Pale pink merino wrap baby cardigan and hat

Here it is I've been busy again for my bay niece in India : this time in pink merino wool: DK , it took about 2 afternoons and an evening to make including the hat! Using 3.5 mm hook and DK wool the cardigan used about 350m and the hat a bit more...

I'll weigh the remianing ball to see what it used up in a moment.

I used the pattern in the book ''NO TIME TO CROCHET '' by Melody Griffiths and the hat is from the book too although I added the scallop border to match the cardigan and a flower for the top from a pattern I have already used a lot for corsages.

The flower is a simple triple layered rose this time with 7 petals.

A cute pink heart button forms the centre.

I shortened the ties as it's for a 4 month old baby and added a snap or popper on the inside to keep it in place.

It's fabulously easy to make and whizzes along as you start from the shoulders and work down!

All in easy trebles stitch, each row measures a cm deep so each time you're 1 cm closer to the finish.

The pics are clickable , here follows one for a bit of detail, the scallop edges really finish it so nicely.

It will be off to India on Wednesday ,so I can't show it on the baby alas.I made the 3- 6 months size .

The hat uses about 70m of DK yarn.

The above is all in UK crochet terminology: USA readers need to convert.

a 3.5mm hook is about a 4E hook.

UK DK IS A BABY, sport or a fine light worsted type of yarn.

HAPPY NEW YEAR- FOR 2008!!! Mohair Shrug.

Hello, logging in here to wish you all a very HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Here I am many weeks ago , in late October actually wearing a shrug I have made from a scarf that I featured in an earlier post: this is made from 2 .5 balls of Filatura Di Crosa variegated mohair , a 7 mm hook and a simple fan stitch pattern!!!

I made 2 of the ''scarves'' and then crocheted them together to make this shrug and as the sleeves were more of a 3/4 length which I didn't want I used a bit from a purple variegated ball to add the contrast edges at the ''cuffs''.

Where I crocheted the scarves together left a ridge but I meant this to happen as I do like it as a design feature: you can really see it on the back.

I will post more details on this in a later post , suffice to say that lots has happened since October: lots of scarves have been crocheted and knitted, baby cardigans and baby hats , floral corsages and a recorder case and I have also lost over 21 lbs.....!!!!!

After the detox I found a superb diet online that speedily helped me lose 7 lbs in 11 days and I continued this with a more sensible rate for a while before joining WW online to lose the more recent 7 lbs....only 10 more lbs to go before I will be reaching the safe BMI of 24!!!!

We have even enjoyed Christmas with home made Christmas cake and home made Christmas pudding without gaining more than a lb or so.......

More on that too possibly next week.

Meanwhile I look forward to a day of planning for 2008 and lots of resolutions as well as a - traditional- tidy up and spring-clean to welcome in the NEW YEAR!!!!!!!

Wishing anyone reading this a very happy and CREATIVE 2008!