Victorian Baby Jacket in PINK!

Our niece is expecting her second child this July.

I had already decided to give her the two baby blankies (here) and (here) I crocheted previously.

We were anxiously awaiting to hear if they were having a boy or another girl.   

While we were at Walt Disney World our niece texted us...

Another little princess for them!   

We were so pleased.

And then...

I saw this adorable little pink and white Victorian BABY Jacket on Pinterest. 

I fell in LOVE with this FREE pattern (download available here).

It's perfect for a PRINCESS!

Could I crochet this?

I have to try it.

I'm GOING for it. 

Now mind you I have only ever crocheted one baby dress (for their first baby girl, Hailey) so this is a new challenge for me. 

Luckily I have a skein of Caron Simply Soft yarn in Soft Pink in my stash.

I love it in PINK!

My first try of the foundation chain and first two rows was off...my BAD...I didn't read the pattern correctly. 

 So I drew a rough diagram to help me out. 

 My second try was better. 

 I'm a visual person and I like diagrams along with the written instructions.

I just wish more designers would include them.

Wish me luck with this one!

More information on this project available on Ravelry (here).  

Little Blackie the Blankie

Last night I finished my black and white ripple Vintage V-Stitch Blanket. 

 This is the blankie where I goofed on the double V-stitchs in the "mountains" of the pattern. 

 And since I liked the look of my goofed stitches I kept going. 

But... my blanket is a little smaller due to my error modification.

Doesn't "Blackie the Blankie" pop next to my red, pink and white Gingham Afghan?

I had thought to make the "Blackie the Blankie" larger by expanding the border but I decided I liked the simple V-Stitch border of black.

So I stuck to the pattern.

Love, love both of these baby blankies.

"Blackie the Blankie" measures only 22 inches by 24 inches.

It could be used for a newborn, an infant car seat, a stroller or at least be a doll blankie.

I've already picked my colors out of my yarn stash to crochet a five-color blanket...

...but this time I will follow the pattern. 

We leave next week for Florida and Walt Disney World so this project will go with me. 

I did something funny had a Senior Moment yesterday.  

Hubby drove me to my hair dresser yesterday and dropped me off. 

Checking in I discovered my hair appointment (which is always on a Tuesday) was for Wednesday this month.

So I had to call Hubby back and he didn't get the message until he was already home.

It was funny...we had a good laugh...

 ...and it was no big deal since we are retired and didn't have anything planned for the day.

The kicker was my iPhone going off while I'm there reminding me of my hair appointment the next day. 

LOL !

Giddy over Gingham

I'm giddy over gingham.

Especially the gingham pattern in my little Gingham Blanket.

I started following the pattern for the border and added two rounds of double crochet in the rudy red and liked it but decided to "do my own thing" and added more colors (watermelon and white) and different stitches for the next five rounds.

It's a little blankie just right for a baby.

I didn't write down the pattern for the border - but it's just repeating a double crochet, one chain in each space around with  three double crochets at the corner space.  

Really I just "winged it" at the corners adding with I needed so it wouldn't curl up.

The last round is single crochet, chain two in each space all the way around.

I'm pleased with the results.  

What do you think?

Have I inspired you to try a gingham pattern?

  The little blankie measures 30 and 1/2 inches by 26 inches including the border.

It's right at home piled here with my other afghans - Rainbow Scrap Afghan and Waikiki Wild Flower Blanket.

It's a good day to stay inside and crochet.  

It's a damp, overcast lousy day and yesterday was foggy all day long.

So, do I do a little project now?

Or jump in with a larger one?

I'm trying to use up yarn in my stash.

I'm thinking of doing a white throw with tiny touches of black in it.  

Believe it or not my inspiration for the white and black throw was a bathroom tile floor Sarah Richardson designed for one of her shows. 

Not sure what I'm going to do next...too many cute patterns and not enough time.

Hope you are having a lovely day!

(hint:  go to labels below then clink on "Gingham Blanket" to see all posts related to this project.) 

Playing with My Header...

What do you think of my new Valentine & Hearts Header?

It's so much fun to make new Blogger Headers using Ribbet.com, a free online photo editing website.

I found an easy to follow pictorial tutorial (here) to create your own individual and creative blog headers at Barbara's "The Everyday Home" fantastic blog.

Go ahead and try it!

If I can, you can too!

So, what have I been up to?

Well, Christmas decorations are finally boxed away.

Indoor Christmas bins...done!

Outdoor Christmas Bins packed - these go out into the shed.

Can't believe that Christmas is over and here it is January 2013.

I guess it is time to get out my Valentine decorations.

I have limited decor for this holiday.

Thank goodness.

But before I decorate for another holiday I've been "playing" with my new "toy"

 {{{Janome Horizon Memory Craft 12000}}

and I think I found my next sewing project.

I've had this fabric panel for over twenty years with the intent to quilt it like I did my "Christmas Forest Scene" - you know the one that I hang up every Christmas over our family room fireplace (see it here).

 This panel is entitled "The Night Before Christmas - St. Nicholas".

After I quilt it I will have fun embellishing it with bells, ribbon, paint and whatever else strikes my fancy.

I finished the body on my Gingham Throw and the border is next.

 I may "do my own thing" on the border to make the throw a little larger.

 It's on the small size...but just perfect for a baby.

If our niece has another girl this July this one will go to her.

