Adventures in a Piecewise Baby Blanket

A sneak peak into my current craft and organization and everything else space this time shows the building of a piecewise baby blanket.  

 

This project stems from a few blocks that were given to me in a collection of things from my husband's grandmother, I believe.  (I have had them for a while.)   The center block and two matching blocks in the middle of the blanket, they are multi-colored with pink, blue, and white, were the blocks given to me.  All the rest I made to match the size of the first three blocks.  Other yarn colors were in my stash and after playing with the possible combinations, I set on this pattern.  

It took me months (off and on) to crochet most of these blocks.  It was a little here and a little there.  The last six blocks, pink and multi-colored pastel in the corners, were crocheted in about 2 or so weeks.  From there, the rest was accomplished over the course of another couple of weeks.  (I finally made this project a priority and knocked it out while my kiddo napped, an hour at a time.)

 

From there, I decided I wanted to play with a couple of ideas.  First, I played with tying the blocks together with an alternating single crochet run (basically, one stitch in one block, the second stitch in the adjoining block, alternating and leaving space space where the stitches laddered).  This created a definite front and back side to the blanket (beyond the typical front and back as crocheted).

 

After tying the center together I wanted to experiment with borders (that's the second thing).  There are some really pretty effects that can be made with yarn.  Sometimes it comes out better than others.  This one did pretty well overall, but is not obvious.  The border consists of a white strip, then a yellow strip, then a multi-colored pastel strip (it looks white in these pictures), then a pink edging (which was also the fourth thing I wanted to experiment). 

 

(Yes, I know I "skipped" the third thing, but it's easier to see in a later picture.)

 

When I put the blanket over the loveseat it really brought out the joining.  I am very pleased with the overall effect. 

 

Back to the third thing... if you look at the border, I put three sets of inverted peaks on each side.  The middle peaks are all larger than the others.  I thought it was a lovely accent to the overall piece (and baby-safe, too).  While the colors don't "pop" against each other, the subtle color shift is pretty cute.

 

 

Finally, back to the fourth thing, the rounded corners turned out really well.  It worked out nicely for the counting, too, since each shell spans 5 stitches from the previous row.  That is to say, I had minimal "fudging" for the shells to line up at the corners to make the rounded corners. 

 

I'm not sure where this blanket will go from here, but I am glad I took the time to make it.  

 

Blessings and Peace!

Tabitha

Tabi's Creating Adventures

 

If you would like more information, feel free to connect with me at one of the mediums below:

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Adventures in a Prayer Shawl

So, my husband's grandparents passed away not that long ago and I received most of Nana's crafting supplies and leftovers.  One of the groupings (yes, it was grouped together in a plastic bag) was the yarn and crochet hook used to start something.  Since there wasn't enough yarn to make a blanket and the shape wasn't quite right for a scarf, I figured this was supposed to be a prayer shawl (or at least some sort of shoulder covering).  

 Conclusion drawn and pattern identified, I set to work.  The white yarn was just enough to finish the shape and the light purple, also included in this grouping, was the perfect amount to accent with a simple border.  It is just the right size to drape over the shoulders; Nana must have been pretty good at estimating how much yarn she needed to make something.

 As for the rest of the story... I finished it and mailed it to the last church where she was a member in her lifetime, hoping they would appreciate the memory item of Nana's.  A few weeks later I received the package back with a note inside stating that one of the ladies groups in the church thought it more suitable for the family to have such an item and since I had finished it, they wanted me to have it.  Now, it sits on our dresser, still in the box, because I do not currently have a place to keep it.  Maybe someday I will have a space carved out just for me and I'll have it handy.  For now, though, I'll think about Nana and the church every time I walk past the dresser where it sits.

Blessings and Peace!

Tabitha

 

If you would like more information, feel free to connect with me at one of the mediums below:

Tabi's Creating Adventures

TabisCreatingAdventures@gmail.com

www.facebook.com/TabisCreatingAdventures

https://payhip.com/TabiElrod

Adventures in Drawstring Bags

 

It's been a while since I sat down to write a post.  A lot has happened since then.  Somewhere in the mix of life, crafting has continued (slowly as it may be).  My little family has change quite a bit.  Skipper (my husband and mine's first kitty) passed away and a few months later we adopted Sakura and Yuki, Snowshoe Siamese girl kitties from the same litter.  We've lived in Oklahoma and are back in Texas near family.  Also, we have a son who was born in 2019.   Our interests have expanded to include Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) on top of anime (and manga for my husband), music, video games, and my various crafting endeavors.  

The group of drawstring bags pictured was inspired by D&D.  After we played with some friends (my husband's co-researchers at college in Oklahoma) and had a few sets of dice, I realized we needed something to organize them.  From this was born simple dice bags.  Most of the ones pictured above were given to family because their dice did not come with any type of reusable bag or box.  I have also made others for our own use, including a large drawstring bag for our double-hand-full of regular 6-sided dice (that have proven surprisingly useful in tabletop gaming).  Each of these bags can hold at least one set of polyhedral dice (used in D&D as well as other tabletop games).  

Aside from being used for dice, these bags would be great for any small items including collectable coins, erasers, extra batteries, party favors, or pretty much any small or tiny item you can come think up.  They are also a great use for larger scraps of material left from other projects.

Now, to re-learn how blogger works and update all the information....

If you would like more information, feel free to contact me at one of the mediums below:

Blessings and Peace!

Tabitha

Tabi's Creating Adventures

TabisCreatingAdventures@gmail.com

www.facebook.com/TabisCreatingAdventures