A Crocheted Baby Blanket

Back in August I got word that another little baby was due in the family. I had only just met the mother-to-be, so asked another member of the family about what she would like. I was concerned about making something, only to have it not looked after properly.

I decided on using wool, as I was assured that the new Mum's mother would look after it. The yarn is Bendigo Woollen Mills Luxury Frost in 3 ply.

 I also decided on a pattern, a square that would be easy to take away and work on away from home. Unfortunately, the square proved too difficult at the time, and I decided on the above pattern instead. It was just crocheted squares joined together. How hard could it be? The pattern is from the Shepherd Baby Shawl Collection Book 1, and marked as a 4 sheep rating, the hardest in the book. I repeat, how hard could it be? Mmmmmmm............... the rating is there for a reason!

The pattern told me to make 64 squares, to me that is 8 x 8 . So I made 8 squares, then started to join them together. Mmmmmm...................... they did not sit even. So I un-pulled the joining row, looked at the picture, worked out the maths, and figured I needed 9 squares per row! That meant 81 squares! So I made nine squares, joined them on, worked the in-between mesh, and repeated the process.

I worked this way because I knew I was going away. My plan was I could take squares with me to do and join them together when I came home. As I worked nine squares, I would join them on, this way all would be together and I would know exactly how many squares I could work while I was away. The problem was I had all the squares done and joined together before I went! That meant I had to find something else to take, but that's another story for later.

Anyway, the shawl was finished way before baby came. It has now been wrapped and gifted. Wool is bit hot now for bub to use, but as you can see it is quite large, and will be quite handy when the weather cools down, even for some years to come. I just hope the new Mum likes it. 

A Baby Quilt

Towards the end of last year I had word that another little baby was due in the family. The delema was what to make, so I thought I would use up some fabric from my stash and make a quilt.

The fabric that I had in mind was an all over print, a cute print, but I was just going to quilt it and not cut it up. This piece of fabric was ear marked for another little baby a few years back, but I actually did something else for him.

So I had it all planned out, until I heard that a second little baby was due. Then my plans changed. I was away on holiday when this news was heard, and I had discovered a beautiful patchwork shop in this country town we were visiting. So I walked in, was amazed at what they had, and bought a panel. I had decided a panel as it would be quicker to do,  after all I now had two quilts to do.

So behold, my latest finish. I have had lots of oohs and ahs, but in reality it is just a printed panel that I have quilted. It still took a long time to quilt though, as I quilted around all the animals, the clouds, the sun , then quilted the background.

The quilt is with it's new owner now, and I believe he is very happy with it, or at least his mother is. Now I can get back to finishing some more UFO's

A Stash Buster Baby Blanket

I've done a few baby blankets now, but this one is the first one that I have not used a pattern for. It is also the first time that I have combined knitting and crochet together.

It began when I heard through the family grapevine that one of the nieces was trying to have a baby. I thought I could make a blanket for her now, and  it would be ready if and when this baby arrived.

I was thinking that I could order some more wool through Bendigo Woollen Mills, then remembered I had some in my stash that I had purchased many years ago. It was acrylic, not my favourite to work with.

At the time that I purchased the yarn, another lady I know had just had her first daughter and I wanted to make her something small, so I only purchased a few balls of the pink and the white yarn. I stared on a little matinee jacket, but felt the yarn was not suitable for a newborn's skin , and I changed my mind to make a blanket instead. Silly me, of course a blanket was going to take way more time and way more yarn, so back to the shop I went to purchase more. As this stage, the store was only selling whole packets of yarn ( they we going to close down so I found out later), so ended up with ten extra balls of pink and ten extra balls of white. Mmmm......... a lot of yarn, but I knew it would all get used one day.

Needless to say the original purpose of the yarn didn't happen, it ended up a blanket that I gave to a family member when she had her daughter. That blanket can be seen here. Even after completing a blanket, I still had heaps of yarn left, and thought that if I combined the two colours together I could get another blanket for this hoped for baby.

So then I started searching the internet for ideas, and found one that had a border of granny squares .  It got me thinking, and I started making granny squares. Then I had to work out the center, it had to fit, so some maths was involved that didn't really work out so I added in more granny squares to compensate. I pondered over what pattern to put in the center, and decided to use just plain old moss stitch. It would give a texture without distracting from the granny squares, and it wouldn't curl at the edges and make life difficult. Then I added another  border in pink, also in moss stitch.

OK, so the blanket is finished. The original family member that I made it for is still not pregnant ( as far as I know), then when she does conceive, it may even be a boy. So what do I do with this blanket? At the moment it is packed away ready for the first baby girl that comes along. There are at least two babies due within the extended family in 2018, but I have planned other projects for those two. We will see, it may even go to charity yet.

Another Baby Shawl

Way back earlier this year I was surprised with a comment that I was going to be Great Auntie again. What great news! I did ask what the Mum-to-be would like for this new baby and was told that everything was needed, everything had been given away.

That was when I decided to make her a baby banklet. So I dug through and found my shawl book. Would I do another circular one? Nah..... I would do something a little easier..... or so I thought.  A square one with a pretty lace edge.

This time I ordered through Bendigo Woollen Mills. Everyone always raved over their yarn, and I was informed it was much cheaper. In the end it was about half the price and only a few days to arrive.

The center of the shawl was an easy pattern, and finished in only a few weeks. It was the lace edge that got me. I very rarely give up on anything, but I gave up on this edge. After unpicking numerous times, and making mistakes in different places each time, I decided I was running out of time and needed to do something else. The hunt for another edge pattern was on.

I hunted both on-line, and in my local library. Surprising enough, the library had nothing, and I ended up using an edge pattern that I found for free on-line that dated back to the 1800's.

This edge pattern was patterned on every row, not just the knit rows like I am used to. The previous lace pattern that I gave up on was also patterned on each row, and I thought this was the reason I kept making mistakes. The second pattern though had a more distinct pattern through it than the first, so this made it easier to do.

Like anything found for free on-line, there is always a problem. The problem with this pattern was there were no corners , so I had to make one up. I would have liked to have continued the pattern, but to do that I would have had to miter it, and this would take some thinking, and time to experiment which I was running out of fast. So I experimented with short rows and keeping the outer edge going. It was simple, but worked.

I loved the final effect, and I believe the new owner does too. It is a one of a kind baby blanket that hopefully will be loved for many years to come.

A Baby Blanket UFO

There is nothing like a new baby in the family to spur on the finish of a UFO. This little baby blanket started life quite some years ago as a little baby matinee jacket. At the time it was earmaked for another little girl, but once I started it I felt that I wouldn't like the yarn up against a new born baby's skin, it wasn't soft enough. So I pulled it all undone & started this blanket instead. It is simple chains & blocks of trebles & I very soon got bored with it. Consequently it soon got put aside for more interesting things & so became a UFO. Then last Monday I got an early morning call to say a member of family had given birth to a little girl. Mmm..... time to pull it out & finish it. It was only about 1/3 done, so there was still lots to do, but I had it completely finished in three days & handed over to the proud parents. Congratulations go out to S & A on the birth of their beautiful daughter & I hope they find the blanket useful.