Babette Crocheted Blanket - Finally Finished!

Babette is finally complete! Elizabeth missed her goal by 3 days, but she worked on it faithfully until it was finished. Take a look at this wonderful accomplishment...


The sun came out just as the last stitch was being worked...


...and here it is...the final stitch of a very ambitious crochet project!


The border starts with the two rounds of red in double crochet, then light green, gold, two rounds of navy, a yellow, an orange, then the final round in teal single crochet to finish it off. No wonder it took so long!


But doesn't it look great? It was so big and heavy that Elizabeth needed her little sister Gracie to help hold it on the railing.


What a fabulous combination of colors!


And great perseverance too! Elizabeth is already looking forward to using this blanket at football games this fall. It's big enough to wrap herself up in it from head to toe and all the way around!

Happy Stitching!

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Babette Crocheted Blanket - Update #4

Crocheting a large blanket from beginning to end between the last day of high school and the first day of college is a pretty lofty goal for a young lady. But if you've read my previous posts on this adventure, you know that is just what my daughter set out to do this summer.

Her first day of classes will be next Wednesday, September 2. Would you like to see how far she's come towards reaching her goal?


I just had to put this picture first because it is so colorful! Elizabeth worked out the 22 different colors on this blanket so that no color was touching itself from block to block. And the first round of the border will be a color that is not used in the outside row of any border block! Whew, too much to think about!


So here is Elizabeth's Babette with all the blocks crocheted and sewn together, just waiting for the multi-color border she is planning for it. At this point it measures 57 x 62 inches - big and cozy!

I do believe she will reach her goal and I think that is quite an accomplishment!

Happy Stitching!

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Babette Update #3

Babette is coming along very nicely here in the family room. Elizabeth is determined to have this crochet project completed before her first day of college which is September 2. She has the strip she is working on currently and one more strip to make before working the border and then being finished! What an accomplishment this will be for the summer.

Here's a look at her progress to date...



As she is working each section, Elizabeth is taking care not to have the same color touching on any two blocks. It's a good thing she chose so many different colors! She also has figured out which color will be the first round of the border. It will have to be one that she has not used on the outer round of any border block!

Whew! That's just too much thinking for me!

There will be quite a bit of leftover yarn from this project, of which I plan to use bits for an afghan I am planning. Something much more simple and old fashioned than this Babette though! As soon as I have a little bit more progress made on mine, I will share it. Right now, there's not too much to see!

And don't forget my 400th Post Summer Giveaway underway right now. There is still time to sign up!

Happy Stitching!

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Babette Update #2

Remember those lazy days of summer between school years?

Not having the responsibility of school is really agreeing with my oldest daughter, Elizabeth. She loves sleeping in a little later, puttering around the house, playing with her little sister and brother, and spending long afternoons and evenings with her crocheting. All this, of course, when she isn't working!

Here's a picture of the progress she has made so far on her Babette...


She is so happy with how it is turning out, and even my husband commented on how much he likes it! I think what is keeping her interested in this project for so long is the frequent color changes, and the variety of block sizes for each section. She also has the incentive of wanting to have this complete before she begins her college career on September 2, so she just keeps plugging away a little bit each day.

Since she purchased the larger skeins of Red Heart yarn for this project, she will have lots leftover and is already planning what she will do with that. I'm guessing another afghan, but I'm not sure if she'll jump right into another Babette right away!

Happy Stitching!

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First Babette Update

Graduation was wonderful with perfect weather out on the football field and the opportunity to take lots of great pictures of our graduate with all her friends, both new since high school and even some she has known since before kindergarten. She is totally enjoying not having projects due or homework hanging over her head.

Would you like to see how much she has done on her Babette?



She was so worried about not being able to make the colors appear random in each block, so to solve that problem, she puts her bag of yarn on the other side of the room and when she needs a new color, she asks her brother or sister to pick one out for her! I thought that was a clever solution. You can tell that a couple of these beginning blocks were actually planned though, like the one with purples in the lower left corner, or the red, white and blue square.

Elizabeth is pretty much a self-taught crocheter, so following a pattern was a challenge for her. The large block in this picture shows a little twist in the block, which was caused by her going one stitch too far on each edge of the block on each round. I pointed this mistake out to her about 5 rounds into the block, but she decided she liked the effect and would do the other large block the same way for added interest.

The beauty of a blanket like this that so many people are making right now is that there are so many ways to make it your own. Elizabeth has chosen to leave her wonky block and make a second like it, and also to use worsted weight yarn with a very large hook. She will end up with a very fun and funky monster size blanket when she is finished, and she will never have to worry about being chilly again!

Happy Stitching!

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New Yarn Purchased for Babette Blanket - but not for me :(

Now that the warmer weather is on its way, her high school career is over and college doesn't start until the fall, my older daughter has decided it's time to put away the heavy zig zag afghan she's been working on and start on something new and different. She fell in love with Babette after seeing some of my favorite versions of her recently, HERE and HERE, and then there was no stopping her!


Having the budget of a high school student who still needs to save for a car and college, she decided to go with what she knew and could afford. About 15 minutes in the yarn department of our local Walmart netted her 20 skeins of Red Heart worsted weight yarn in colors she thought would be fun to put together in totally random ways.


As soon as we got home, she got right to work with the pattern and the skein of teal yarn. The first thing she discovered is that she had never learned how to read a pattern since she has always just made up what she wanted to do, or asked me how to do it and I showed her. So we had a little lesson in pattern reading, the proper way to change yarn colors from row to row, and how to pick up both loops of a stitch instead of just the front or back. Now she is busy busy busy pulling out different colors of yarn to add rounds to the first big block.

Remember that feeling of freedom you felt once school was out and you had months of Nothing But Time looming ahead of you before school began again? What a feeling! It's wonderful seeing her filling up some of that time making something she will be able to treasure for years to come.

Happy Stitching!

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3 Crochet Patterns Ordered

Our oldest child just finished high school and feels the weight of the world lifted off her shoulders...for now anyway! Reality will hit soon enough, but I'll let her enjoy this short time of freedom! She has made a list of things she wants to accomplish this summer, before she begins nursing school in the fall. One of the items on her list is to crochet an afghan of squares, as opposed to the very large and heavy zig-zag afghan she has been working on during the cooler months.

I made the mistake of showing her the Babette Blanket that has been popping up on so many different websites lately and she Fell In Love. I tried my hardest to find a copy of the Crochet magazine from Spring of 2006 where this pattern was first published, but with no success. So I broke down and ordered it online from Interweave Crochet. You can see a picture of it, and order the pattern in PDF form, by clicking HERE if you like. It really is a very creative and colorful piece of work, and I'm sure Elizabeth will enjoy this project to make, and to use and treasure for years to come.

While I was browsing around the crochet patterns on Interweave's website, I came across two other patterns I just couldn't pass up. They are both crochet patterns for children's sweaters and I've never really found any crochet sweater patterns that looked very cute or comfortable until now.

The first is the Come-and-Play Cardigan which I am planning to make for my two younger children, although I'm not so sure my son would wear it unless I do it in Camo colors or put a Truck or Space Ship on it! The second is the Yo-Yo Cardigan which I think is just so different and so cute. I'll probably save this one for my little 4 yr old Gracie and use lots of pinks and purples.

Do you tend to save crocheting for items like afghans, and knitting for clothing items? This is what I've always done, but perhaps these patterns will change my mind.

Happy Stitching!

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