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Allsorts of Love Crochet Baby Blanket

Allsorts of Love Crochet Baby Blanket

I adore crochet, and while pregnant, I seem to have super speed with it. Jax homeschools, but I enrich his learning with outside classes. That means I have times when I’m waiting outside classrooms – sometimes twice a day. Our nursery bedding was so cute with its fun colors and patterns, that I felt inspired to design a blanket to crochet to match.

Allsort of Love Crochet Baby Blanket

Let me preface this by saying I can’t write crochet patterns. I’m terrible at keeping track of what I do while I’m crocheting, as I tend to make it up as I go along. I’ll be giving an overview of what I did for each pattern area, as well as the basic materials and starting size I went with.

Big thank-you’s to two Instagram friends who helped me name this pattern after fun and colorful licorice allsorts candies!

Allsorts of Love Crochet Baby Blanket

What I Used:

Allsorts of Love Crochet Baby BlanketI used Caron Simply Soft yarn in: Black, WhiteLemonade, Mango (Brites series), Chartreuse, and Robin’s Egg. I ordered mine from Joann’s during a sale for under $3 each. I used 2 each of white and black, one each of the colors. I did buy an extra skein of each, and have been doing small projects with those. I used this exact 4mm hook, ordered from Amazon. Very comfy! I also used metal yarn needles to weave in the 10 bazillion ends.

Stitches I Used:
sc, hdc, dc and bobble

Allsort of Love Crochet Baby Blanket

Starting:
I started with a chain of 102 in black. (I actually did my blanket with a chain of 100 and the dot pattern divided awkwardly, so in the second blanket, I used 102. These instructions assume a starting width of 102 chains.)

Allsort of Love Crochet Baby Blanket

Stripes:
The stripes are made with two rows of hdc, alternating black and white. I did 4 black and 3 white. To transition to the zigzags, I did one row of white sc under the final black stripe.

Zigzags:
The zigzags are V-stitch. I already had a row of white sc. V-stitch is made by doing 2 dc in one stitch, skipping a stitch, and repeating. In the following rows, make your 2 dc in the space between the 2 dcs below. (I like to start my dc rows with a chainless dc.) I did 5 rows of white and 5 rows of aqua/lime. After the last row (aqua or lime), I did a row of sc in that color.

Allsort of Love Crochet Baby Blanket

Dots:
A note about the three dot rows: I carried the white yarn along as I went so I could switch colors, stitching overtop of it with the yellow/orange until I needed it. To switch colors, I’d do all but the last yarn-over of the stitch before the color change, then switch threads to the next stitch’s color and do the final yarn-over. (In the linked video, she doesn’t enclose the carried thread in her stitches as I did.)

I started this section with a full row of dc. Row one of the dots was 2 dc in the color, followed by a white bobble stitch and 5 colored dc, repeated across. I ended with 2 colored dc. The middle dot row was 5 colored dc and a white bobble repeated across, ending on 5 colored dc. The final dot row is the same as the first. I ended the section with a full row of dc.

Allsort of Love Crochet Baby Blanket

Allsort of Love Crochet Baby BlanketMy Layout:
Here is what I ended up doing (from the bottom up).

  1. Black and white stripes
  2. White and lime zigzags
  3. Yellow and white dots
  4. Black and white stripes
  5. White and aqua zigzags
  6. Orange and white dots
  7. Black and white stripes
  8. White and lime zigzags
  9. Yellow and white dots
  10. Black and white stripes

Allsort of Love Crochet Baby Blanket

Border:
For my border, I worked white sc all the way around. How many you do isn’t a big deal. You just want good coverage and to be consistent. I then did three black rows of dc. I ended with a row of aqua sc. (In all the rows, I did 3 stitches in each corner. In the next row, the corner stitch will be the middle of those three.)

Allsort of Love Crochet Baby Blanket

This blanket came out so colorful and fun! And it is a very versatile pattern in terms of colors and the order of the sections.

I was so excited to have the opportunity to also make a girlie version of this blanket as a gift. Being on my second boy, there isn’t a lot of pink in my life, so this one was a lot of fun!

