Welcome to the World Little One!

Today I'm sending out well wishes and congratulations to my bestie Ruby Murray on the birth of her gorgeous baby girl!  While I'm sitting thousands of miles away just wishing I could squish that little bundle of beauty, thought I'd share some things I've made for and picture her wearing them :)

There is something so satisfying about crocheting baby clothes.  They work up quick, don't require a whole lot of yarn and their tiny nature makes them instantly adorable.  This is the Angel Wings Pinafore from Bev's Country Cottage.  I cannot say enough good things about this website!  Tons of free patterns for all things crochet and despite my out of control collection of crochet books and magazines, it is always the first place I go for baby items.

This pattern was so quick and easy to follow, and only used about a half a skein of yarn.  I made a second one with the other half for another girlfriend who is expecting any day now!  I decided not to seam it up like a dress and put a button on it so that it can be worn open and used for layering.

And of course I couldn't go with making her something with just one type of craft I'm currently obsessed with...I had to do a little stitchin' for her as well!  Found this lovely little cardigan for a great price and couldn't wait to fancy it up!

This was my first time using interfacing to stitch on stretchy fabric, and honestly I don't know why I waited so long!  The image came from the awesome book Doodle Stitching by Aimee Ray which I'm sure I've mentioned before because I love that book so much!  How about a close up?

Makes me feel happy just looking at it!

Congrats again to Ruby Murray and sorry for the spoiler as the cardi hasn't been shipped yet!

Oh My Aching Hands!

Seems I've taken a much longer break from blogging than I anticipated!  Excuses abound but I won't bore you with those...despite not writing about it I have been very busy crafting.  (mostly crocheting and boy do I have the cramped hands to show for it!)  The rush to get gifts completed in time for Xmas really wore me out, most were completed in time but some took a little longer than I planned.  This blankie for Shorty, for example.  Good thing she was understanding about it and glad to receive it, even if it was a few days late.

I used a fantastic new technique I discovered, that is almost as easy as a basic granny square blanket once you get the hang of it.  I first came across it while attempting the Swaddle Me blanket found on Ravelry, and after a little searching found this awesome tutorial on how to make a corner to corner afghan.

Finished blanket is about 50"x50" and I used about three skeins of each color, great for destashing but of course, typical for my projects, I did have to buy an extra skein of the white Red Heart Super Saver.  I'm ok with it, since I consider that to be a staple yarn you must have on hand at all times!  Still counts towards eliminating yarn mountain, right?

Can't say enough about how much I love this pattern, it creates a really dense fabric and Shorty says it is very warm.  I'm working right now on a baby blanket using this technique for a friend expecting February 1st, using a bulky yarn this time and I just think its gorgeous!  Here's a close up!

I've had a look around and have an extreme amount of WIP's hiding in drawers and bags...I'm not much for the New Year's Resolutions but I have decided to try to keep a list and actually finish some of these poor abandoned projects this year.  Now if I could just stop starting new ones....