Baby Shower

I went to a friend's baby shower this past weekend. As the crafty girl I am, I made sure the gift I gave was fabulous. I crocheted a little baby hat, mittens, booties, and a car seat blanket. My friend is expecting a girl, her second. She already has a little girl just a couple months younger than mine. We are both pregnant again, pretty cool, only this time I'm having a boy. Anyway, I used some left over yarn to make the hat, mittens, and booties. I used two different colors, pink and white. It came out really nice. I also embellished the hat by crocheting a little flower and sewed it on with a tapestry needle. I ran out of the pink and white yarn, so I made the car seat blanket out of a purple yarn, and a variegated purple/yellow yarn. I made everything with the half double crochet stitch. I then edged it all with a pretty feminine edging. Really simple, single crochet, three chains, then another single crochet. It was a hit, everyone loves a handmade gift.

Another thing that I thought was pretty ingenious, if I do say so myself, the car seat blanket has a built-in tie. I just made the blanket about 50 chains, then work up in half double crochet until you get to about 18 inches long. Then do the edging in one of the colors, or both if you like, I only did one though. I then, crocheted 50 chains with both yarns, but to strings of just one color would look nice too. I put a knot in each end of the strand. Then I folded the blanket in half long ways. I rolled the blanket up and chose a spot in the middle of the corner and threaded the yarn chain through. I tied a knot and this is how I tied the blanket up. I think it would work great to hold a pacifier in the car too, but of course should be kept away from the baby. I would suggest it being tied in a bow. If the parent is really uneasy about it, it can be removed really easily, too. I did see another cool baby gift at the shower that was handmade. It was a diaper wipes container that was covered in fabric and decorated with a little ribbon. I don't really know what type of glue would work on fabric and plastic, but it sparked my interest. Don't be surprised if you see one here in a couple of weeks.


Update! Some pics of a car seat blanket I made. This is the one I made for my son.