A Blanket For My Niece!

 Here it is. My second baby blanket. I made this one last Fall as a baby shower gift for my new niece, Rhiella, who was born last December. I wanted to make something as sweet, unique and special as she is, so I made this blanket out of the softest yarn I could find at Hobby Lobby. I used the Sweet Delight Baby Yarn by Baby Bee in Boo Pink and Chocolate. I originally wanted to use purple and brown (those are the colors my sister-in-law chose for the nursery), but they didn't have that yarn in purple so I chose pink as a good substitute. I used the same general pattern as my last blanket (see previous post) except this time I did stripes. I used one color until there wasn't enough left for a full row and switched to the next color and continued until all the yarn was used. I used 3 skeins of brown and 3 skeins of pink. It was a little tricky figuring out how to join the new color to the next row, but I just winged it. I'm not sure if I actually did it exactly right, but it worked well enough. The hardest part though, was getting the blanket started. This yarn is very soft and fuzzy so the stitches blend into each other, making it hard to see where the next stitch goes and it got knots in it quite easy that I had to cut out because I couldn't see where the knot began and ended, but it was fun to make nonetheless! In fact, I would bring it with me to karate class and work on it while waiting for class to start on the days I had to get there early or while Chad was doing a class that was a little advanced for me at the time. I was a bit disappointed when it was finished but even more excited to give it to my sister-in-law, Rhiannon, at the baby shower. Now my niece has a blanket, all her own, that is as soft and special and she is, which was made especially for her by her Aunt Lisi.

First Baby Blanket

Here it is! My first baby blanket! I crocheted this last Summer/Fall. All I used was a simple single crochet to make it. It's about 110 stitches across. I don't know how many rows. I just kept stitching until there wasn't enough yarn to make a new row. I don't know if you can see the color very well. It's a light, sea green color. I actually started making one a couple years ago but, unfortunately, it got ruined our apartment fire. No way was I going to try and salvage it, along with the unused yarn. For a while I wasn't sure I wanted to redo it, but last year I decided to do it anyway. I wanted to do something very simple and easy, I went with a skein(ball, roll, etc, for those who aren't familiar with the term) of yarn that was not only one color, but also big enough that I could do a baby blanket with just one skein. I'm glad I went ahead and remade it. It was a lot of fun and, in my opinion, rather therapeutic for me in dealing with the fire. My goal has been to get good enough to make and donate baby blankets to local hospitals and this helped me rekindle that desire. Usually, when I make something new, like my first scarf or hat, etc, I don't give away the first one. I keep it for sentimental value. To remind me of how far I've come and that I can do anything if I really want to. So, although I have made a couple exceptions so far, this one I will keep for my own children to enjoy someday. This is only the first of many blankets yet to be made. In fact, I have already made and given away a second blanket, but that is for another post. Stay tuned, I'll be posting about that one real soon.

First Giveaway Project

I made this hat/scarf set last Fall as a my very first giveaway. I made them in red yarn, using a simple double crochet stitch. A good friend and Sensei, Kym Rock, was doing a free seminar at the high school in Glenwood Springs for her Fight Like A Girl Program. I volunteered to help out at the seminar, where women and girls, ages 10 and up, learn self-defense skills. They give away door prizes at the end and I wanted to use my new-found crochet skills to help out in some way, so I decided to make a hat and scarf set for an adult. I was especially happy with how these turned out because this is the first time I have been able to make a scarf and have it turn out straight, not wavy. I truly hope the woman who received this set has been able to use it to keep at least a little warmer this winter.

Ribbons for Sale!

Made these ribbons for my mom's neighbor's garage sale. They're only $2 each. She agreed to help sell my epilepsy stuff at her garage sale and mom agreed to help sell them for me. If you want any just email me a watson.lisa3@gmail.com with how many you want and by when. The proceeds, as I have before mentioned, go to The Epilepsy Foundation to help with research so we can find a cure.

Odds and Ends.

Got some old jewelry from my Mom's neighbor recently. She, the neighbor, had gotten a box at a garage sale and found a bunch of odds and ends jewelry stuff in it. She didn't really need them and thought maybe I could use them for something. Several were broken but I can still use the beads from them to make new stuff. There are various kinds of earrings and necklaces I found among the pile. Now just to clean them, fix some and figure out how I want to sell them and for how much. It would be great at a garage sale, homemade jewelry sells great there. Too bad we live in an apartment. Maybe we could join up with someone sometime. It would be a good way to earn a little extra cash.

New book!

As some of you know, I've been wanting to branch out in my crocheting. I've been wanting to learn to read patterns, crochet different shapes, etc. Now I have a couple books to help me achieve that goal. First, I ordered Crocheting for Dummies a while back, I had it from the library at the time of the fire, but unfortunately, it claimed to book so I was left without a way to help me remember certain knots and stitches. Now that I have the book, I am back at crocheting. Then, yesterday, for my birthday, my stepmother-in-law and father-in-law gave me an Amigurumi book about crocheting animals and toys. I'm excited to try them out and see how well I do. I hope to get some done soon and post pictures of them. Thanks Thayne and Marie for the book!

New! On Sale Now!

Here's the bracelet I've been working on. It has white and lavender beads, alternating the colors. Only $5 each. Get one now so you can show your support for Epilepsy Awareness for Purple Day. Proceeds go to Epilepsy Foundation.

P.S. Don't let children or pets pull on them, they may break.