Diaper Bag- the last of the Nursery Project.

I have not posted in a while now. I've been working hard and crocheting even harder. It's been busy days with Ramadan and the school day finishing early. With the additional episode of flu and a season of cold,fever and dry cough all in a combined package. It's good to be feeling better again.
And finally the last of the peices of the nursery set I was working on. This is the diaper bag which took longer than I had thought - it was easy enough a pattern to work up but I had made some ( really silly ) mistakes.I was getting the bag right but the even look was not there ...somehow it looked 'traumatised'. And then eventually I did figure out the problem.....the yarn and hooksize were just not compatible!! This is the first time I came across such a thing. I kept working on the bag and it just didn't seem right , the look was not there. Then finally , it struck. I switched hooks and it was suddenly looking better. Funny how a simple project can make you sweat so much ,especially since you've done so many complicated projects before and that too without running into much difficulty.
I had expected this bag to be a breeze and put it off as the easy end project , but then I guess it was meant to be the other way around. Looking at it you'd never guess that such a simple pattern could give so much of work.Actually it wasn't the pattern at all, I made the basic error of using incompatible hook and yarn. Another lesson learn't ! Designing is no peice of cake.
Oh well, after that boring account of the making of the bag , you can now have a look at the pictures. Here they are as promised.
The front view and the back view



















And then the top of the bag. As you can see I opted for using the buttons as closure. I had wanted to use a zip but I hate it when the zip snags at the yarn and it happens so often. I wanted to keep the baskety look of the bag and had to have a proper closure too because being a diaper bag , I had to make sure that nothing fell out of it when little hand get to exploring.

I'm busy Crocheting......crocheting ....

And here is the proof ! Hot off my hooks is the Baby Short Round Poncho and matching headband. This is a lovely pattern by Dot.She has some really amazing and beautiful patterns. And her directions are great to follow, easy , clear and simple.
I loved working this pattern. It was fun and quick too. Instant gratification is what drives me to crochet. Maybe that's why I enjoy making baby things so much. They are quick to make and I love little kids.






And here is the close up of the flower on the poncho. I've put in a square crystal in base colour to give it a shine. But it doesn't really show in the picture. The next picture shows the crystal better. It's the flower on the head band. This set is going to a friends pretty little three years old girl. I hope she likes it .

Broomstick Lace
I've been checking out broomstick lace for quite sometime but honestly didn't like it enough to learn it . But all that changed when I came across Kimberly's post about it. In her post HERE , she has posted pictures of her swatches of this lace and I loved the look of it. That was inspiration enough ! I got out my yarn and my son's plastic ruler ( ofcourse , I do not have a large enough broomstick needle- and I cannot even hope to get it out here !) I followed the crochet cabana tutorial . I must say it's a very good tutorial with pictures that makes it very easy to follow. And there I was making the bromstick / Jiffy Lace. Yay ! Ofcourse it's no where as neat and pretty as Kimberly's but , hey it's my very first try! Thanks to you Kimberly , now I have learn't a new technique.
Once I got the hang of the stitch , I started on a project right away. Yes, I was so inspired by Kimberly's post that I'm making a similar scarf for a dear friend. Here it is ....almost halfway through.






Broomstick Lace

Cottage Rose Nursery set
This is the matching afghan to go with the baby bassinet that I had given off without taking the pictures. There is also a smaller baby blanket to match. My friend has sent me the picture of the afghan. This is the best I could get ....it was a picture taken from her cell phone. I can promise you the real things much better than this picture :).




I have also finished off making the matching Tissue box covers for the nursery. And here are the pictures. Atleast these pictures are much clearer.



I'm still working on the diaper bag. It's turning out trickier than expected. Well, I'm still new to the designing world and I have a lot to learn. I'll post pictures when I'm done.