busy hands for little ones

I have been madly trying to work on some projects for my new grandlittles. They’ve actually been in the works for some time, but I’ve stalled here and there.

A friend mentioned once that she prays for the recipient of the things she makes. I thought that was an awesome idea, and began doing this myself. I don’t necessarily pray non-stop as I work, but I definitely feel prompted to pray as I begin. Sometimes, however, it does end up being a beautiful time of prayer for my sweet grandlittles (or for whomever I am creating the project) and their families, and then others, as well.

If you read this post, you know the wool cabin socks for the boys have been a long work in progress. I managed to finish them for Christmas.

I also decided to make a couple of gifts for the coming baby girls for Christmas. My daughter-in-love likes vintage-y, soft, and feminine things, so for my Northern boy’s little one I made these:

My colourblind girl loves bling, so her wee one received these sparkly gifts (the bunny later received a sparkly tail):

If you read my post here, you’ll know that when the twin boys were born, I set precedence when I made them each a blanket and a keepsake book. If I’d known my grandlittles would be coming so fast and furious, I may have rethought that decision. I jest, of course, because I love to make things for them, even if I have put a bit of pressure on myself. With that in mind, I figured I’d best begin the blanket projects for the new little girls we were expecting, as we traveled at Christmas-time.

I decided on an African Flower Hexagon granny square blanket for my Northern boy’s baby girl. I chose a soft blush pink, white and a linen colour (to tone down the sweet factor) from the Vanna’s Choice line. The pattern was not too difficult once I got the hang of it. I used this join-as-you-go method. As per usual I did not plan ahead and I realized that the nature of these grannies did not lend itself to the even edges that this semi-ocd momma would like. I scoured the internet for help. Here’s what I came up with. It fills in the valleys and creates a nice edge. I do believe I will stick to squares from here on in, though.

My cb girl’s little one would get a simpler style, as per her tastes–she’s not a fan of grannies. I used a modified version of this blanket–the diamond pattern minus the stripe. Because she is colourblind, she likes the idea of greys and black and white, but will often look for purples. I chose a natural tweed and deep purple from Loops &Threads Charisma line for her blanket. I will definitely use this brand again–it is super soft and very forgiving. I had to rip it out several times to get the correct counts to fit my pattern and still have a reasonable size. It held up beautifully, without becoming unraveled. The blanket was ‘girlified’ a little by adding some lazy daisies.

While I enjoy knitting baby socks–particularly two-at-a-time toe up socks–I decided that I would like to try my hand at knitting baby sweaters. I am not an experienced knitter or crocheter, but I like to attempt new things. So call me crazy, but I added this to my project list, especially since they’re tiny! I originally bought the yarn for the baby socks. It is a beautiful Italian hand-dyed cotton that was pretty pricey. I decided it was too lovely to use on socks; which is when I made the leap into sweaters. It did mean that I needed a second skein…one is a pretty peachy colour and the other a pearly grey-mauve.

The pattern is similar to this one. It’s amazing…no pieces to sew together! It ended up being pretty tiny, but our little peanut weighed in at just five pounds, 3 ounces. I think I’ll use the same pattern for my cb girl’s, but I’ll make it a little larger since her little one is a little bigger.

My wonderful mother gifted us with a couple of plane tickets! Woot! We were able to meet our two cutie patooties and score lots of baby girl snuggles, as well as playtime with the boys. It was such a special blessing to celebrate these new lives with our family.