I Love this Yarn."