Crochet Cables: my first attempt

As I mentioned before, baby blankets are my FAVORITE projects, hands down.  I love how quickly they work up, the soft & snuggly yarn selections, the sweet patterns... and, most of all, I love knowing a sweet little baby is going to be wrapped up in something I poured a piece of my own heart into :)

This latest blanket is no exception - one of my sorority sisters is expecting her first baby next month, and I'm just so excited for her & her wonderful husband!  DH & I were lucky enough to attend their wedding a couple summers ago, and even though her life as a military spouse has called her all over the country, she's such a sweet, supportive friend!  Oh, and to add an extra level to my excitement?  They're waiting for the birth to find out the baby's sex!  I love when couples do that (and I'm dying to hear the news!)

I started working on this blanket months ago, almost the same day I heard they were expecting, so I had more time than I usually have to work on it.  Because of that, I thought maybe this would be a good opportunity to have some fun & explore some techniques I've been too chicken to attempt - namely, cables.  I have approximately a guhzillion cable patterns pinned on my crochet boards, but I've always been too intimidated by them.  Like, seriously?  There's this one celtic knot border that is stunningly gorgeous... but I just know I don't have the patience to do... but I digress.

Seeing as this project is for a baby blanket, and I really don't want too much texture for little fingers to get stuck in, I decided to try my hand at stripes of simple, 2 strand cables.  I used my go-to favorite yarn, Red Heart Super Saver, and I picked camo printed variegated as a nod to the Daddy-to-be's army service (I was hesitant at first, because I didn't want to be hokey, or to seem like I was pigeonholing the baby, but they announced the pregnancy with an ADORABLE camo print onesie, so I figured they'd understand where I was coming from) and since we don't know of it's a boy or a girl :)

These stripes are simply made by making Front Post Double Crochets in a pair of stitches, but doing the second stitch first - thus crossing them over each other to make a braid-like pattern - and "pushing" them to stand out by doing Back Post Double Crochets on the wrong side rows.  It was simple to remember, easy to actually do, and a great introduction to cables!

• Ch 111.  Hdc in 2nd ch from hook and in each ch across.  Ch 2 and turn. (110)
• Hdc in first 6 st.  Sk 1 st, fpdc in next st, fpdc in skipped st.  *Hdc in next 10, sk 1 st, fpdc in next st, fpdc in skipped st*  Repeat from * 7 times.  Hdc in remaining 6 st. (110)
• Hdc in first 6 st.  Bpdc in the 2 cable stitches from previous row.  *Hdc in next 10, bpdc in the 2 cable stitches from previous row*  Repeat from * 7 times.  Hdc in remaining 6 st. (110)
• Repeat these 2 rows until blanket reach desired length.

Once I was done with the blanket, I went around the entire perimeter with the camo yarn, making a border of single crochets.  I followed that with a plain, cream yarn and made a wave border with a simple pattern of sc, hdc, dc, tc, dc, hdc, sc.  

I, of course, added my label on the back (which matches the color scheme this time!) then it was ready to mail to Colorado!  Made with love, indeed <3

Behavior Chart

Hey, y'all, you know what's hard?  Parenting!  Lol, not a news flash, I know, but still... I feel like in some ways, it gets easier as A gets older (like having a helper with his little brother, or letting him get his own yogurt so I can rest 10 extra minutes) but in others, it's getting harder & harder!  At almost-5-years old, he has developed quite an attitude, and my DH & I are struggling to help him learn to control his tantrums & express his feelings in acceptable ways.

The majority of the time, A is a sweet, loving, intelligent, funny little guy.  He feels his emotions deeply, which is awesome when he's telling us how much he loves us, or how excited he is to visit his cousins... but it's intense when he's frustrated, mad, or hurt.  He tends to go straight to kicking/stomping, whining, and crying, without using his words at all.  In addition, within the last month or so, he's started a bad habit of back-talking us, AND his teachers!  We try to discuss it with him, and that slowly sinks in (I hope), but we definitely decided we needed some tangible consequences to help him learn.

We went with Tablet Time.  A LOVES to watch YouTube videos on the tablet, usually before we tuck him in at night.  So, we landed on a system where he gets 10 minutes if he's had a great day, 5 minutes if it was a good day, and he gets no Tablet Time if he made too many bad choices.  Let's be honest, we certainly did not make this up, and there's no reason to reinvent the wheel, so we went with the standard stop light colors to make a chart for A to monitor his behavior with: green being great, yellow being ok, and red signifying a bad day.

I designed the circles on my computer, making the faces reflect the levels, and adding messages about what each level means - most importantly, we made the red face ask how A can make tomorrow a better day, since that's really the whole focus here.

I wanted A to feel invested in the chart, and identify with it as HIS, so I printed out a picture of him and attached it to a clothespin.  Now, he has ownership - when he makes a bad choice, he has to move his clip down, and if he makes a good choice, he gets to enjoy moving it back up :)

So far, the chart has been working.  When A has to move down, he even starts the conversation of how he can make better choices to move back up!  Hopefully, he'll continue to ask those questions, and be receptive to those conversations, so he can begin to use his words rather than tantrums.

My First-Ever Afghan!

I've been a crocheter for about 12 years now, but in all that time, I've never made an adult-sized blanket - I've made LOTS of baby blankets and other projects like hats, mittens, toys, etc.  But the idea of a full-sized blanket was quite intimidating.  And, quite frankly, I worried I wouldn't have the patience to focus on one project for the amount of time it would require.

I'm not sure what exactly made me change my mind, but when an old friend of mine got engaged, I decided I wanted to make an afghan for her wedding present.  I've always enjoyed making baby blankets for any friends & family who have kids [seriously, it takes, like, 3 seconds after my exclamation of delight before I'm picking stitches and browsing for yarns...] but this was my first-ever wedding project.  Luckily, the gal I made this for is a sweet, loving, genuine-hearted person who I know will appreciate a handmade item, so it was a good time for my first attempt ;)

Happy Wedding, Addie & Peter!

I was already nervous about my time management when it comes to crocheting, so I selected a variegated yarn, to give the blanket visual interest without adding the hassle of changing colors and weaving in extra ends.  This is "watercolor" by Red Heart, and I totally love it!  I had some left over, so I think I might make pillows for my couch at work ;)  I kept it simple, yet gave the blanket some texture, by working in a 3dc crossover pattern: 

• chain a multiple of 4 + 2, plus 1 extra for the starting chain (I did 163)
• Row 1: sc in the 2nd chain from the hook and across, chain 2 & turn (this gave me 162 sc)
• Row 2: dc in the first stitch - doing this on either end of the pattern rows will give a nice, even edge to the project.  Skip the next st, then dc in each of the following 3 stitches.  Then, dc into the stitch you skipped - this will stretch the working yarn across the 3 you just made, creating the dc crossover pattern.  Continue across the whole row, following the *skip the next st, dc in each of the following 3 stitches, then dc into the stitch you skipped.*  Dc in the last stitch, ch 1 & turn. (160 pattern stitches + 1 dc on each side = 162 stitches)
• Row 3: sc in each st across, ch 2 & turn
• Row 4: dc, *skip 1 st, dc in next 3, dc in skipped stitch* across, dc in last stitch
• Repeat rows 3 & 4 for the remainder of the project, being sure to end on an sc row, for a clean border

When I was done crocheting, weaving in the ends, and blocking the project, I added my last little touch: a personalized label I put on all of my pieces.  All in all, I'm SUPER excited to have finished a whole afghan, and I'm already dreaming about all the couches & beds I can make cozy blankets for... ;)