"Angel Tree" Blanket

For those of you who don't know me I am really into giving to charities... my favorite being "Operation Christmas Child" created by Samaritans Purse. After getting all my shoe boxes done this year and donating my green beans to the local care channel I was sad to be out of things to help provide people. Then Jeff and I went to Walgreens and found they had an "Angel Tree" thing for senior citizens. A couple "Angels" wished for lap blankets, so I snatched a lady up and went to home look thru my stash. I found some fun pink yarn, black yarn and white yarn. I decided on a basic granny and the rest came as I worked it. I learned a new stitch this year... the reverse single crochet, which I used for my border! So here are photos of my lap blanket for my "Angel" Lois.

 

This was made from 30 6-inch granny's. Each granny had a single crochet border in either black or white and then it was stitched together with the pink yarn. The border around the whole blanket is 2 round single crochet in pink and 1 round double crochet in black. It is finished with 1 round reverse single crochet in pink! I started it Nov 12 and it was finished on Nov 30!

My First Shawl

So in August when I finally got around to working on some Christmas gifts I got this crazy idea to make my mother in law a shawl. I wanted to make her something special, last year for Christmas I gave her a scarf I had bought at Oktoberfest several years ago and she was so excited about it and asked if I had made it for her. So this year I wanted to make her something, something real special. So I searched and searched for a beautiful but not so difficult pattern and found one on http://www.naturallycaron.com/ called Delhi Shawl. I spent the most I have ever spent on yarn for one project so I hoped and prayed I could pull it off. Well after about a month and a half I finally finished the shawl, I was so excited about it I couldn't wait until Christmas to give it to her. So last Saturday was her birthday, I baked her a honey bun cake which I started making for her a few years ago and everyone loves! When she opened the gift I saw her face light up and she let out a giggle. It was amazing. She was totally surprised because she had seen me work on it every Sunday in her car on the way to church and I had also asked her a few times what she thought of it while I was working. So my gift turned out exactly as I hoped it would. It was special and worth all the money I spent on the yarn. I cant wait until next year!

Little Sally Doll Skirt Pattern

So while I was at church today I found 3 naked baby dolls in the nursery and thought they needed clothes. I couldnt find a simple skirt pattern for the first doll that I liked, so I made my own. Here it is!

Skirt is 3.5 inches long and the waist is 11 inches.

Skill Level: Easy

Material: Worsted Weight Yarn, I used Red Heart Super Saver

Hook: I -5.5mm

Special Stitches: Reverse Single Crochet: work from left to right in reverse single crochet.

Ch 41

Row 1 - SC in second ch from hook and in each ch across. Ch 1 turn.

Row 2 - DC in first sc (do not skip the first stitch in row here or anywhere else). DC in each sc across. Ch 1, turn.

Row 3 - DC in first dc and in each dc across. Ch 1, turn.

Row 4 - SC in first dc and in each dc across. Ch 1, turn.

Row 5 - DC in first sc * 2 dc in next sc, dc in next 2 sc* repeat across. Ch 1, turn.

Row 6 - SC in first 2 dc *2 sc in next dc, sc in next 2 dc* repeat across. Ch 1, turn.

Row 7 - 9 - DC in first stitch and each stitch across. Ch 1, turn. DO NOT TURN ON ROW 9

Row 10 - Reverse SC in each dc across.

To Finish - Sew up the back of the skirt, finish off and weave in ends.