Baby Blanket

Hi there! It has been a long time since I last posted an article on my blog. I'm sorry about that. I had very busy days with many custom orders during the first half of this year, and my health had been bad for the second half of this year. Fortunately, I have mostly recovered. That's why I stared posting articles to my blog again. :)

During the second half of this year, I could have some free time to crochet. I'm going to introduce a baby blanket today!

I haven't crocheted any blankets until last year, this blanket is the second I have ever made. :) My first blanket was baby blanket too. I made it for my friend in Japan, but I forgot to take a picture of it...

My second cousin in Japan gave a birth to her daughter last October, so I made this blanket for her. I designed the blanket. The blanket is composed of 25 granny squares and edging. 

This granny square is very simple pattern. I assume that you have seen or tried the pattern before. It's simple, but makes blanket beautiful if you connect a lot of the granny squares!  This edging is called Aragon Crossed Edging. It contains a few complicated stitches.

To make the blanket special for my cousin, I added four Mickey Mouse motifs into the blanket! She LOVES Disney!! I knew that she was preparing baby items which had Mickey Mouse printed on them. I hope she will love the blanket. (This Mickey Mouse granny square is my original pattern.)

Update 9/23/2014
I made one more different colored Micky blanket. I changed the pattern a little bit.

Short sleeve bolero

Happy New Year to all!! This holiday shopping season, I found a wonderful bolero on my favorite Etsy shop. She knits and crochet. I sometimes use her ideas to make my own crochet clothes. The bolero was knit, so I decided to make one for myself by crochet. :) I had been working on my bolero at the end of last year, and I'm going to introduce you the bolero today!!

I love to crochet bolero, because bolero patterns are easy and bolero looks fancy. I've made a summer bolero before, so I wanted to make winter bolero.
I made the bolero's sleeves short because I wanted to wear the bolero underneath a winter coat. Crocheted/knitted long sleeve are sometimes too tight under a coat.

I used a pattern called Diamond Cross Trellis for my back. It's a beautiful pattern, but it is difficult to make.
To make a collar, I worked 2 back post double crochet and 4 front post double crochet repeatably on the edge.