Easy Crocheted Baby Blanket

What's a grandma to do while waiting for a new grandbaby? Make something, of course. This one went camping with me, got stuffed into my school bag in case I had time between classes, and left in the backseat of my car on the day I did a triathlon in case I was there early enough and needed to calm my nerves. I had an overtime load of classes as the due date approached, but I finished it the day before Cooper was born (a week past his due date). That pattern was super simple so I could pick it up any time and start right where I left off without thinking, but I thought it was a really beautiful design. Here is the booklet where I found the instructions.

It took one jumbo skein of lightweight yarn and a size 5 mm (H8) hook. The basic pattern is a shell with five double crochets each, with a single double crochet in between each shell. I plan on making this one again. The pattern is called "first baby blanket," but it's a generous size, so it will be useful into the toddler years.

Crochet Balls Baby Toy

 

Lily's first birthday required something handmade, of course. She lives in another state, so I wanted to make something that was light and easy to mail. I decided on crochet balls, but couldn't find a good pattern. They were either too small (lots of cute arigumi patterns, but too small for a one-year-old), or weirdly misshapen. After much trial and error, I found the perfect pattern here. The only modification I made was using multi-colored yarn and leaving out the middle stripe (just use the same yarn instead of switching colors where indicated in the instructions).

 

First, crochet the halves of the ball according to the pattern. Do this while you are not distracted, because you have to count stitches carefully. My poor husband got a dirty look when he said something funny and made me lose my place!

 

Sew the halves together with a big darning needle. Stop about an inch and a half from the finish.

 Stuff with polyester stuffing and finish sewing shut. Tie a couple of good knots and weave in the end of the yarn. Happy Birthday Lily!

Best Baby Products for Grandmas

 There is an overwhelming amount of products for babies, and they seem to have multiplied sixty times over in the space between when I had babies and grandbabies. It's been interesting to see what seemed like a good idea, but is used once and then put aside (baby bath contraption, video baby monitor...) These two products, however, are my favorites, and they are new since my go-round with kidlets. I don't know how I survived without them.  

The first is this mesh food holder. My niece Michelle told me about it, and it's Ryan's favorite thing. It keeps him entertained and he could feed himself before he had the motor skills to do it any other way. I put a piece of banana (Ryan's favorite) or peeled apple inside the mesh holder, and then he can suck out the fruit and juice. Since it comes through the mesh, there is nothing to choke on. The banana does make a big mess, so that's why he's naked in the picture. Easier to hose off afterwards! I don't always have baby food around, but I always have bananas or apples. Michelle says her daughter loved peaches and nectarines the best.

My other favorite baby thing is this little seat I got from Target. The padded seat helped him sit up before he could do it on his own, and it functions as a play table and high chair. The circle part rotates around to a food tray or a variety of attached toys. I love that I don't have to have a big high chair in my kitchen, and he is very happy to sit on the table and watch me cook or do dishes, especially if he's got a banana in his mesh feeder. He also makes an entertaining centerpiece for Sunday dinner!

Personalized Onesies

 In my experience, people enjoy baby showers for the socializing, food, and, of course, the opening of the presents (ooooh, how cute!!!). Less popular are the games. In fact, some guests loathe the games and just tolerate them to be a good sport. So when I was trying to come up with an activity for Ryan's shower, I tried to find something that would be engaging and wouldn't encourage guests to hide in the bathroom. Personalizing onesies seemed like the perfect idea - an activity and gift in one!

I bought several packages of plain white onesies in sizes from newborn to 12 months and pre-washed and dried them. Then I slipped cardboard pieces inside the onesies to hold the fabric taut and provide a hard surface (cake rounds worked well), and bought some fabric markers.

At the shower, guests were free to decorate on their own or collaborate. Above is a picture of some of the results, and below is Ryan in the onesie I made. Yes, it's self-serving, but you can't argue with its truth.

Diaper Cakes

I wanted to do something creative and fun for my grandson's baby shower, so when a co-worker brought this diaper cake as a gift for another instructor at work, I immediately knew I had to make one. The happy couple are starving students, so cute AND practical was a winning combination. Here is the result:

The diapers are from Target, and the blue and green spots were perfect to support a frog stuffed animal I had picked up earlier in a moment of I'm-gonna-be-a-grandma-so-I-have-an-excuse-to-buy-cute-things. The rosebud socks weren't as successful on my cake as they were on my co-worker's, I think because the colors don't read "flowers" but oh, well.

If you want to construct your own, there are a plethora of tutorials online (click here for a good one), plus here are a few tips: roll each diaper and use a white rubber band to hold it in place. Use a dowel down the middle of the cake to hold the whole thing together (if you don't use cardboard circles under each layer, which I didn't), and buy a bigger size diaper than newborn, because mom and dad might want to admire your handiwork for a while before disassembling it.