Finished

Lasterday, I put the finishing touches on Rowan's afghan. I'm pretty much in love with it, so I had to show it off.

I'm not a great crocheter, nor am I patient enough to read patterns. What I can do is keep a decently steady stitch, that's why I LOVE this pattern. I picked it up back in the student teaching days from a lady crocheting washcloths at a faculty meeting. One just chains how wide she'd like her afghan, reinforces that chain with a row of single stitches, and then proceeds to single 1, chain 1, single 1, chain 1 etc. back the width of the blanket. The rest of the blanket is made with the same single 1, chain 1 pattern inserting the single crochet in the space left by the chain crochet. Crocheting in the space makes the blanket fly by since you're not trying to catch the front loop or the back loop. It also makes the blanket nice and stretchy.

Seriously, I love how this kind of blanket feels. It's soft and dense, but loose and drape-y. It's been perfect for my babies (and me too ;)

Of course, Tomy, as my first boy, got a blue blanket. I barely finished crocheting it a block from LDS Hospital as we finally went to pick him up from the NICU. Sure, I could've finished it BEFORE he was born. I had plenty of time to waste while on bed rest, but oi! I was just too depressed, uncomfortable, crazy to manage it. Besides, who wants to snuggle up a baby in a blanket made with craziness? Ugh, no!

Hazel's blanket was made from two delightfully shimmery pinks. I felt my little girl required some sparkle! I loved wrapping her up in her very feminine blanky. So, as I was finishing Rowan's blanket, I took the opportunity to pull Hazel's blanket out of the mending pile - it had a little hole that needed some attention before it decided to unravel - and I realized that I had never gotten around to sewing the ends in. Ha! I've used it how many times without completely finishing it? Silly. Needless to say, it's finished now.

The kids helped me pick out colors for Rowan's blanket. Aren't they so bright and beautiful?! They make me happy. Levi likes how it turned out because it reminds him of candy corns. I like that it made a pattern: my first has 1 color, my second has 2 colors, and my third has 3 colors. Oh the joy of patterns!





Speaking of patterns and finishing, I can't help but mention the Cardinals who were so kind to finish the post season in a gloriously victorious manner. That means they were World Series champs both the year Tomy was born and the year Rowan will be born.  Levi thinks we should have more boys. :)




A final note on finishing is a very tardy one on my husbands amazing feat of endurance. He finished the St. George marathon in 4 hours 28 minutes! Such an accomplishment boggles my mind. It was hard enough for me to wait in the sunshine for a few hours. Needless to say, I'm very proud of and astounded by him. Unfortunately, this is all I got in the way of pictures from the big event though Hazel makes one cute masseuse. I'm just glad my SIL Rayn took a lot more and that she's a much better photographer than I. You can see more pics on her blog.