Projects and Gifts

It's been a long while since I talked about my crochet projects,but I have good reason.  Everything that I've made in the past few months was a Christmas gift and of course I wanted to keep them a surprise.

It started in September when I decided I would make my nieces and nephew blankets.  I started with Elyse's and finished it it about 3 weeks.  Except for the edges, which I did the week before Christmas. Just in time to wrap and ship it.  But I digress.  I didn't use a particular pattern--I just decided to use a stitch I liked and consulted a few patterns for an estimate on number of stitches to get roughly the size I wanted.  After taking only 3 weeks to finish a pretty big blanket, I thought, "That was easy, of course I have time to do one for Aidan and one for Abi."  Oh what a silly girl I am some times. 

First I struggled with getting the yarn I wanted.  It was only available online and then I had an issue with the website showing one price, but charging me another (higher) price, so I had to call and get that sorted out.  It was relatively painless, but nonetheless took some time. 

And then cookie season started and most of my time usually spent in front of the TV (perfect crochet time #1) was spent baking.  Additionally, since these blankets were pretty big, I couldn't very well do them on the train (perfect crochet time #2).  But I worked and worked, and by mid-December, I had all three blankets complete, except for the edges and tying in the ends.

I had the brilliant idea that I would use the cute, fuzzy fun fur yarn to do the edges on Elyse and Abi's blankets.  It would be adorable and they would love it.  Now, a few years ago, my mom had made me a scarf using that kind of yarn and had told me it was a labor of love because it was a pain to work with.  Not that I didn't believe her, but holy crap.  That stuff it just awful for crocheting. A friend tells me it's better for knitting, so I won't completely dismiss it as a medium in general.  And I bought 4 skeins of it.  Want to know how much I used?  One and quarter skeins.  So of course I will suffer through making something else using it because I'll hate to see it go to waste.  After completing the edging on Elyse's blanket and starting on Abi's, concerned about being done in time to wrap and ship, I looked at Dave and said, "Next September, when I say I want to make all the kids sweaters for Christmas, I give you full permission to punch me in the face."

Elyse's blanket

So I was a little ambitious, but it was totally worth it.  After using every bit of spare time I could find, three beautiful blankets were wrapped, each with a book, perfect for snuggling.

Aidan's blanket

Abi's blanket

My sister let Abi and Aidan open theirs as soon as they arrived (a few days before Christmas), so I was treated to a chorus of thank yous for their "wubbies."  I did use an actual pattern for Abi's, using it as an opportunity to learn something new.  Abi's blanket was a free pattern from Lion Brand Yarn, Child's Chevron Throw (pattern # 80787AD).  Instead of using 6 colors, though, I just used 2 and ran the dropped yarn up the side.

But wait, there's more!  I had to have something to do on the train.  So a BUNCH of people got scarves.  I made popcorn scarves, crossed double scarves and lots of curly ruffled scarves.  They were pretty fun and I gifted them to friends, Dave's family and my cousins.

Ruffle scarves for friends

Diagonal scarf for my cousin. I also made a pink one that looked more like camo.

Crossed double scarves for Stacy and Jo.  I also made one in cream wool for Madaline.

Popcorn scarves for Annette and Donna.

Popcorn detail.

I made a few other ruffled scarves, but forgot to take pictures. And I made myself a simple scarf out of lavender bamboo yarn that feels like silk.  It took me about one evening while watching Dave play video games.

Finally, as my gifts were completed (and so were the cookies), I found I wanted to keep making things.  So I went back to my charity projects and decided to check in on the Special Olympics scarves.  The good news is that instead of just being a project for the Washington State Special Olympics, the national Special Olympics organization has picked up the project.  The bad news is that they changed the colors from red and white to two shades of blue.  Which means all the scarves I already made can't be donated to them.  So, if you know of any charity organizations where I could send between 6-10 scarves, please leave me a comment!  I'm on the hunt for new charities and would welcome any ideas.