Beanies and Owls!

I've been going a bit mad over crochet hats at the minute and I have made another little one for the baby using a pattern I found on Ravelry.  It's a pattern by Alli from Alli Crafts called Button Flap Beanie.  She has loads of lovely hats and crochet patterns on her website.

I used a variegated yarn for this wee hat.  I was worried it might be a bit girly because of the light teals however Ian thought the opposite!!  It just goes to show how different people view different colours.  As I used a 4mm hook instead of the 5mm advised in the pattern I added an extra 'growing' row and an extra row to add more depth.

This pattern in so easy and quite adaptable for different sizes.  I've already made two of these and can see a few more being made over the next weeks for various babies!

A friend of mine quite likes owls and I spotted a crochet pattern on Pinterest which I thought she might like.  However, she's not that confident at crocheting so I thought I would give it a go.

                                                                      Source: lovethebluebird.blogspot.com via Shirlie on Pinterest

The pattern is from Love the Blue Bird and is relatively easy to follow.  I had some difficulty creating the ears and it took a few goes until I got it rightish!  My eyes are definitely wonky, to put it politely, but it was my first go at a french knot!  The small one turned out better and it's eyes are matching!!  I made it using embroidery thread and turned it into a small brooch for my friend.  

I think that these wee owls would look great on a mobile, though I should practice those french knots of the baby will think owl's eyes are two different sizes!!

Baby Project Boom!

The new baby will be here shortly - 3 weeks! Argh!! I think that is the best way to describe how I'm feeling!!  So I have been at a load of baby related projects.

I had crocheted a lovely soft, pastel baby blanket but then read a post about all baby things being pastel, so I thought that I would crochet a smaller but brighter blanket!

I fell in love with this pattern on Ravelry as all the projects looked gorgeous.  I was just on the lookout for some bright wool which I found on a recent trip to Dublin.  Here is the finished blanket...

I added a sort of granny stitch border around the edge of the blanket.  The first side a did is not that great but I couldn't be bothered re-doing it which I'll probably regret as it will annoy me!  Otherwise I love this pattern!  I think a scarf would look great in this style too, maybe in greys and creams.

The next project was re-covering the baby rocker.  We bought this for Charlie and he loved it but I hated the fabric from day one, but it was relatively cheap and was a great job.  I couldn't bear looking at it again so I set about re-covering it.

Before ...

I read a lot of different blogs about re-covering baby seats and quite liked the sound of the this tutorial from Ex Patria but when I started to follow her steps I just didn't have the skill to do it.  In the end I ripped the cover apart and sewed the fabric over the top of the different sections, then sewed it all together again.  

The hardest part was getting the slits for the straps in the right place, mine aren't really but they'll do the job.  Also the binding was tricky around the tight corners.  It was completed after a lot of stitch ripping!!!

After ...

It's definitely not perfect but I think it looks so much better.  Hopefully the baby enjoys it as much as Charlie did!