Down on the Farm Baby Blanket

A family member is expecting a second child next month and I wanted to make a special afghan to send. After looking at different pattern options I settled on the Down on the Farm pattern which can be purchased at Mary Maxim here. The pattern is often on sale for $.99 if you are interested and willing to wait.

I had seen pictures of finished projects where people had changed the colors and preferring the changes I decided to make the changes using yarn I had on hand rather than buying additional yarn.

It's been a while since I made a picture afghan and I had misplaced some of my yarn bobbins so I needed to replace them. What I discovered is that I couldn't find them at the local craft store where I'd been buying them for years. Thankfully I was able to get them online at Hobby Lobby. There are several ways to work color changes but I like bobbins the best.

This was a fun project and I'm looking forward to trying some other picture blankets. I picked up a couple of kits when Mary Maxim was having a sale. There always seems to be a need for a baby gift and getting the kits on sale is a great savings. It can be easier sometimes than trying to hunt down the yarn I need.

Pocket Dinosaur

I've collected old crochet magazines for years, especially the Annie's series. This little dinosaur is from the Annie's Pattern Club Oct-Nov 1989 edition. After I finished both baby blankets I wanted a simple dino ami as my hands needed a break and I wasn't ready to tackle something more complicated. This pattern was simple and worked up quickly.

Dragon Lovey

I was blessed that a while back during one of the Crochetville wishlists I was gifted a Dragon Lovey pattern you can purchase here. As I mentioned in a previous post one of the challenges of getting donations done this year is the blessings of babies on both sides of the family this year. These dragon lovey blankets were made for twin girls due this month, but the shower of course was at the height of my doll production. Family first and it was nice to be able to give something a little different from what is being shown in the baby stores right now. While there are lots of lamb lovey blankets being sold out there, mine were the only dragons at the baby shower. So a thanks goes out again to the Fairy Godmother at Crochetville who made my gift special.

The twins are not going to be identical and we were told not to push the alike stuff which worked for me because I prefer not to repeat when I don't have to and using different colors makes it easier.