A Blanket & A Baby Sweater

I am been very neglectful of my blog! Summer has been extremely busy, and it's hard to believe we are already on the last day of August. This summer has been filled many church activities, traveling, family concerns, school preparations, and me spending most of it being sick. Thankfully I seem to have recovered for the time being. I have been trying to get in some projects this summer and just finished two crocheted ones, so that my husband could take them with him when his visits his family. (His brother has been quite ill and we have been quite concerned for him for the last several months.) I finished a blanket for John to take to his brother and a baby sweater that is for our great nephew, due to arrive in September. Both projects were a bit challenging because this was the first time I really used a pattern to crochet from.

Mitch's Blanket is crocheted from the Lion Brand website, called the New Wave Blanket. The blanket uses the Lion Brand Homespun yarn, which is not really the easiest to crochet with, but is worth the trouble because it washes up so soft and warm. I didn't make it quite as long as the original pattern due to getting it done for John to take with him today. I also just did a simple half double crochet border since I wasn't all that fond of the one in the pattern. Today I started another one using the yarn I had left over for my daughter, she wants it exactly the same.

The blanket is actually twice the length as you see in this chair. Close up the stitch pattern:

Close up of the border:
The baby jacket is one from Bernat.com, as well as a free take home pattern near their yarn at Micheal's Craft Stores. It's called the Sweet Baby Hoodie, and there are a dozen of wonderful ones on Ravelry to give you lots of ideas of how it will look when finished. I used bernat baby jacquard yarn and found this to be quite easy to crochet with. It also washes up just as nicely as the homespun. The pattern on the other hand could use some cleaning up, lots of strange instructions that I think were actually written wrong, thankfully I figured out a few things and was able to get through it without too much trouble. I did change a few things, adjusted the number of buttons, and opted to not do a contrasting border, rather I just did a simple single crochet to give it a nice finish. I also did it in the largest size of 24 mo., just so the baby can wear it a bit longer.

I am anxious to see each person reaction this week when they receive their gifts!