Allsorts of Love Crochet Baby Blanket

I made the body of this blanket the same way as the original, but changed the colors around. Black was swapped for grey and pink for the orange. I rearranged the colors so pink and yellow were featured. The yarn for this one is Knit Picks Brava Worsted.

Allsorts of Love Crochet Baby Blanket

The biggest change was the border. I started with a row of grey sc, followed by two white rows of dc. I made 3 stitches in each corner, as with the original. My final row was time consuming, but super sweet! I did a pompom border, modified from this tutorial. For mine, I did 4 sc in between each pom. I started the pom with 4 chains, then did the step for 3 dc in the 3rd chain from the hook. I made the second cluster as instructed and after I slst’d it to the bottom of the pom, I chained 1 and then made one sc in the same stitch that the whole pom started in. (I hope that makes sense!)

You really could do anything on the border to change the whole feel of the blanket!

Allsorts of Love Crochet Baby Blanket

I hope you enjoy this crochet blanket pattern. Please share with me here, or Facebook or on Instagram if you make your own!

Want to share the love? Here’s an image ready to pin!

Allsorts of Love Crochet Baby Blanket

Allsorts of Love Crochet Baby Blanket

Welcome to Our Nursery!

Surprise! I’ve been busy since September on a very important project… Baby boy number two! If you follow me on Facebook or Instagram, you’re already in the know. He could arrive any day now and we couldn’t be more excited!

Welcome to Our Nursery!

We are finally feeling somewhat ready to meet our newest little man. We have a car seat and a pack of diapers, a bit of clothes (mainly from the great thrift stores around here) and our DIY’ed nursery. Allow me to show you around!

The nursery is a small bedroom with both its own door and a door into the master bedroom. It was once Jax’s nursery, then it evolved to a school room and finally a craft room. We’re back full circle with a brand new nursery!

Welcome to Our Nursery!

Furnishings: Jax’s old crib, shelf from Ikea, the rocker my mom nursed me in (painted and cushions sewn), ottoman from Target, rug from Ikea. Walls: thrifted alphabet card, Etsy song quote, DIY penguin painting, DIY Beatles quote, DIY ModPodge “Keep Calm” canvas, DIY penguin chick drawing, Etsy song quote, Beatle album cover and Etsy penguin chick with balloon print.

The room was already Mermaid’s Treasure turquoise with a green rug that Jax no longer needed in his big boy room, so I was excited to find a penguin-themed nursery set with those colors! Jax adores penguins and wanted them to be the nursery theme. I bought the bedding set for under $50 on Zulily, but you can find them on Amazon for more. (I think it is being discontinued, so the prices are going up.)

The wall art is a combination of DIY projects, Etsy downloads that I had printed through VistaPrint and thrifted or Dollar Tree frames. I crocheted a blanket and round cushion with fun, bold patterns to compliment the bedding set. Stay tuned for my instructions on how to make your own!

Welcome to Our Nursery!

Wall: geo penguin Etsy art, DIY pop art penguins, dollar aisle penguin flashcard, DIY Beatles quote, Target mirror and chalkboard. Misc: thrifted/painted diaper basket, hamper from AC Moore, lamp and plant from Ikea, curtains from Ikea.

The room already had a large vintage desk that was in the house when we purchased it. It had been painted white before we inherited it, which was pretty, but I really wanted it to be apple green! After a few sample pots, I went with English Apple by Glidden.

Welcome to Our Nursery!

The closet was on of my biggest projects. A couple years back, my husband built shelves for craft and homeschool supplies that were very much in use still. After a month of sorting, I got all the school stuff organized in bins and hidden behind an old, ripped muslin swaddle (attached with dollar store stick on Velcro.) I removed one of the shelves so baby’s sleepers could have room to hang. He doesn’t have much clothes yet – a few gifts and what I have thrifted so far – so they are just sorted by size on the shelf for now.

Welcome to Our Nursery!      Welcome to Our Nursery!

The room feels fresh and soft, while still having the bright, bold colors I love and plenty of black and white. Hanging sheer, white curtains from Ikea helped with that. How perfect is that Target Threshold ottoman?! And it was 25% off after I’d been eyeing it for 6 months.

