Babies, babies, everywhere!

So in the last few weeks, there has been a pregnancy explosion. I have quite a few very good friends who are expecting. Some have actually requested that I make their baby something which means I have a lot of things to make. It is so much more motivating to work on a deadline and babies definitely have deadlines. I have about 5 months to make 4 blankets and whatever else I can make to coordinate. That is definitely doable, but sometimes, depending on how much my hand lets me work, it will take a month to make a blanket.

So due to fiscal responsibility, I have to rein myself in when it comes to the yarn. I don't like giving gifts that don't look good and feel good. That is part of why I am so picky about yarn. So as a compromise with myself and with the assistance of my sister in law, I came up with a plan. I am going to try to do a backing and trim in fabric. They should hopefully be variations of this:

I am going to be following instructions on assembly from Nikki In Stitches. Hopefully it will turn out well. I am not sure if this style of blanket will be desired or not or if they would rather have the drape of a good crocheted or knit blanket. I guess it depends on the feel of the yarn. So on to part one of my yarn compromise. Yarn.com was having their anniversary sale and they also discount yarn when you buy over a certain amount. This is typically not hard if you are making a bigger project, but since I was buying cheaper yarn, my sister in law and I combined orders to get the discount. This got me a full blanket of yarn for $15 plus shipping. Not too bad! For reference Ava's blanket cost about $60 in materials. It was probably more than that, I just don't want to think about. Darn you Spud and Chloe! I love your yarn so much! Why must you be so expensive!!!!!!!

Part two of my yarn compromise was to actually use yarn I already have. I know, I know. Common sense, but yarn inspires me and if a yarn lost its mojo, chances are, it isn't coming back. I had bought a yarn that I love the colors of for a sweater for Ava. Turns out the yarn kind of sucks to work with and the project was horrible and tedious and not looking good at all. So I pulled it all out and then was left with an assortment of colors in various amounts and couldn't figure out what the heck to do with it. Until now! The yarn still sucks to work with. It is Cascade 220 Fingering weight. I just find the texture odd and it is really splitty. I am glad I have a plan to back this particular blanket because it is really thing and has no drape.

Anyway, on to the cast of characters. Here are the colors I am using.

I also found directions on youtube for an entrelac style crocheted blanket. It is using a technique called Tunisian crochet which combines knitting and crocheting all at once. It turns out that I had a Tunisian crochet hook and didn't even know. It just thought it was kind of cool looking and I bought it because it was on clearance. This blanket will build from the middle out.

So that is where I am at with it today. We are on spring break so I have high hopes of getting a lot done but if I look at our schedule for the rest of the week and my work schedule, I don't really see that happening much. My hand is also killing me so I should maybe just really try for one hour a day instead of a marathon afternoon.

Now that I have made my triumphant return to blogging, maybe I will post again this month. It is only the beginning of April so chances are good!