Well, that's all that's going on here at Teacup Lane.

 Hope your day is full of happiness and love.

Moving On...

Yesterday I started gathering Christmas decorations and moving them down stairs. 

 This is the earliest I have ever started to take down Christmas stuff.

Normally I wouldn't even consider it... but this is a busy year for us with another Walt Disney World trip coming before we know it at the end of January and our upcoming out of our comfort zone tour trip aboard this Spring.

Our family room Christmas tree and Santa Mantel is still up. 

 And the Christmas lights are still up outside. 

 And...as I look around the house I realize it is in need of a deep spring cleaning. 

 As much as I love all the Christmas decor I must admit it's refreshing to have less clutter and a cleaner look around the house again...almost.

Hubby is helping me reconfigure my sewing/craft room to accommodate a possible new sewing/embroidery machine. 

 I don't want to have to purchase a new sewing cabinet so we are exploring modifying my current cabinet to accommodate a larger and heavier machine. 

 More on that later.

Don't forget Downton Abbey is starting their third TV season this Sunday here in The States. 

 Set your DVRs to record a fantastic series. 

 We're working our way through new DVDs. 

 We loved "The Avengers"! 

 What a fantastic entertaining movie!

Super heroes!

And we like the new Hulk (great job Mark Ruffalo)!

Now..to crochet or pack Christmas decor into storage bins? 

 Ha! 

 I know what I'm doing.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Gingham (Oops!) and Sewing (Yeah!)

Gingham Blanket.

I'm getting use to handling two yarn strands of color. 

 And learning how to drop a color, start a new color and carry the dropped color along by stitching it into the next color stitches.

The stitch is easy just double crochets.  

The trick is handling the double strands of yarn - and changing colors and stitching in the carry over color.

A little bit of practice helps.

So far there's only one spot on the back side where I didn't catch the dropped color into the next stitches. 

 I'm not frogging back to fix it... I can live with it.

The back side has a nice pattern too...sort of gingham on a slight diagonal.   

And, of course, here is the front side with the gingham pattern.  

It's looking good!

I started a new row and while taking these photos I realized I'm using the wrong color combination on the new row.

Duh...

The white and pink (watermelon) yarns should be pink (watermelon) and the ruby red.

 Easy to frog out and correct.

 So glad I caught it.

Source: google.com via Debbie on Pinterest

Today Hubby and I went out to exchange my new Pandora bracelet (it was too small).

When leaving the Pandora store I noticed the new store next to it was a sewing and vacuum store and it had a sign for Janome sewing machines.

Of course I had to go in to see the Janomes.

I have an early 1980s computerized New Home (Janome) Memory Craft 6000 sewing machine that has served me well over the years.

I have always dreamed of upgrading my sewing machine when I retired for one with more embroidery features.

This January we have been retired five years already.

I think it is about time to upgrade.

So into the store I went (went Hubby's blessing I may add!)

I looked at the Memory Craft Special Edition 11000 and Memory Craft Horizon 12000 Janomes.

Wow!

They are fantastic sewing, embroidery and quilting machines.

The 12000 may be more machine than I need (it's very large and very heavy and I would need a new sewing table/cabinet) but the 11000 Memory Craft Special Edition seems a more perfect fit.  Not as large nor as heavy as the 12000 MC and it may still fit in my current sewing cabinet.  

I'm thinking of trading in my Viking Serger that I have never used (expect for one class session) for the new Janome.

I learned the sewing store has been there a year and the store where I purchased my Viking Serger several years ago closed and consolidated with another store into this new store location.

They even had me in their computer records for purchasing my serger.

So funny!

Plus - they offer lots of free classes too.

I may return to the store tomorrow.
  

Gingham Blanklet

I got restless last night and probably FINALLY tired of crocheting doilies. 

 I wanted something NEW to crochet.

I grabbed some crochet books and started looking through them for INSPIRATION. 

 I spent time in Ravelry looking at Santas. 

I must find something!

Nothing was happening until my eye caught this cute gingham blanket in Melody Griffiths' book "crochet afghans." 

 That looked interesting...a gingham blanket {{{yippee}}} a new stitch to try.

I pulled some shades of red, blue and green Caron Simply Soft yarn I had in my stash. 

 I decided to go with a ruby red (forgot the name of it), pink (watermelon) and white for the three colors. 

 I'm using an H hook.

I worked up three rows..errr...top looked ok but not the bottom. 

 You could see my yarn colors threads stretching across the back. 

 That didn't seem right but I couldn't see how else to do it. 

 Then I studied the book's photos and realized Melody showed both the front and back of her throw.

 There were no threads loose across the back. 

 Obviously I wasn't doing the stitch correctly. 

 I googled "gingham stitch video" and found a video for this stitch.

It wasn't a great video - no close ups - but the author's commentary helped me figured it out.

Back to my project...frogged back to the ruby red foundation second row and started again. 

 This time it worked like a charm. 

 This gingham pattern is tiny just three double crochets - but you could make it larger if you wished.

This stitch would be great for potholders too. 

 It may not be the last time I use this interesting stitch.

I highly recommend Melody Griffiths' book "crocheted afghans." 

 You may remember I made her "Sunshine and Shadows" throw previously (see it here).  

That's the beautiful afghan shown on the cover of her book!

Off to another sweet DO NOTHING day except what I want to do. 

 Life is GREAT!