One of the very first things I made.. not just made one but made MANY of them were crocheted coasters with my aunt!! Although we did not use them as coasters, we used them as Barbie rugs for our Barbie house!! I even came across a few of them when I went through my old Barbie box..
I loved more than anything to make afghans.. I would sit and crochet for hours and hours.. but I also had a bad habit of getting halfway done and then tearing it apart to start over.. It wasn't until I was pregnant with my oldest son that I actually took the time to finish.. I was determined to complete the project before he arrived.. I did not know if I was having a boy or a girl. I found the pattern I liked and then I purchased the yarn to make it!! Here he is 15 years later with the finished afghan..
Next it came to making afghans to put into our family reunion raffle!! Every year we would go to St. Croix State Park for a weekend, camping!! It was always soo much fun.. To raise money to help with costs we would have a raffle.. I loved winning special things.. especially the homemade things.. So I wanted to add to the excitement with a crocheted afghan!! Here is one that I just loved (I don't have pictures of all of them sadly).. Each square is a different color.. I tried relly hard to not use the same colors until I ran out of colors!!
I have made many many baby blankets!! They make great gifts for new babies!! And They have so much meaning and love in every stitch, that I feel that it wraps the baby in extra love!! If you are my friend, you have probably received a baby blanket!!
I also like to make afghans for bigger people as well!! They need extra love and warmth too, that a nice handmade afghan brings!! I have made almost all of my friends a blanket at sometime!! Usually for a birthday!! I love to give and I love to make people smile!! And my close friends mean more to me then anything, because they have been with me through just about everything in my life!! I would not trade them for the world and I like to show my appreciation to them by making pretty things for them!!
This one was made for my friend that I have known and been friends with since I was in 5th grade!! I made it for her for her wedding gift.. She is a very bright and colorful person and I thought the colors suit her well!!
This one was made because I loved the colors!! When I finished my husband told me that I had to give it to our close friends.. Because the 2 of them have always been there for us.. She was my first friend when I moved up here and her boyfriend at the time (now husband) and my husband are really good friends also.. Never thought he would find a friend who was as big a Bears fan as he is.. I believe they were meant to be friends!!!! And they have a little guy that is the same age as my little guy!!
This one was also made because I loved the colors of the yarn.. I just happened to finish it close to my other friends birthday!! So I gave it to her for her birthday!! She is one special lady.. She the kindest heart.. She came in to my life at a very sad time in her life.. but I wouldn't trade her for the world.. And know we were suppose to meet and become friends as well.. She also has the sweetest Momma!!
My mom and I were yarn shopping one day and she showed me this really pretty shade of teal and said that she wanted a blanket made out of that color!! So I found the lighter color on clearance one day and loved how it looked with the teal.. So I decided to make something special for my mom!! I surprised her with this blanket for Christmas in 2011.. Right after my grandma passed away.. I know she just loved it!! And had no idea it was coming!!!
My husband told me that I could no loner buy yarn because my yarn stash had started to take over the living room!! I had yarn everywhere.. I had older yarn that was given to me when my great grandma passed away.. I had yarn hidden and sticking everywhere!! And our house is small so it really was an inconvenience because there was no place to put it where it was out of the way.. So between the afghan that I made for the family reunion raffle and this next one.. I used up a good portion of what I had.. and cleaned out a big portion of what I had.. Most were partial skeins.. not enough to do much with.. When I finished this afghan.. my husband told me that it was the ugliest thing he had seen.. I told him, I only did what he said and got rid of a good portion of my yarn.. I love how it turned out.. It is a scrap afghan.. Not suppose to be the same color.. I ended up giving this one to my friends daughter for her birthday.. and well she just loved it and that is all that matters..
I found this next pattern when I received these free pattern cards in the mail.. I had tried to make it one other time, but I never finished it.. When we moved, I lost all the pieces and have no idea where they all went.. finally one day, I wanted more than anything to try this pattern out!! I thought it was gorgeous.. I had all intentions on making it to donate to the raffle.. But when I finished, there was way too much work put into it. I just could not part with it.. I was going to keep it for myself because I never make myself anything.. Shortly after I finished it, my grandma ended up in the hospital.. when I was visiting her, she kept saying how cold she was.. I finally decided that I had the perfect person to give it too.. It is really heavy and warm!! She loved it, and she showed every nurse or person she could, she really was my biggest fan.. and I was so happy that I had made her happy.. It was so warm that she couldn't even use it while in the hospital, so she had my grandpa take it home with him.. plus she was worried it would get wrecked or someone would steal it.. When she went home, she would wrap up with it!! I knew she was the perfect person, because she would appreciate the hard work and not let anything happen to it.. It really was a pain to put together!!
I had to crochet approximately 200 long strips and approximately 300 short strips.. and then they were all weaved together.. The pictures show the process and then the finished project!!! I still love looking at this picture, because it is one of my personal favorite accomplished projects!!
Finally in December of 2012, I decided I was going to sit down and make myself a blanket.. I had all hopes of finishing it in time for my birthday in January, but that did not happen.. I found the pattern "It's a Blanket" from Mamachee * Crochet Makes Me Happy.. and fell in love with it.. I wish I could have gotten the exact colors she used in her sample.. But I grabbed every color of Red Heart With Love I could find in the store around here and I happened to find enough to make the blanket!! SO.. I may not have finished in time for my birthday but I did eventually finish it about 2 months later!! I love this blanket, maybe not as much as the basket weave one but I love how warm it is!! It was so easy and it was a huge accomplishment, that I promise to not part with.. I will keep it for myself!!
I also fell in love with the Ocean Waves blanket from Frayed Knot!! I decided to start one with colors to match my daughter's room.. I love it even more now that I am almost done.. It is such a fun pattern, and so easy to follow!! I am not quite finished, I have about 7 more rows to finish.. Which I plan to do today!! Even though I plan to give it to my daughter, it may just end up going to someone else.. and I will just make her another one!!
Now these are just a few of what I have made.. I wish I had pictures of everything I have ever made!! I plan to make afghans for lots of family members this year for Christmas.. I plan to always have a blanket going at all times!! I also have my husbands Bears Blanket in the works, I have a few more rows complete then pictured.. But not many more!! :) I hope you enjoyed reminiscing with me on past projects!! I wanted to share the stories behind a few!!
<3 Jen
