Popcorn Stitch Striped Baby Blanket

My nephew's first birthday just came and went, and for his birthday, I made him another blanket. I think the gifts we make for one another are the gifts everyone remember and hold dear to their hearts. I can see my nephew growing up with his blankets, knowing his aunt made them for him when he was little.

I decided to do a whole blanket of popcorn stitches. I picked the popcorn stitch because I thought it would be fun for a one year old to run his hands through the blanket and grab the little popcorns because they will almost never come out. I finally taught myself how to do a proper popcorn stitch. Then I realized how long of a project this blanket would be. Also, I'm still trying to learn when to stitch in the turning chain, or when not to. So the two sides of this blanket came out really (really really) wonky. I tried to fix it with the borders, but it was not really going to fix all my mistakes after mistakes. My theory is if my nephew uses the blanket enough and it gets dirty and it has to be washed, it will just blend in as an aged, old treasure.

I made up the pattern, starting with about 120 chains, then double crochet in the next row, then the next would be the popcorn stitches. I used single crochet until I was ready for the popcorn stitch, which is 5 double crochets all together in one stitch. Then three single crochet between each popcorn. After the popcorn row, I switched colors then started over (with the double crochet row). The I just alternated where the popcorn stitch would fall, so they weren't in row, but more a scattered pattern.

Lastly, as I said before, I tried to fix the wonky edges by adding a border. I used a white double crochet, blue single crochet, then a white slip stitch for the final edge.

It took me about 50 minutes to do one row of colors - I did 36 rows of colors - meaning just the stripes of the blanket took me about 30 hours. Add on the border, I probably spent 5 hours. Not to mention the about 3 hours I spent weaving and tying all those loose ends. Okay, so a 38 hour blanket! I always think these projects take much less time than they do!

Hopefully my nephew loves this blanket and will remember his auntie every time he hugs it.

note the strange edges, especially on the right... don't tell anyone!

New scarves... Summer Colors!

I'm so happy to post these vintage scarves I recently listed for sale in my Etsy shop  I have so much more to list, but I thought it was necessary to get the bright summer colors for sale first - I wish I could keep them all :)

This scarf by Burmel is amazing: super soft silk, and an amazing pattern in lemon and lime colors. Talk about neon colors for the summer! I can see a chic New York girl tying this around her head with a bow, but I could also see someone wearing this an an accessory to the Miami beaches. Oh, summertime!

This is a fantastic vintage silk scarf by Adrienne Vittadini. It has bright, bold summer colors: hot pink, newon orange, bright yellow, and a muted purple (to even out the bright colors!). It's also very soft and airy, working well as a small beach skirt since it's large enough (34" x 34"!).

Lastly, it's not summer without nautical prints. This vintage scarf by Leonardi features colors of cerulean blue (my favorite crayon color!) with teal and navy nautical knots. Now don't ask me how to tie a nautical knot, but everyone knows how to tie a fashionable scarf around their neck in summertime!