Welcome to Our Nursery!

The door to our master bedroom. Upper right photo art: photo printed from Wiki Commons in a thrifted frame.

Here are a few more details from around the nursery.

What are your newborn must-haves? It’s been 6 years (and I donated everything!) so I feel like I have a lot of catching up to do!!

You can find links to our registries in the sidebar for a little while longer.

Welcome to Our Nursery!

Felt Peacock Baby Rattle

This sweet little guy came about because I needed a gender-neutral baby gift and I wanted to try out some of the new colors of felt available from American Felt & Craft. Plus, it was a great excuse to use some of the cute ribbon scraps I’ve been collecting. I wanted to choose something that isn’t typically made into toys. Owls are SO trendy right now, but it’s time to give some other birds a little love! So, allow me to introduce you to Mr Peacock!

What I Used:

I started this little guy by decorating his body. I sewed his cheeks and beak on and made little eyes by sewing a long stitch then pulling it up into an arch with a tiny little stitch in the middle. I sewed his body to the feather piece with a little bit of batting to make him pop out.

I sewed each of the chartreuse ovals on, catching a loop of ribbon in the stitches of each one. Then I stitched on the aqua ovals and the purple circles.

I flipped him over and cut out 2 layers of crinkle material to fit inside him. I traced him, adding about a mm or 2 all around to get my backing piece. The extra space gives more room for stuffing and the rattle. I drew my backing piece up in the pattern, so you could use that if you prefer. I sewed the front and back together with the crinkle material inside, pausing 2/3 of the way around to insert stuffing and the mini rattle (wrapped in some batting.)

All done, and super sweet!

I still have three more Christmas ornaments to share with you this week! Which one should be next? Let me know on our Facebook page.

{ This pattern is free for personal use only. If you would like to purchase a $15 license to sell the finished project in your shop, go here. }

Loving It – Cozy Winter Gear for Baby

I’d like all of this in my size…

 

MYHABIT (limited time only): Bearpaw Traditional Shearling Bootie ($25), Ambajam Mini Cuddle Blanket ($16), Absorba Baby Girls Microfiber Snowsuit ($39), Osh Kosh Arctic II Boots ($22). Etsy: Tweed Baby Sweater Jacket and Hat Set ($40). Amazon: Columbia Unisex Tiny Bear Bunting Bodysuit ($24.95), Zutano Fleece Hat ($12.50)
 

Bonus! Click here and use code HOLIDAYS through December 15th to save an extra 20% on MYHABIT!

Sewn Paper Mobile Tutorial

This post is dedicated with love to baby S. If you find this post helpful, please consider making a donation to help the March of Dimes fund the research that will get us closer to stronger, healthier babies.
 

At first I thought I was completely insane and over-ambitious to decide to make a huge paper butterfly mobile. Turns out, it wasn’t bad at all! After late night inspiration struck, I was able to whip this up in no time (*not* counting the time to cut out the butterflies!)

This technique is great for paper garlands as well. I’ll be doing a tutorial for one soon.

You’ll need:

  • Card stock and/or vellum. I used both.
  • Butterfly template. I printed mine on card stock so it was easy to trace.
  • Paper punch(es) for little flowers. I used the McGills Petite Petals Punch
  • Sewing machine, thread and beading needle.
  • Assorted beads, including some drop beads. I used pink flowers.
  • The inner ring of a sewing hoop.
  • Ribbon and glue to cover the hoop.
  • String or ribbon to make the hanger. I used crochet cotton.

I started by wrapping the inner ring of a wooden embroidery hoop with ribbon and gluing down the end (I “clamped” it with tape overnight while it dried.) I cut two lengths of crochet cotton that were longer than the diameter of my hoop. I tied one so it split the hoop in half, then tied the other perpendicular to that so it split the hoop in quarters. I then grabbed the centers of both strings and tied a ribbon to the center so the mobile could hang from the slack in the strings.

