Hannah's First Blanket

Amazing how we depend on computers so much or at least I do. I lost my computer on Tuesday, July 3rd. It was a great computer but became diseased and gave up. It put itself out of misery. I got a new computer the following week and am just now realizing some of the things I've missed out doing without one. My newest completed project is the Blooming Pink Baby Blanket. I volunteered to be a pattern tester and if you are interested in purchasing the pattern, it can be found here. I chose to use this opportunity to make Hannah her first crocheted blanket and decided on a beautiful variegated yarn picked up on clearance at Wal-Mart.

Hannah loves the blanket and holds onto it quite a bit. In fact, she won't let me hold it. Instead she will pull it out of my lap and put it in the floor if she is playing. I've got many more projects in the wings but the next one to complete will be for our WOW event coming up August 3rd and 4th. My goal is to finish it this weekend.

Some days are better than others.....

This week God spoke to me during a couple of days which have been really hard days. I'm not sure if it's the heat, the upcoming full moon or just frustration with boredom.

Often times I find I judge myself on being a good mother based on my son's behavior. From my perspective I teach him right from wrong, establish rules for behavior, and when he doesn't follow them or has a bad day, I blame myself. I reflect on what could I have done differently. How could I have helped him more in a situation? It often brings me to tears because, as a mom, my heart aches when all is not right emotionally with my son.

This week God spoke to me, "You are a good mother. You are responsible for your reaction to his choices." That has struck a nerve with me and I have discovered myself repeating mentally, "I am a good mother. I am responsible for my reaction to his choices." This led me to meditate on God's Word and take it a step further that my actions should be Christlike.

Amazingly, I ponder if God looks at us in the same way. He has provided us rules, unconditional love but yet, sometimes we choose to go a different path, make a wrong choice....well, we choose to sin. God blessed us with free similarly to the structure of a parent/child relationship. I cannot imagine God telling Himself the same that I have been repeating to myself but I am so thankful for a God who comforts me in the little things.

In this situation, I have been provided the opportunity to see things through God's eyes which opens my heart up to compassion. Simultaneously, it makes me realize although I am crying over the "bad" day had, I am in charge of my reactions to not only my son's choices but everyone I cross paths with. My prayer is that I am always Christlike in my reactions in all situations.

What about you?

Baby Blanket #5

Well, here it is, baby blanket number 5. I absolutely loved the way this one turned out. The stripes were amazing. It was one of the larger ones I've done about 36 x 40 but at least the little one can grow with it once he arrives. The pattern for the blanket is found here. I have used this several times and love the versatility of it.

God has really laid on my heart to make blankets for newborns so I have been in touch with a local nonprofit and have started making those. Hopefully I can master baby hats and other things to go along with the blankets but for now blankets will be the focus. I have discovered a new tool via the website above about a stripe creating program where you choose your colors, select the rows per each color, and then how many rows you want to do total. It lays out the possibilities. AMAZING and so addictive. The tool can be found here. With this tool, I created a beautiful shell stripe pattern for my first baby blanket of pink, purple, and antique white. Then I will be doing a boys' striped blanket in pastel green, light blue, and pale yellow. Oh, before I forget I must let you know that the mystery pattern has been solved. It is the Star Quilt Afghan from McCall's circa 1984. Still working on getting that pattern and finishing that up. Whew...... Until the next time, happy crocheting.

A New Pattern Found

I was blessed with the opportunity this week to be involved with a stitch testing. The full pattern and blanket can be seen here. It turns out beautifully. For my test, I used an H hook and Caron One Pound Lilac yarn. Back soon with updated baby blanket pictures of the one just recently completed.

Pattern Stars of Mystery......

My sister-in-law, Tiffany, has been gracious enough to bless with me totes of yarn. She asked if I would be willing to complete the stars in the stash and then make it into an afghan that was started by someone else. I said, "Sure." MY OH MY! Stars, stars, stars, and then some stars. There are about five totes of stars being a mixture of those needing filled in and those already completed. Then there are totes with variegated yarns and solid color yarns. There's one whole tote of green, blue, pinks, purples, and the variegated yarns are lovely as most are discontinued. After posting to one of my wonderful Yahoo groups, Crochet Partners, I've had a response and even without pictures someone has recognized the pattern. Nevertheless, I thought I would post pics here and hopefully by the end of the day, I will have the pattern mystery solved and have a good understanding of what kind of work I'm in for. Feel free to take a guess and I'll post the answer as soon as I know.

Other stuff

Instead of trying to blog a post for each item I've done, I figured I would just group them together. The dress is Hannah's Easter dress and the pattern is a combination of the Solomon's Knot Dress and shell stitch.

The pink/brown blanket is the Red Heart Ruffled Blanket here.

The next one is the Easy Peasy Blanket and I loved this pattern found here.

The other baby blanket I did was a girly one. In our church, so far one girl and the other two are boys. The pattern for this one worked up really quick and can be found here. I've done others for our prayer covering ministry and may upload those later but until next time........

Baby Blanket #4

I have just finished my fourth gift baby blanket. I still have quite a few more to go and have gotten in touch with our local crisis pregnancy center to make some things for them as well. Oh well, back to the blanket. I followed the basics of the pattern which can be found here. I made it wider on the foundation row than originally called for and used two colors instead of two. I also did 3 rows of hdc for the edging. I believe this is what caused the ripple but either way it turned out nice.

For now, that's all folks. Until the next time...happy crocheting.....