Back to working with yarn

With a friend having a baby I got to play with different ways of making things.  Crocheting a carriage blanket and making little bootie shoes and using my knitting loom to make a hat and scratch mits.

Now you might not know what scratch mits are so let me explain.  Scratch mits are little finger/thumbless mittens to cover a newborn's hands and keep them both warm and stop them from scratching themselves and you.  They are very simple to make and dont need much yarn at all.  As you can see by this picture they are kinda cute and I used a simple braided cord for the tie on.

The other thing I made up was of course that carriage blanket.  Simple strips in shades of green done in single stitch and then multiple rows of double stitches around the outside.  This is not a square blanket because it is meant to tuck around a baby in his/her carriage.  It is pretty and warm and that is essential at this time of year.

One of the best things about doing baby stuff is if you have a lot of left over yarn from other projects you can use it up making things for babies.  If you don't have any yourself why not make them up and donate them to the local neonatal unit at your nearest hospital?  They never have enough warm and colorful things for the babies in their care.  The more they have the better those babies will do.  Or give them to your local women and children's shelter.  A good deed makes your day and may make their month.

A finished project

As I said in my last blog I have been working on an afghan for my youngest daughter.  And the thing you need to remember when making something for a ten year old is that their sense of color and yours might not match.

I admit we are using up yarn left over from my deceased mother in law's knitting hobby.  She left us with a huge amount of yarn, most of it in white and pink.  I let my daughter dive in and pick what she wanted and then started the project.  For this afghan I used a Boye size N or 9.00MM aluminum hook

Yup not the best pic but gives you an idea what I used.  I then chained 21 stitches and went on to crochet single stitches.  Now anyone who knows me understands that I hate working from a pattern.  I worked the rows till I felt the squares were big enough.  In this case the length from the base of my palm to the tip of my longest finger looked right. 

As I was making this for my daughter's bed I had to figure out how many squares I would need to cover the typical twin size mattress.  After I put together a dozen or so squares I went up and lay them on the edges of the bed.  This gave me the measurements of 7 squares across and ten down.  So obviously I needed 70 squares to cover her bed entirely.

Taking my time between working on writing short stories, making homemade yummy flavored chocolates, baking and of course the rest of my wifely duties this project took me about a week.  I used up a lot of different left over skeins of yarn as you can see.

Then I took the squares and attached them together but a simple single stitch again, giving the afghan an interesting frame to each square.  First I did the squares in rows of seven so that I could try to instill a bit of pattern to this wild mix of colors, textures and weights of yarn.  Then I attached those strips together trying to again do something a bit more pattern like.  In the end I crocheted first a row of single stitch in white to finish the edges all the way around and then a row of double stitch to complete the project.

As soon as I did my daughter took it from me, lay down on the floor and watched tv wrapped in her new blanket.  That is a testament to your work, when the person you intend the project for loves it.

Now I know most afghans are done to patterns and match in color, texture, weight, style and stitch but you don't need to look like a professional project for the person you give it to to love it.  Get out that left over yarn and pick a hook and just go for it. 

Next I have planned a bunch of knitting loom projects.  A friend is having a baby and she will need baby hats, little tiny mitties (scratch mittens they are called) and of course baby blankets.  I will put them up as I make them.

Time to pull out another hobby

With Fall upon us I usually start making warm things.  Every year I try to make hats and mittens for the family, friends and to donate to a charity at my daughter's school.  It is one thing that I can do to help people.  It is especially easy because thanks to my MIL's legacy I have boxes and boxes of yarn to use up.

But this year instead of starting with things like these

I have decided to start with a new afghan.  Ever since I broke my wrist days after moving to Canada I have been using crocheting as a strengthening exercise for my wrist.  The twisting you do while crocheting is actually a better exercise than what the therapists give you.  Now I have made quite a few simple afghans since I started.  As I don't use a pattern I get some odd projects.

Now all of these images but one show the completed afghans.  The multi colored green one is much larger in its finished form.  It stretches across our full side bed.  The fourth picture is an afghan i finished for my brother in law for him to take home with him to Australia.  I am hoping he got to enjoy it before he passed away a few months later.  It was from pieces made by his mother before her passing and his grandmother.  You can't see the different textures they put into those squares but I am enjoying the last one that is currently on my couch. 

Afghans are great for those times when you are sitting on the couch and are just a touch chilly.  Later September in Canada can be brisk at times.  My online friends from the deep south might complain that the temps have dipped into the 60s but really that is just a comfy level for me.  This morning we were below 40 (or 2 C for those of you outside the US)  I find being curled up with an afghan as I work on squares for a new one is a great thing.  Just add in a good movie and a warm cup of chai and you have a really relaxing day.  I will post up the the mixed up afghan that my daughter has requested once I get more squares done.

It will be a simple single crochet afghan done in varied yarn.  Her idea of color mixing is interesting and it should be done by the end of the week if i am not interrupted too often.  It doesn't take long to do an afghan but I am not one of those who can spend all day doing the same thing.  I take long breaks to do stuff like blog, read, write, edit and of course take care of the house and family.