Hand-crafted Gifts for a New Baby -Part 2

So.... on we go with gifts for a new baby. 

Now we come to what I have added to mom's mix of goodies. And baby goodies are just so darned hard to resist! So I've had projects stashed, for a while now, just waiting for the right child to come along.

I love to crochet. Mom taught me when I was about 9 years old. I haven't done much of it over the years until recently. But when mom died, I started crocheting like a crazy woman, and I haven't stopped since. When I'm not feeling terribly creative, or I want something easy while I sit and watch tv and talk, or when I wake up in the morning with my coffee, crochet is it for me. 

Before Zoe was even born, I'd spotted these booties. I just knew that someday I'd make them. They were done before she was even born! Of course, I rarely follow a pattern exactly. I made Zoe's booties two rows shorter, and in cotton rather than the wool. Zoe lives in Hawaii... 

Then I got a bee up my butt and decided this Hawaii-born child needed an old-fashioned baby bonnet! In cotton, of course. So I found a cute free pattern on Ravelry.com, made some adjustments, and voila... 

The next stop on gifts for a new baby will be..... Now you didn't really think I'd tell you... Did you? Stay tuned!

Hand-crafted Gifts for a New Baby - Part 1

New babies. Crafters just love new babies, especially if they are in our own family! So many goodies to create for this new bundle of joy. And I now find myself in just this wonderful circumstance.

Our niece, the oldest in her generation, has just had a wonderful baby girl. Many of us were expecting a boy, so we're just thrilled! Our niece Cecily is the oldest child of the oldest child, and Cecily is also the oldest in her generation. And she has just given birth to the cutest baby girl, Zoe, who is now also the oldest in her generation. Did you follow all those oldests? 

And of course, as a tried and tried true crafter and artist, dedicated to keeping the family crafts my mom taught me alive, I jumped on this happy circumstance! This baby just had to have the things my mom made for my boys, and more.

But I'm crossing family and cultural lines here. I was born and raised in the east coast. But my hubby's family is a Hawaii born and raised Chinese family. I'm melding the two. And after all, our country is a wonderful melting pot. So, I'm happily and creatively melting!




My mom made hundreds of Amish baby balls over the decades. Yes decades! They were always made from scraps of leftover cotton fabrics. My adult sons still have the ones she made for them, and they definitely treasure them. I knew I just couldn't let this tradition go with her passing. But the Amish baby ball I made for our niece's baby was done entirely in Hawaiian fabrics. Somehow, doing that baby ball in traditional quilter's cottons just seemed all wrong! 

And then there were the receiving blankets, made from cotton flannel, with a hand-embroidered blanket stitch all around the edge. I still have the ones mom made for me to use with my boys.. And now our niece has ones I made for her. And I must admit, they look so cute with baby Zoe in them! 

Stay tuned for the next part of this article. Our Zoe girl has me so excited to create girly things!

Cute Chemo Caps

If you've ever spent any time hanging out with chemo patients, you know that they come up with a wide variety of head-covering options as they lose their hair and go bald. (As men have known for eons now, a bald head is a cold head in cool weather.) Lots of caps, but they all seem to scream 'winter hat being used to cover bald lady's head'! And scarves, they don't stay on bald heads too well. None of these options particularly thrilled me for my bff Margaret when her chemo treatments took out her hair!

Soooo, I set out on a mission to come up with some stylish hats that I could crochet for her. And the website www.ravelry.com was a perfect place to search. Many of their patterns are free. If you haven't been there and you love to knit or crochet, pop on over there when you get a chance.

First up were some wintery hats -  a Queen of Sheba Turban in tan, and a black cap, both with added flower embellishments at Margaret's request.

 

And then winter turned into spring, so I took a cloche pattern and turned it into a really cute white hat for warmer weather. No plain chemo caps here. No no no no no.... We rocked that chemo room with some really stylin' hats!

 

And as you can see, my dogs love their Margaret!