Baby Afghan

In September one of my dearest friends, Shannon announced that she's pregnant!!! She's the first one in our group of friends to have a baby and it has been so exciting. I knew instantly that I would have to make something awesome for her. I flipped back and forth between a baby blanket and an item of clothing. However, after making the dress I made my niece and seeing how babies grow SO FAST and you don't even really know what size they'll be when they're born, I went with a blanket. Now I didn't want to make just an ordinary pink baby blanket. Oh she's having a girl... I searched around on ravelry, pinterest, etc. looking for some inspiration. I decided on this chevron pattern but wanted some nice colors, not just some lame soft, dusty, baby colors. I went to Joann's and found this beautiful pink. It's Caron Simply Soft in Watermelon. It's so bright but not neon, I just loved it! I opted for an off white, also Caron Simply Soft and Vanna's Baby Yarn in Duckie. I really think they all compliment each other so well.
I'm not very happy with the pictures I got of the blanket so I hope you can at least kind of appreciate how pretty it is. I finished it the night before the shower (procraftination at it's finest) and it was so cloudy the morning of. The yellow isn't as velveeta cheesy looking in real life, I swear!! It's a very soft, baby yellow.
Anyway, Shannon loved it of course!





It was kind of funny too at the shower. These two older ladies were sitting at a table with the book club girls and I (sans Shannon since she had to be shmoozing with the other guests). We were all chatting and somehow it was mentioned that I had made the blanket before the gifts were actually opened. The ladies both started talking about how you don't see many young girls these days knitting, crocheting, quilting, etc. I immediately informed them that there is a craft revolution happening, they just don't know about it! They kind of laughed it off but the other girls backed me up. We told them how much I craft and talked about swaps I've done with other people, etsy, etc. Then after Shannon opened the afghan, her mother in law came over and asked me if it was knit or crochet and where did I learn to do that. I let her know that it was crochet and that my Nana taught me when I was little. I didn't stick with it but I started again about 2 1/2 years ago and haven't been able to stop. She was really impressed as well which really...never gets old! I kind of love that people get this first impression of me (the two ladies were kind of appaled to find out I have a giant skull and graveyard tattoo on my ribs...they asked if I had other ones after seeing the one on my wrist. I don't randomly tell people about it!) and then when they find out that I make things, it all changes.
It just goes to show you, you can't judge a book by it's cover!

Anyways...sorry I've been MIA the last week or so. I'm still adjusting to my new work schedule and was feeling a bit blaaaahh about blogging. If that makes sense?

I hope you love the baby afghan and have an awesome day!


Jamie

My Afghan is DONE!!

I am so freaking excited that I finished this last night!!! I attached the last row of squares and added the border and she is now resting comfortably on my bed. I will say that I hoped it was going to be a bit bigger, I'm horrible at measurements and things like that. It's the perfect size for a twin bed but gets the job done on my full size. This baby was a labor of love and I am so proud of her!







You can check out the progress of this afghan throughtout a bunch of different posts I did since I started her back in January.

January
January Again
February
April
May
(a few months of no progress)
October

I am so proud of myself that even though it took this long I really stuck with it. I definitely don't want to make anymore granny squares for quite a while. Between that craftster swap, the blogger blanket project and this afghan, I am all grannied out! Although...I do really want some cute granny throw pillows LOL I'll wait on that for a while though. I am now onto starting all the Christmas presents I am going to make this year. Lots of hats and scarves I think.

I also have a ton of stuff to share with you guys...so much has happened in my life over the last month. Like giant stuff!
My mom moved to Arizona.
I quit my job and got a new one (I start Sunday!) that is COMPLETELY different.
I have a new life plan and career goal that I am really looking forward to which also means I am going back to school in January.
Anyway...that is all going to be a post of it's own!

Thanks so much for popping by and checking out my loverly new afghan, have a wonderful weekend friends!

Jamie

More Afghan News...

Not too long ago I took a look at the three goals I had set for myself for the year and realized I've really only got one and a half done!! The half being the granny square afghan I have been making for myself...since freaking January!! I've had all the finished squares sitting in a basket next to my tv stand and then another basket sitting next to my couch with all the yarns and necessities to finish the rest of the squares I needed. I FINALLY finished the last squares!
Here are some close ups of the last 28 squares. Oh and one of my Halloween rats...

This is a shot of all 88 squares, whew! I can't believe how long it has taken me to make all these!! I noticed that from the first squares to the last ones, my crocheting has gotten looser and looser. The last ones I made are about an inch bigger all around than the first ones I made. Oh well, I learned from the Blogger Blanket Project that even if the squares aren't all exactly the same size, once they are stitched together it'll be ok.

It took me a while to get the squares all laid out in a way that I thought would be random enough yet not have a bunch of the same colors all together. I really wish that I had used a lighter blue color. When you really look at it you can see the difference between the black and blue but at a quick glance they kind of look the same. Oh well, I love the colors all together none the less.

I have started sewing the squares together now. I have 5 columns of rows stitched together so far. I have 3 more to go and then I have to sew those all together. My goal is to have it finished before I host Book Club at my apartment on Nov. 6. I think it's feesable. Once I have all my Halloween stuff finished. I'm making my entire costume, parts of Jeremy's and I have a pumpkin to carve for a contest at the party we are going to. Our friends, Shannon and JP always have the best Halloween party, I'm so excited!!

Granny Square Afghan...FINALLY!

Remember the two swaps I did for Granny Squares? There was one through Craftster that I did a while ago and then the Blogger Blanket Project that I did not as long ago. I've had a huge pile of squares sitting on my craft table for a while and last week I decided it was time I sew some of them together! I used all of the squares from my 6 Blogger Blanket Project partners and I was able to use one set of squares from a Craftster partner because her squares were a bit smaller than the 7" the others were so they fit better with the 6" BBP Squares instead.
I decided I was going to keep each partners set of squares together, I like the way it looked better than having them all willy nilly. This blanket is 6 squares by 7 and it is the perfect lapghan size. I want to bring it to work (why are offices always kept at subzero temperatures?!?) It's now on the end of my bed waiting for me to make a decision...which I need your help with!

I sewed the squares together with white yarn and I am having a hard time deciding whether I should add some kind of border to kind of pull it all together? I was thinking just a white border with the same style stiches as a granny square, 3 double crochets in each space around. What do you guys think about that? Do you put borders on your afghans if they aren't all uniform squares? Do you think that would look okay with all these different squares? I mean worst comes to worst I can just try it and if I don't like it I can get rid of the border but...I'm so indecisive sometimes!!

Anyway, here are some pics to give you a better idea of what it all looks like together. I really love every square and how they all look together. I'm so glad I participated in these swaps!





Thanks for stopping by and I'd love any of your input!!