The time consuming part was cutting and punching the paper. You need to cut out at least 36 butterflies for the layout I used, more if you used single-sided paper and use two pieces back-to-back. I did some of both. I punched a zillion flowers since I wasn’t sure how I was going to use them. Luckily, my punch cut out 3 at a time! I used some solid paper, some vellum (solid and patterned) and some patterned paper. They were all from the scrapbooking aisle of the craft store.

Sewing the strands of the mobile is so easy! I sewed mine from the bottom up. Leave about 10″ of spare thread before starting (you’ll need that for adding beads later) then start sewing as you feed the bottom of a butterfly into the machine. When you get to the top of the butterfly, position a flower the distance you want it from the butterfly and push it under the foot as you continue sewing. My patter was 3 flowers between each butterfly and I ended with 3 flowers on top. I did four strands with 4 butterflies and 4 strands with 5. When you end your strand, back stitch a bit, then leave another 10″ tail so you can tie the strand to the hoop.

Once you’ve sewn your strand, you need to weigh it down with beads. I made a little pattern I liked and ended with a drop bead. To put the drop bead on, I threaded one strand of my thread through the hole one way and the other strand the other way. then I made a knot above the bead and clipped the tails. You could add some Fray Check to the knots for security. (I used Fray Check on the strings that tie the braids in my hair closed!)

Tie your strands of butterflies and flowers to the hoop. I tied 4 of them right to where my hanger threads were attached, then the other 4 in between. To make it easy, I hung mine from the adjustment arm of a camera tripod.

To pretty-up where the strands are tied on, I made some little flower embellishments. You could easily hot glue some purchased silk flowers or butterflies too. I took a length of thread and a beading needle and ran the thread halfway through the center of some flowers. I added a bead then went back down through the center of the flowers with the other half of the thread. I used the two tails to tie each beaded flower over the knots of the butterfly strands.

Then you are done! Hang it by it’s ribbon and enjoy! (Mine is just taped up for a photo. You’ll want a nice hook.)

iPad Games for Toddlers

A reader asked if I had suggestions for iPad game that toddlers would enjoy. Here are a few that Jax loves!

For young babies, Look Baby! is great!It has four simple activities: a teddy bear you can tickle, a butterfly that changes color, bubbles you pop and shapes that bounce around. Jax sends himself into a fit of giggle when he “tickles” the teddy bear and it laughs at him!

The graphic designer in me loves Interactive Alphabet. The illustrations are so bright and fun! Ever letter has a fun activity, plus you can sing along to the ABC song and watch a robot dance (the robot, of course!) at the end. Jax adores the train, the hamster hiding under a hat and the zipper. It’s on sale right now, so snap this one up!

The first game he fell in love with was Peekaboo Pets. We got it when it was free – it now costs $1.99. It would have been money well spent. Jax learned many animal sounds from pushing the buttons and popping the animals out. He calls the iad “Baa” because of the sheep in that game. He also learned to use one finger to push the button after starting out smacking it with his whole hand.

A more recent purchase was Nighty Night. Jax was enchanted by this half ebook/half game as soon as the narrator started to speak. The graphics are beautiful and the animations and sounds are cute. You can interact with all the farm house animals, then put the light switches to put them to bed. Jax used to just wave “night night” to them, but now he clicks off the lights and is so proud of himself! He loves the fish pond because the fish make silly faces and sounds.

I also recommend all of Sandra Boyton’s ebooks: The Going to Bed Book, Moo, Baa, La La La! and Blue Hat, Green Hat. It’s fun to be able to read those books when we are away from home. Plus, they all have fun interactive elements.

We most recently got Pat the Bunny. It is adorable! You can record your own auto, which I did on the iPad, and if you have a camera (like I do on my iPhone) your baby can see himself in the “mirror”. Every page has a different activity. Jax’s favorites are the nesting dolls, the velcro shoes and the kitchen band.

Hope these suggestions help!

Toddler Nursing – A Taboo Subject?

This week (August 1 – 7) is World Breastfeeding Week. The World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action (WABA) was founded in 1991 to “protect, promote and support breastfeeding”. Their day of promotion and celebration has since become a week-long event.

