Baby Blankets phase 2

Just when I thought it was safe to go back into the water! I thought I had made it through all of the "its time to have babies" women and the "I'm gonna be a grandma" crowd at work and I could lay off the baby blankets for a while. Wrong. I had an ex-supervisor email me and ask me to make a baby blanket for one of her co-workers and if I could have it done by the 21st (yes, of December). And oh, by the way, could you have another done by mid February? Of course, being the push over that I am, I said yes. I informed her that since I had just finished Christmas I would have some free time and I would make her a couple of baby blankets. Actually, I had been wanting to try a couple of different yarns, gauges and hooks. I just needed a good excuse. Now this was actually about a week and a half ago. I have already finished one. I used one of the huge hooks (size p for those of you in the know) and some of the thickest, softest yarn I have ever come across. It almost crocheted itself, it was that quick. It took 2 days; about 6 hours total. I almost feel guilty giving it away. The second one is making up for it, however. On the second, I am using an afghan hook (a very long crochet hook). It is turning out to be a beautiful blanket, but is taking a lot longer than I had thought. Partly because it is a new stitch pattern, which I am getting a little faster at. I was hoping to have them both done by the middle of this week, but I don't think its gonna happen. Liz is just gonna have to make two trips to pick them up.
I may get a camera for Christmas. If so, I may have pictures up of the second blanket. We will see.

Baby Blankets and Christmas Ornaments II

Well, the good news. I finished the baby blanket! (cheers from the masses) I finished up just in time. I finished on Monday and the baby shower was on Tuesday. I guess as long as you finish before the deadline, everything is good.

Now the bad news. The Christmas ornament idea I had flopped. Really, really flopped. I had this wonderful idea of draining some eggs and painting them and then decorating them. Something like Faberge eggs. The two test eggs I tried turned out horrible. I could not get a nice smooth finish with the paints. I tried a couple of different types of "finishes" and they turned out even worse. I ended up throwing those eggs out and coming up with a different idea. I am now crocheting snowflake ornaments. I am using cotton thread, about twice the size of sewing thread and a teeny, tiny crochet hook. They are coming along OK, but I may be blind and have carpal tunnel before I am finished.