Crochet For Aly

I told you it would take just 4 skeins - see above - and 2 nights - last night and the one before - to make a babyghan. As one of my now grown nephews used to say when he wanted my attention - See! See! See!

This yarn is wonderful stuff.  The colors are a bit brighter than they are in person as they have a nice subtle range of colors, more pastel than they appear here.  This is the classic Diagonal Crazy Stitch that works up super quick, especially with this chunky yarn.

This particular piece will work better as a play mat than it will as an afghan because of its thickness.  The crazy stitch (or slanted shell) creates a nice, textured fabric.  Aly can spend some floor time on this and she'll enjoy the textures and colors while she explores the toys and people around her.  I think her two 4 legged furry 'brothers' will like it too.

I'll pop it in the mail soon so that Aly will be able to enjoy it before she learns to walk!  If you run into a situation where you need a very quick babyghan or lapghan, buy 4 skeins of chunky yarn and use this pattern.  Before you know it, you'll have the project done and off to its recipient.

Crochet Virtuosa Comes Forth

I've been blogging a long time in various arenas around the internet.  You may know my walking blog.  It's my true labor of love.  And, I blogged for years about crochet for my favorite crafting source online www.craftgossip.com .  If you're interested in general crafts in addition to crocheting, don't miss all the wonderful free patterns at craftgossip.  Shellie and Vikram run a classy operation and are dedicated to bringing all the best links and patterns to their readers.

But, a few months back, I had to step away from the crochetgossip.com blog.  Life changes and I no longer had the time to devote to a crochet blog as active as that one.  In the past couple weeks, there have been crochet things I wanted to share, so I decided to make a tiny foray back into crochet blogging.  So, this is it!

From time to time - maybe 6 times a week or once in 6 months, I'll have some crochet info to share and I'll do that here.  I hope you'll follow me, by clicking on that little box to the right. That way, whenever I write some words of crochet wisdom - or insanity - you won't miss them.

What I want to share with you today is a variation on one of my favorite patterns Baby's Best Bumpy Stitch created by Tanya Naser.  Using Tanya's stitch pattern, a very simple combination that's totally addictive, I've crocheted blankets, scarves, a headband, and a wonderful shawl.  It works superbly with any yarn and suitable hook size combination.  Hmmm.  Actually, I'm not so sure it would be shown to its best advantage with a mohair yarn.  But, you can try that and tell me about it.

You can see in the detail picture that the stitch creates a sort of half circle stitch - maybe half of a Catherine's Wheel   Do  you see it?  BTW, I am totally in love with the Stitch A Day Site.  It's great to have that kind of motivation dropped into my inbox each day.

So, my newest adaptation of this pattern, the Baby's Best Bumpy Stitch, is for one of my newest scarves.  I'm not a huge fan of having to edge a pattern.  I much prefer to use a stitch combination that creates an interesting edging itself, elimination the need to add an edging unless I really want to.

I'll actually show you a picture of my latest variation soon.  Promise.