Baby Poncho

I was wanting to do this for a while now, but figured it could wait until my son started showing signs that it was time to sit up. Well he isn't exactly there. He is soon on his way.

Its a simple design and could be continued in the rows to make it as large as you want.  I think this is honestly the first thing he doesn't mind wearing.  I will post the example sometime later as my GIMP program seems to be crashing each time I opening it. It really is one of the easiest designs I have ever followed. After that Lapa, I found the Foundation chain to be really helpful.  I had (60) FSC sl st into a ring. and then Sc into each. Next Row: ch 3, 2hdc into previous sp, ch 1 *[Hdc 3 into one every 3 sc then, sc]* Repeat (10 times) then place an extra 3 hdc into previous space. sc. Repeat from *. When you reach the beginning of this row sl st in first ch.
This creates a granny-square effect, and each proceeding ro you will always do that double 3hd into the previous space between (3hdc, sc, 3hdc, sc.) This will create the length and height required on the body and arms.

Lapa by Dorris Chan... for the most part

I had seen this pattern a few times before I attempted it. You can find the Lapa Here. It's a wonderful spring to summer feel about it. I like wearing Camisoles but I actually cannot stand my shoulders being bare. Don't worry that preference only gets more awkward into the hotter months when it will be rare you will catch me in anything but pants and a shirt... possibly toque.

I had two major problems the yarn and the instructions.
I had picked up some Bernat Baby Sport yarn and thought it was going to blend well once worked into a pattern, in the ball it seemed pretty bright and worked well and for the most part gender neutral. However. That was not the case, the colour was Lillipop Drop. Anyone who has tried to work with it or, seen it understands how obnoxious and... unique it looks once turned into well, anything. So I had to balls of the stuff lying around in my stash for well over a year wondering what I should do -But I will get to that in a moment.

The second problem made me wonder if I was reading the instructions wrong or, if I was missing a key step. Looking to the help forums it seemed that almost everyone had a similar problem (not the one I was having) and people just started nit-picking over typos that were small but confusing. The whole thing was confusing and after praying to whatever god(s) one prays to in dire times of confusion. I left the instructions to the wind after I got the gist of the yoke and staggered puff/mesh of the body.

I tried this pattern with this yarn because it seemed like the right fit and may as well use an ugly colour yarn to sacrifice for learning a pattern that was more like an over glorified treasure hunt.

Yarn worked before the dye and the shirt 

after the dye.

Even this picture does justice to the incredibly horrible mish-mash of combined colours. I guess this is why I do not see Bernat selling this colour of yarn anymore...

 

Hoodies for my Boys

I made this for my son to match the hubby's skull hoodie.

Naturally I wanted to make it less shocking and well, cute compared to the man-unit's. I made it not so realistic and more day of the dead/pirate-ish. Considering we visited family for Christmas and Shocked one or two of the older relatives with this...

The pattern I used is Bernat's Sweet Baby Hoodie, 6 month version. I believe its good up to 24 months. Ironic considering its more 'bad-ass' then sweet. But not the first hoodie I made.

Buttons and zippers are useless with a fussy on-the-go baby.

I Improvised with magnetic buttons

I am always afraid that if I put anything involving a zipper on my son one false move and he gets hurt. A problem with buttons is we fumble around and the kid already knows how to undo do them.

 I found these at Wal-mart, they are kind of like snaps but hold together with magnets. Bonus is unlike buttons, he hasn't figured them out, nor has the power or co-ordination to pull them apart... Yet.

I have extra of these button and will find a use for them. Maybe a cape clasp perhaps when my son is older and on the go by his own locomotion. Just enough to hold but no draw strings to fiddle with or choke on.
 to secure it bu

Hubby's Dragon Blanket

So this beast has been worked on, on and off for over a year now. I started this before I was pregnant and well, life got complicated and busy...

I like doing it this project and I should finish it, but it is tedious at the best of times. It's in a tapestry style crochet and I am actually farther then the above picture, but you try having up to 9 strings at once hanging off of your crochet. Hard, isn't it?

After several minutes of trying not to delete pictures of  my child from a memory card even though they are saved onto my computer... My 10 year old half broken nearly obsolete digital camera still takes better pictures then anything else in the house. I wasn't going for any fancy stitch, this is all single crochet so I made this design off of free pixel software similar to cross-stitching software.

I guess this is me being master procrastinator. Or is this my irrational fear of running out of yarn...

Banana and regular sized orange yarn for scale. 

You're welcome Del Monte for the free ad. 

Oh. Right. I'd be that person where IF the zombie apocalypse were to come to fruition, I would be the one making off with yarn not weapons. 

The First Blanket

I was working nights at a cab company when I made this. During dead stretches it was hard to stay awake. No cell phones, no computer games or internet, people usually brought books but I couldn't do it. I love reading, but something about the plethora of available romances and day old newspapers looses its appeal after 15 minutes a day. Depending on the day it could be really busy and then nothing for a whole hour. I wouldn't consider myself 'ADD' but when you volunteer to update info to make everyone's life easier in the between customer times and its turned down, what else is there to do? Alejandro wooing the fair maidens in the Spanish Seas? I think not.

Productivity would have been higher if we at least had the news or weather to watch. 

Those are relevant to dispatching cabs.

 My son could have 20 things in front of him, but blankets trump all. It's a small square blanket 76cm wide. I don't think he cares its buttercup in colour. This is something that he recognizes as his.

But at least I wasn't given crayons and colouring books like my last phone operator job. Don't get me wrong, that is always fun, but we weren't going to run with scissors, pencil crayons would have been more dignified.

When you are then only one in the office for 6 hours...