My Latest Baby FOs

It's been a very long time since I've made anything "baby", and I found I was very glad for the opportunity when my oldest nephew had his first child, a darling daughter. Here's what her grandaunt has cranked out for her thus far.

This is a baby robe pattern for the Feb/March '07 issue of Crochet Today. It called for Red Heart Ltd. Cupid yarn and Red Heart Baby Clouds for the border. I couldn't find Cupid anywhere in my area, so I used Lion Brand's Homespun instead. I am usually very "black & white" when following a pattern, so probably for the first time ever, I really went out on a limb" and changed some things. E.g., the sash was supposed to be a sewn on ribbon, but as cute as it was, a flimsy ribbon just didn't seem practical to me so I picked up stitches and crocheted the sash onto the robe out of the Clouds yarn. Also, the Clouds border was only supposed to be worked on the neckline, but I felt like it needed more to give it that real cushy robe look and feel. I hope she'll feel all warm and cozy in it down to her toes.

I made this Woven Ribbons Blanket from a pattern on the Coats & Clark website. It uses Red Heart TLC Baby Amore. This was a lot of fun to make, particularly because of the special Long Double Crochet stitch which gives the pattern a supposed "woven ribbons" look. To me this stitch was like a double crochet spike as it had to be made using spaces created in the 3 or so rows prior to the current row. The border was a lot of fun to make as well. This yarn is nice and cushy and gives the blanket a very secure feeling. I hope this blanket will be a keepsake for years to come.