Handmade Christmas: For My New Grandbaby

 

This is the last of the Handmade Christmas posts, and honestly these are things that I intended for baby shower gifts and didn't finish in time.  Perfect for Christmas gifts then, right?

 

Photo credit:  ebay, inc.

This is a baby sweater I have made several times, since I was a teenager, although it had been so long I wished my mom had still been around to answer my questions.  My mom made this pattern probably dozens of times, and I always thought its design was just such a sweet gift for a new baby.  I lost the pattern for many years, found it and lost it again, and then bought a new one on ebay.  The new pattern is an authentic vintage (1949) pattern and is falling apart, so I photocopied the pattern to save the booklet.

I guess you could call this a tradition of sorts, although I didn't make it for any of the other grandbabies.  Frankly, I just kind of forgot.  

The original pattern calls for a ribbon or crocheted drawstring at the neck, but I thought today's moms would see that as kind of dangerous, so I improvised a neck binding and binding down the front with a button.  It worked OK, but next time I might try a different approach.

The other gift was a crochet-edged blanket.  I had actually finished a couple of these for her more-or-less on time, but this one didn't make it.  My grandmother made these for every baby in the family, and I have made bunches of these over the years.  I kind of overdid it with the first grandchild, in fact.  I probably made close to 20 of them.  My daughter finally said, "Enough!"  Guess I might have been a bit enthusiastic about this grandma thing.

 These little blankets are so inexpensive and work well as receiving blankets, swaddles, and burp cloths.  Truly a multi-purpose gift.

 

And, these blankets can actually be quite warm, which on this particular day was a very good thing.

Do You Play Crochet?

In addition to hexis, I've been spending my down time with a crochet hook in my hand.  I finished this infinity scarf the other day.   It is from a pattern I found on the Caron website, although the yarn isn't Caron .  Sorry about the photos, but I had to be my own model since WH had shoulder surgery and hasn't been feeling well, so I hate to ask him to take pictures.  (And while I hate to admit it, they might have been better if I had been wearing my glasses.)

If I do this again, I think I'll try baby yarn for a more drape-able effect.  The instructions called for a 54" scarf, but the one in the website photo must be quite a bit longer, since it doesn't bunch up around the girl's neck quite so much.  This one used the entire skein of yarn, so I'm not going to go buy another whole skein just to add a couple of inches.  Overall, I'm pretty pleased with it, despite the fact that I think another 5 or 6 inches would have been nice.

And here's another infinity scarf I made with the same pattern using 2 skeins of chunky yarn.  Love the color, not sure about the  yarn.


I've also finished up a few crocheted dish cloths, although I can't find the photos - or the dishcloths for that matter (where do these things go?)  I bought a book of patterns, but ended up not liking any of them so I used a couple I found on the internet, here and here.

And, finally, Abby is going to have a baby brother in a couple of months, and I haven't done a thing for the little guy.  In fact, I haven't seen Abby or her parents since I went to Sewing Summit in October, although I had planned to go this weekend, but the flights were full.  Anyway, the other day, Abby's mommy commented that baby's arrival is now "real" since she spent some time washing and folding tiny clothes and getting things ready.  I decided that I needed to do that too, so I made baby a blanket.  I went kind of overboard with Abby, so I've been asked to not be quite so generous this time.  Still, the little guy has to have something of his very own, doesn't he?  What could be more appropriate for the grandson of a pilot than - well - planes?  And helicopters...  And hot air balloons.  Seems to cover all the bases, if you ask me.

My grandmother made one of these flannel blankets with crochet edging for every baby.  She passed away just after Amanda was born, so none of my kids got one.  I ended up with a lot of them since they were passed down and down and down and my kids are the youngest, so I kind of taught myself to make them.  I guess it's kind of an heirloom - at least the idea of them is.  Anyway, I'm sure that our new little guy needs at least one.


Then, since I was forbidden to make more blankets for baby, I made a couple for gifts for ladies at work that will be having babies soon.

These are an easy and inexpensive gift, and a great way to keep my hands busy while I'm watching TV.  I try to buy the flannel at JoAnn's when they've got it on sale, so this probably only cost me about $5 or $6.  And the crocheting maybe took 3 or 4 hours for each one. 

So, that's what I've been doing - how about you?