To Knit, or not to Knit, that is the question

To knit, or not to knit, that is the question that plagues my mind. (with many apologies to the Bard for butchering his prose...)

I love to work with yarn.  I have taught myself to crochet and to knit basic items.  I love the way that knit baby caps look with their little top knots and rolling brims.  But I am much better at crocheting.  I am doing intermediate works such as these Christening gowns below:

Double Love Knot Dress

Tiny Blossom Dress

 These will be available on my Etsy site:  Giggles, Kisses and Love

 But I just love the way that the little knit cap look with the jacquard pattern Bernat yarns.   You can only see the patterns if you knit the yarn like below: 

 So I practiced and practiced.  Frogged and frogged again.  Tried circular knitting needles and DPN needles.   The circular needs stretched to little hats too much.  Never mind frogging, I just cut the yarn and started again.

I also tried Magic Loop method of knitting.  Worked well until I would put it down and it would end up turning itself inside out and I ended up purling the knits because it was facing the wrong way.  Sigh.  Cut yarn and try again.

At first, I was leary of knitting with DPNS. I thought that it would be akin to knitting with a porcupine. The biggest help was switching from metal needles to bamboo needles. The bamboo prevents the stitches from slipping off as easily.


Knit cap with DPNs(Double-pointed needles)

 But as scary as it looks to knit with five needles, the improvement was worth it.  I have four caps completed.

Four knitted caps

But caps are not really special unless they come with a set of matching booties.  And there I ran into another problem.  Finding a cute but easy knitted bootie pattern.  I have tons of cute crochet booties patterns but knit was not going well.

Bleh....not pleased......

Off to my crochet patterns.  Decided on "My Angel Booties" pattern from The Lovely Crow, leaving out the embellishments.  Very quick and rewarding pattern, especially to donate to charity.

My Angel Booties with knit cap

So for now, I am knitting the caps so that the patterns show up and it has the lovely rolled brims but will stay with the crochet booties, unless someone can give me a cute knit pattern.  And is able to convince me that it is worth the switch.

Oh my goodness!  Look at me trying to blog again.  I know...I know...it is really rather amusing to see me try again.  But here goes.  My theory is if I can post updates on Facebook, I really should be able to keep up with a blog.....


Got a new crochet hook last week!  It is Sharp Crochet Hook and it is for crocheting borders on fabric.  It is IDEAL for crocheting a border onto a flannel blanket.  I  am currently working on my 5th blanket since last week!!!

Look at how pretty they look!!!! 

I am going to send them with the package for CHERUBS that my Girl Scout Troop is working on.  The girls are going to cut out eye masks from felt and foam picture frames to send for the CHERUBS H.O.P.E. Tote bag program.

They are so cute that I will be adding this type of blanket to my Etsy store,  GIGGLES, KISSES AND LOVE

Close up of the pretty border on this sweet blanket.  It is a nice way to take a store-bought blanket and turn it into a wonderful gift or donation for charity.

Here is a link to the hook: http://www.sharpcrochethook.com/  Not getting paid for endorsing but it is a nice tool.  I cannot wait to do some cute little girl socks or glove edges next year!!!

Infant Burial Gowns

This is an close view of the Boy's Infant Burial Gown and hat. I wove ribbon in the hat and in the gown.

Full view of the hat and gown

View showing the flannel lining of the Boy's Burial Gown

This is the infant burial gown for a girl. You can see that it is lined with flannel and has an open back.

Here is a close up of the detail on the girl's gown. I have two rows of ribbons that tie in the back and three rose ribbons.

Here is a better view of the gown and bonnet.

Day two

Woot! Look at me. Another blog post. Wow. This is huge improvement from last time.
So currently I am working on some burial items for infant loss. I have completed two burial gowns for 3-5 lbs, one girl and one boy. I am putting the ribbon on a girl gown for 1-3lbs and created a fetal demise pouch. I hope to be able to donate these to my local hospital’s bereavement team.
Some of you may know that I have been crocheting this past year for CHERUBS H.O.P.E(Helping Other Parents Expecting) Totebag Project. The project assists families expecting babies born with Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia by providing them with much needed free information and support items through a community project in which all CDH families can participate and honor their children while helping new families affected by Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia.
I am going to continue with this project but hope to branch out to some bereavement items in an attempt to pay it forward. Someone took the time to make sure that my son, Alexander, had something to wear when I held him to say goodbye. I want others to have that too.
I hope to publish some pictures of my completed items as soon as I figure out how. And place some links for ideas for crochet and knitting projects.
One to check out currently is: www.cdhsupport.org