Jax will turn 18 months this Friday. We are still nursing, a year and a half into this journey. If you’d asked me before I had him if I thought I’d still be breastfeeding at this point, what would I have said? “I hope so!” I’m certainly glad I have the benefit of a lowered risk of breast cancer (my mother died of it when I was little), not to mention the nutritional gains for Jax.

I’m not here to tell you how great breastfeeding is (and extended breastfeeding.) More governments and organizations are beginning to realize the importance of promoting breastfeeding. And, I’m not here to say that more moms could be successful at breastfeeding given the proper resources, aide and patience (I recommend this book – I loved it!) Like vaccinations and circumcision, breastfeeding discussions can get everyone all hot and bothered. Let’s just leave it at: it isn’t always for everyone, but it is wonderful if you can! This post is just about my experiences.

How much does he nurse? It depends… On a normal day, he nurses: when he wakes, before his nap, in the afternoon/before nap if he has a 2nd one, before bed and a couple times overnight. He has a healthy appetite for solid foods and drinks water with meals. If he is teething or in a growth spurt, it’s anyone’s guess how much he’ll nurse! We are nursing a lot this week. Yes, it’s a big commitment, but one I don’t hesitate to make.

The question I get asked most often is, “How long will you nurse him? I’m not really sure the answer, but most likely, as long as he wants/needs to. I don’t see myself nursing a 4 year old. I think it’s unlikely he’d go that long without self-weaning.

The American Academy of Pediatrics has stated that “There is no upper limit to the duration of breastfeeding and no evidence of psychological or developmental harm from breastfeeding into the third year of life or longer.”

Research done by Anthropologist Katherine Dettwyler, PhD states, “The natural age of weaning for human children is between 2.5 years and 7 years. (via Breastfeeding.org)

I definitely am aware that not everyone is comfortable around an older baby nursing, so I no longer do it in public if I can avoid it (though I always was discrete and covered up in the past.) He is good about waiting until home, and I can always take him out to the car if I need to. (There are exceptions – like our all-day outing in NYC. I can nurse in the baby carrier without anyone knowing.)

What are your thoughts on extended breastfeeding past the first year? The subject seems so taboo, but I’d love to hear others’ experiences.

Homemade Baby Ice Cream

You may have seen “1 ingredient ice cream” recipes before. But, I call it baby ice cream! I recently had an ice cream party for my birthday, and since all the guests were bringing babies, I whipped up a batch of this frozen banana puree for them. Two out of three babies loved it!

Here’s what we did:

This is really tasty – and not just for babies! You can add a dash of vanilla for an adult palate if you’d like. It’s really good with chocolate syrup!

Cloth Baby Shoes

We have a little niece on the way this autumn so I am excited to get to look at girly craft projects to do. One thing I’d like to try is sewing some little cloth baby shoes. You can make them with fabric scraps and there are plenty of free patterns out there (and lots of affordable ones for sale on Esty.)

Shwin & Shwin has super cute pleated mary janes I want to try. HomeSpun-Threads has several. I really like the kimono shoes and the ballerina slippers. Michael Miller Fabrics has a simple but cute cloth shoe pattern. The ribbons on these Etsy ballet slippers won me over!

Now I just need some toddler-free time to get downstairs to my sewing machine…

Loving It: Woodsy Owls

I’m loving all the sweet woodland owls that have been popping up on baby items. They look whimsical and retro and work for both boys and girls. Here are some cute options I found while “window shopping”.

Boy or Girl

In a recent Gallup poll, it was found that Americans would prefer to have a boy if they could only have one child, by a 40% to 28% margin. If you break down the results, it turns out it was the men who swayed the results, with 49% wanting a boy (22% preferred a girl). The women were evenly split at 31% for a boy and 33% for a girl. They also found that younger parents, those with lower incomes and Republicans all leaned toward having a boy.

What do you think this says about society today? Before I found out we were expecting a boy, I was leaning towards wanting a girl – but I was only 51% sure. I’m just such a girly girl! Plus, I grew up without any females around me, so it would have been a fun change. But, we were just as excited to find out we were having a boy. I couldn’t love my little rough-and-tumble dude any more!