My brother recently had his first baby. What better to give to them as a gift, than blanket? So first things first . . . pick out a pattern. This was actually fairly time consuming. I didn't have anything in mind and this was my first blanket so I didn't want anything too tricky. But as soon as I saw a picture of this pattern I knew it was the one. Next step, the yarn. I would have thought this was going to be a much easier task. We knew the baby was a boy so obviously a shade of blue would be necessary, but what shade? And what colors should I put with it? I easily spent an hour in the yarn isle staring at and debating all the possible color combinations. I had no idea what the crib bedding or the room decor looked like so I didn't even have that as a potential help. I finally settled on my choices though and headed home to get started. I debated weather to follow the pattern exactly (SHOCKER!) In the end I decided to change the thickness of the stripes a bit (BIGGER SHOCKER!) I also chose to add a trim to the edges.
Now is probably a good time to say, I had NO IDEA that this project would take me as long as it did! As of now, i'm officially out of the blanket/afghan business. I'm just too impatient. Who knew. =) Hats. Hats are good. They take me one MAYBE two days depending on the pattern and my gumption. This blanket however, took me the length of a trimester! (approx. 92 hours of crochet time) UGH! I thought I would never finish! I even had a couple people tell me I wasn't going to make it in time for the birth . . . well HA! Just to prove them wrong I crocheted like a crazy person those last couple weeks. I thought my fingers were gonna fall off! (Lucky for me that nephew of mine showed up only ONE day early.) =)
Needless to say, the blanket made it on time . . . barely . . . and even though it haunted and hurt me for months I was very happy with the finished product. =) And I don't regret for one minute the blood, sweat and tears that I put into it. I live 500+ miles away from my newest family member, so I hope it serves as a reminder for years to come how much his Aunt Brandi loves him. =)
Much thanks to Greetingarts blog for a wonderful pattern! Here is the link to the original pattern I used for this afghan.
Now is probably a good time to say, I had NO IDEA that this project would take me as long as it did! As of now, i'm officially out of the blanket/afghan business. I'm just too impatient. Who knew. =) Hats. Hats are good. They take me one MAYBE two days depending on the pattern and my gumption. This blanket however, took me the length of a trimester! (approx. 92 hours of crochet time) UGH! I thought I would never finish! I even had a couple people tell me I wasn't going to make it in time for the birth . . . well HA! Just to prove them wrong I crocheted like a crazy person those last couple weeks. I thought my fingers were gonna fall off! (Lucky for me that nephew of mine showed up only ONE day early.) =)
Needless to say, the blanket made it on time . . . barely . . . and even though it haunted and hurt me for months I was very happy with the finished product. =) And I don't regret for one minute the blood, sweat and tears that I put into it. I live 500+ miles away from my newest family member, so I hope it serves as a reminder for years to come how much his Aunt Brandi loves him. =)
Much thanks to Greetingarts blog for a wonderful pattern! Here is the link to the original pattern I used for this afghan.
