Friday, November 1, 2013

Super Baby!

Wow it's been a while... there has been a bit of a lull in interesting house projects lately, for whatever reason.  But I realized I never wrote about one of my prouder crochet moments from this past summer.  My friends Linhhai and Lisa had their first baby in June, and all crochet geeks know that babies are an ample opportunity to crochet some shit.  So I knew I wanted to make them something.  A blanket came to mind as something that is easy to make and functional for years to come (I always shy away from baby clothes and hats, etc., because it just seems sad that you would put so much time and energy into something that could only be worn briefly, until baby outgrows it).  While brainstorming how to make the blanket as cool and special as possible, Phil came up with the great idea to make it a blanket that can moonlight as a super hero cape, and I was immediately sold on the idea.  Linhhai is a big super hero/comic book nerd fan, so it just seemed perfect, and like a great way to make the blanket multifunctional and super special. 

I knew from creating a drawstring on Kelly's yoga mat bag that it would be super easy to just create a hidden drawstring on one edge of the blanket, so that that end can be gathered and tied and the blanket can be worn as a cape! So I used a basic blanket pattern, added a ribbed texture to the edges by doing a couple rows of alternating front post/back post double crochet stitches all the way around, and wove a drawstring (which was just 2 strands of yarn chained together with knots tied on either end to keep it from slipping through) through the ribbing on one edge of the blanket.  When the drawstring is not tied, it is almost completely hidden within the edge of the blanket, so it's not in the way or creating some sort hazard by having ties/loops hanging off of it at all times. But when it's super hero time, you just gotta grab the ends and pull. Voila.  It was super easy, and I'm proud for being able to execute that element on my own without a pattern (I looked - no patterns for blanketcapes out there).  As for the striping/color pattern, I just wanted something colorful, kid friendly, and gender-neutral (we didn't know gender of baby until he popped out), so I got some bright, fun colors and did a completely random striping pattern that I just made up as I went along.  I love how it turned out, and hopefully little Binh gets use out of it for years to come. 

You can see one end of the drawstring on the bottom right corner
 
Demonstrating it's utility as a blanket, in case you weren't convinced.
 
Ta da! Super hero cape!
 
It's a bird! It's a plane! It's super Julia!
My apologies that there isn't something cuter modeling my creation.  But you get the idea.
 
I have a couple other crochet projects that have been completed lately, or that are in the works, that I'll be sharing soon (one in particular being the first project I've ever made without ANY pattern or guide whatsoever.  Jury's still out on whether or not it's a success, but hopefully I'll be back in a few days to share that YES it was). As for the house front, while it's not an interesting DIY project by any means, we are making one big update in the form of doggie doors! Hoorayy!! No, really, we are super excited.  Once that's done, I'll surely share about it, even though it's not a project we did anything for except write a check.  Oh and our bedroom, that I've talked about us working on since last December? Yeah - still not done. Yikes. Hopefully I can share that transformation before NEXT December........ eye roll.