Crochet: Little Girl's Cropped Bolero Shrug

I had enough yarn leftover from the Baby Set I had crocheted for baby D sometime back. I was working on a black crochet shrug for Ana, but, didn't like the medium weight worsted yarn I was using for it - made it look too bulky... I might finish it before next Winter... however, this Bouclé leftover yarn seemed to beckon me :)

I wanted something cropped, yet long-sleeved, rather chic yet light jacket, as an extra layer for Ana now that we are getting closer to warmer weather.

As usual, no specific pattern - simply started off with my usual yoke, made it a bit larger than Ana's measurements for a fitted-yoke as I wanted to gather and tie at the neck for the ruffled look. Mostly double crochet. Finished the edging with ruffles and added a pink button of Ana's choice to fasten the neck/chest part.

This project was quite relaxing as I didn't have to set any deadline... a few rows at a time, and soon it was ready. Just in time for her birthday.

Crochet: Infant Sweater

When I got a phone call late last year announcing the birth of this bonny little boy, I couldn't resist making a teeny sweater to send my wishes...

As always, took me a while to complete this simple sweater, wrangling 20 minutes here and 30 minutes there, over a few weeks.

The pattern is my favorite - Julie's simple one - that I meddle with a bit for each project, adding a few rows here, changing the neck opening a bit there, and flaring out the sleeves when I feel like it...

I like Rainbow Bouclé yarn for baby things... Since I am a bit allergic to wool (makes me itchy, nothing bad, just some irritation - only certain kinds of wool, though), I prefer making baby things out of acrylic yarn.

Now, of course, natural fibers like cotton and wool are bio degradable, but, it is not clear to what extent (what types of) acrylic yarns are bio degradable. Something to think about...

Meanwhile, I am very happy to make little baby things - the planning, the pattern, the stolen moments trying to finish it, the joy at the finished product... all make it very worthwhile and rewarding.

And hopefully, the recipients like it as well.

Crochet: Baby Sweater, Hat, Booties

One of my virtual friends was expecting a baby girl and as soon as she told me about it, I was too excited to settle on what to make to welcome the little one.

And, somehow, when I went yarn-shopping with Ana and she pointed to this purple bouclé yarn, I knew I had to make something cutesy and girly.

The pattern is sort of made-up as usual - borrowing ideas from some of the other patterns I found in my collection of books.

Sweater: This is worked from yoke down to bottom hem. The yoke is my standard one I like to use for baby sweaters where we start at the neckline and allow for armholes and continue down till finish; then pick up at armholes and finish the sleeves.

Hat: I wanted to make a sort of old-fashioned bonnet. Didn't have any pattern handy, and didn't want any ties/strings to bother the baby, so, this is just an extrapolated hat pattern - starting at the brim/forehead end and working up, decreasing towards the crown; finally finishing the open end with a ruffle edging.

Booties: Standard booties pattern, ruffles and ties make it sweet :)

20 minutes here, 30 minutes there over a couple of weeks added up and before I knew it, it was ready to be on its way to welcome the sweet little baby - I like to call her baby D!

Crochet: Little Girls' Off-Center Sweater

This crochet sweater is another project I started last Winter for Ana, as a Christmas present. It was "mostly done" and remained unfinished till a few days ago :)

The pattern is inspired by Julie's baby sweater pattern which I have adapted for many different baby sweaters.

I just made a few changes, adjusted the gauge, sized it large enough to go over Ana's clothes, and used chunky chenille yarn as it works up faster and is very warm.

The little touches I liked adding were: made the sleeves flare a bit at the wrist as I think it is very cute and girlie; and made the neck a bit of a rounded-square (if it makes sense) to give it a classic look; added the edging in Ana's choice of purple bouclé yarn.

Ana chose the buttons for this sweater - it was jarring my senses a bit, but she wanted the large red round paisley pattern button with the gray cat one, and I couldn't refuse. After all, she's going to wear it.

I know it sounds evil, but, before I decided to add the touches I did to make this girlie and to Ana's liking, I was seriously considering making it a unisex sweater so it can be handed down to Og next Winter...

And, according to D, Og can still wear it. Just not in public :)

There's barely enough daylight these days and when I remember to get a picture of Ana in the sweater, she is not wearing it;

and when she is, she is not in the mood for pictures...

...but, I managed a quick indoor shot as soon as I brought her home from school a few days ago :)

knit: toddler yoke sweater

After a long time, I took up knitting again and made this sweater. For Ana. As a Christmas present. And, I was quite pleased with the result.

To be honest, I fancy myself a crocheter, not really a knitter. But, I saw a picture of a sweater my friend R's mom had knit for R's baby girl - I call it the "teal sweater" - which was gorgeous and cute. I was inspired. I *had* to knit something like that for Ana.

After some quick search, I found this adorable pattern at yarntootin', which goes by the name of "Five Hour Baby Sweater" - supposedly referring to the time it takes to complete this sweater! There are several versions of this on the web, but, of the few I browsed through, this PDF pattern at yarntootin' was the easiest to read and comprehend, so, I stuck with it.

Of course, the sweater took me about 11 hours total, working in snatches as and when time permitted. The pattern is worked yoke-down - took me 3 hours for the yoke, 1½ hour each for the sleeves, and about 4 hours for the body.

I sort of cheated, well, more like extrapolated really, in the sense that I used a pair of Size 11 (US) needles, and Worsted weight acrylic yarn which made the knit fabric grow pretty fast. Smaller size needles with finer yarn would have taken me twice as much time to finish...

Solid colors work best for this pattern, in my opinion. I had ball of pink yarn handy, leftover from another crochet project and decided to work with it.

I did make a few mistakes which I managed to cover up fairly well - unless one takes a closer look, inspecting for flaws... besides, I think such minor flaws just add to the uniqueness and charm of a handmade gift ;)

Sweaters can be knit or crocheted in several generic ways. Some of my experience has been with just these three:

• one piece from yoke to hem, with minimal seam-sewing - perhaps just the sleeve seams
• from hem to neck, working in one piece in the round for fronts and back, and then dividing the work at armhole and working the sleeves, fronts and back as needed - again minimal seam-sewing, with probably just the shoulder seams if sleeves are worked in the round
• working in pieces, getting the back, right front, left front, and two sleeves done separately and sew them all together

Ana seems to love it. She happened to be with me when I was shopping for buttons for this sweater and I let her choose - sort of - I gave her a choice between these pink flower buttons and hot pink heart buttons... I think she picked the right one for this sweater :)

baby layette set

About 3 weeks ago, I was gung-ho about making a baby layette set for my dear friend's new baby girl. But, it took me a while to settle on what exactly I wanted to do.

I did not like some of the patterns I had used for my own little one, and I wanted to do something new.

Thanks to Julie's pattern, the crochet sweater was a lot of fun to make. I sort of improvised on her pattern a bit and added shell edging at the bottom of the sweater.

Instead of a crochet blanket, I made a baby quilt. To complete this set, I crocheted a cute-sy hat with ear flaps, and booties :-)



Since most of the baby girl's gifts are pink or purple, I decided to 'shake things up' a bit and make a green set for the little one. But, couldn't help adding the pink touches;-)