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.

Dinosaur Baby Blanket

This was a much more difficult project than it should have been. I remember now why I prefer blankets that are made as one and not ones that need to be sewn together, but I really couldn't resist the idea of making a dino blanket to match a dino themed nursery. The challenge for me as always was getting the squares all to be the same size. With the added challenge of charted color changes this seemed to be more of an issue than I'd anticipated and I made several squares more than once until I got them to be the size needed.

I would have preferred a lighter weight yarn, but the original yarn was not available any longer and the bright colors were more challenging to find than I'd anticipated. All and all I'm pleased with this project. It went out last week and I hope it is one of those blankets that gets dragged around for years.

For those of you interested in the pattern you can purchase it here.

Dinosaur Afghan Block Number 1

While we were at the birthday party I made all those fun toys for I discovered there is another little one, a boy this time due in the fall to a different branch of the family. The baby's room is being decorated in dinosaurs. I have lots of dinosaur ami patterns having nephews who loved the creatures in their younger days, but what to do about a baby afghan?

Well I'm not normally crazy about sewing squares together and charts are also not a favorite of mine, but I found a dinosaur afghan pattern on e-pattern central here. If you have time have patience I suggest waiting for it to go on sale. It isn't included in all their sales, but about 3 weeks after I was gifted the pattern it was included in one of their sales at a drastically reduced price. I however, wasn't willing to wait as I know how long it can take me to order the yarn and add in the time to work on charts, I wanted maximum lead time.

Just a note for those of you who like to use the yarn listed, the yarn used for this pattern, Red Heart Kids is no longer available. I looked at Caron Simply Soft, but I couldn't get the colors to match the way I wanted too. You may feel differently. I settled on Bernat Super Value as my substitute yarn. I find yarn bobbins to be very useful on charted projects as I easily tangle my yarn. I know other people have solutions they prefer. My suggestion is do what works best for you.

I've been working on the blocks while trying to get doll donations done and block 2 is finished. I have to get the bobbins set up for block 3.

Rainbow Block Afghan

One of the dogs' groomers was expecting a baby boy and I wanted a fun and quick blanket to work up. I started one, but it just didn't work for me. Then I came across an e-pattern at Leisure Arts for the Rainbow Block Crochet Afghan. I liked the pattern and it worked up quickly. It appears to have been a hit with the gift recipient when DH dropped it off when the dogs got groomed in October. Yes, I admit this time of year I get incredibly behind in posting projects. This year has been particularly crazy.

However, at least I am still finishing projects, even if I'm slow to get them posted.