Filet Crochet Carriage or Crib Cover - Baby Animals

I've been working on a filet crocheted crib cover for a while now.
I've never really done a large filet project. Only a few small things. So this was a challenge for me.

It all started because I found this really great-looking pattern on etsy and I had to get it.

It was an old filet graph pattern that looks like a Laura Wheeler / Alice Brooks type. (Although there is no mention of their names on the pattern). The pattern is simply called Design 915. There's no date either. It just says printed in U.S.A. at the bottom. (Even though I purchased this from a Canadian lady on etsy).

I think it was a pattern you ordered through the mail and looks to be around the 1940's or 1950's, (just guessing here by the style of the baby animals).

ANYWAY, here's a photo of the pattern taken by the etsy shop owner from whom I ordered the pattern.



And this is the finished crib cover. (Please click on the photos to enlarge them).



This is the back, (even though it is the same as the front except you can see the joining seams where I connected the six filet squares).



I used size 10 crochet DMC Cebelia crochet thread. Six colors and I had to order two skeins, (or are they called balls?), of each color in order to finish each square. So that's 12 skeins/balls. Plus two pastel rainbow skeins/balls of South Maid size 10 thread.
Also a steel Boye size 7 1.65mm crochet hook.

I had major cramping and numbness in my right hand from using such a small hook and I could only do a little at a time.
I don't know how you ladies do it who can crochet amazing things in thread crochet for so long!

I know you're supposed to "block" this type of crochet but I haven't done that.
I probably should have done that to each square prior to attaching them all and putting on the border. Ah well.

I love the vintage look of these critters. They sure don't make designs like this anymore. What a shame.

I'll end this post with a song. Hmmm, let's see.... I know!

Bless The Beasts And The Children by The Carpenters.

No Wedding Saturday Within The Month Of June...

(Please click on the photos to enlarge them).

Nope. Not in June.
But actually on a day that some folks believed would be the beginning of the end of the world.
May 21, 2011.

This is the day my son was married.

Not in Westminster Abbey in front of a crowd of 1900 or so, like William and Kate.
Just a beautiful ceremony in a garden outside the landmark cottage of Stone Head in Nashville, Indiana.

It was an awesome day and, frankly, if the world was beginning to end, I can't think of a better place to be than with all our relatives, friends, and loved ones celebrating a union of two people in love.



The afghan is sort of a 'fairy tale / child's coloring book version of a wedding' theme.
(Their theme was actually video games so I hoped this would work.)

For the stick figures I used a free template offered here. Crafteeguiri's blog. It was designed to be used for cards or stamping but I just uploaded the picture to microrevolt and graphed it.

For the names and date I graphed them at a celtic cross stitch site here. Celticxstitch. I've used their graph generator to create a lot of the words for my projects. It's a great site.

The afghan is crocheted in tunisian afghan stitch using a size J cabled afghan hook.

I used Bernat Baby Coordinates baby yarns which have a sparkly silvery thread running through the yarn in each skein. It's nice, soft, lightweight and also kept up the fairy tale theme. The border was done with a basketweave stitch to look like a rainbow. I tried to get the border in the photos. It's really sweet.



I just free-handed the "Once upon a time... happily ever after." part with a variegated yarn.

Let's see. The guests and relatives have all gone home now, the honeymooners have just returned and are back at their jobs, the world is still spinning on it's axis, and love is all around us.

Life is good!
It's The End Of The World (As We Know It), And I Feel Fine


UPDATE! UPDATE! UPDATE! UPDATE! UPDATE! UPDATE! UPDATE! UPDATE! UPDATE!



YAY! Here's a photo of the happy couple with the afghan. Thanks, Kristina!