3rd Annual Afghans for NICU Babies for Christmas - THANK YOU NOTE POST 356

[deedes]

I love the fleece blanket, I have been wanting to try that. Guess I will have to go shopping!!!

[CrochettingMama]

Anne's stuff is beautiful!! And I love the edged fleece!!

[jessicagil]

Hi! I did not forget about sending you the premiee blanket & hat I have. Just had an awful week last week & I have been moving. Anyhow I can not mail out anything to you till the fall. I do have a bunch of squares I want to put together & make you a few more blankets before I send them out in the fall.

[badrhinogillett]

Hi! I did not forget about sending you the premiee blanket & hat I have. Just had an awful week last week & I have been moving. Anyhow I can not mail out anything to you till the fall. I do have a bunch of squares I want to put together & make you a few more blankets before I send them out in the fall.

 

Thanks Jessica!

[JunieMarie]

Kathryn,

 

I love the fleece blanket! I've been meaning to order one of those blades and I guess I should just do it!

 

Also, just got back from the post office and sent a blanket off to you. I have the DC number, just let me know if you want me to send it to you. I'll send more your way as I get them completed.

 

Hugs,

[badrhinogillett]

Thanks June! I'll let you know when it arrives and I'll post a picture here.

[badrhinogillett]

I'm getting the hang of the skip-stitch blade and here are the three latest I've done. I can get two full sized baby afghans out of one yard of fleece, which is pretty nice. I just cut up 1 1/4 yards of a girly fleece I"m about to start working on, and I got 2 preemie sized, 2 29 inch squares and one full sized baby sized out of it. Once I get through this next round, I'm back to regular crochet. However I really like this technique. It's fun to do something different, and I can also get alot more done this way.

 

Here is a picture of the fleece and then a close up of the edging.

[CrochettingMama]

I love that Kathryn!! For charity purposes you can get a lot of them done and you still are crocheting!!! I might look into that! My friend sews blankets and she can get a lot of them done too.

[badrhinogillett]

Thanks Pam. Yes, it goes really fast! I've done those three ghans in just the last few days, and in under an hour, I"m about to finish my second preemie ghan since I put up the post! I still want to do regular crochet for this project, but I like knowing that I've upped the numbers a bit in just a few days!

[CrochettingMama]

What size rotary cutter did you get?

[badrhinogillett]

The blade fits a 45mm cutter. My Dad wanted to contribute to the cause and he bought me the cutter. It came with a cutting mat and a ruler. You can get the blade on either the Skip-stitch website, or the Project Linus website. It changes out really easily.

[CrochettingMama]

I sent you a package today. I really really enjoy making these little blankets.

I think making the edging on the fleece would be fun. I am still thinking about it though......

[badrhinogillett]

Thanks Pam! I'll let you know when it arrives.

 

I like the variety from the edging on fleece, but after I finish my current one, I"m going back to regular patterns.

[badrhinogillett]

Here is the oh so soft ghan sent by JunieMarie. She wrote me that she didn't have a pattern, so this is an Original JunieMarie! It's so soft and will be perfect for a full-term, or older baby.

[badrhinogillett]

Yesterday, I took the kids and went to the NICU reunion. Every year, the hospital holds a big party for all the graduates of the NICU. There is a clown making balloon animals and doing a magic show, there are bounce houses, and a huge blow up slide, face painting, a prize for every kid, food, ice cream, cotton candy... the works.

 

Most of the kids who are graduates show no signs that they were ever ill. We are blessed to be such a family. However, there are some children who will never live "normal" lives (whatever that is), but all of us are blessed to have had the incredible care of this world-renowned hospital.

 

I looked at the families yesterday and realized that some of them may have been recipients of the afghans last year, or the year before. I realized that at next year's reunion there will most likely be someone there who was the recipient of an afghan that one of you are crocheting at this exact moment.

 

I want you all to know that I feel blessed not only to have had the good fortune to have received care from this incredible facilty, but also that I've been blessed by all of you helping me give back. I am grateful for all of you. Thank you so much.

[badrhinogillett]

Here is the third box that Pam (crochettingmama) has sent. It has 5 wonderful ghans in it! They are all lovely, and the blue and white ones are made with Joan's Sensations yarn. I tried it once, and wasn't brave enough to continue! Pam is a better woman than I am that's for sure - that's hard yarn to deal with!

[badrhinogillett]

I have been on vacation most of the last week. We went camping near Yosemite and I had alot of time in the car as we went into the valley and back to camp - in addition to the car ride home. The two RR's were done in the car.

 

The fleece blankets were done the weekend before we left. I had about 1 1/4 yards of fabric, and turned it into 5 blankets. 2 extreme preemie, 2 newborn, and 1 full sized baby blanket. I'm still playing around with different edging, but am really liking this new (to me) technique.

[MaryC/TX]

I would like to join in this as well. I will get started on some tonight.

[badrhinogillett]

I would like to join in this as well. I will get started on some tonight.

 

Thank you so much Mary!

[moosetracks03]

I love that you are doing this and want to help! I've already got an afghan in the works, its full size though. Is there a particular size that they are looking for or prefer?

[badrhinogillett]

I love that you are doing this and want to help! I've already got an afghan in the works, its full size though. Is there a particular size that they are looking for or prefer?

 

Thank you so much! Full sized is great - and certainly needed. Most of the babies I saw were full term. There are certainly many many preemies, but there are also alot of babies like my DS, who was full term but had an issue. In addition, the larger blankets work well, even on the preemies, as they are used to wrap a baby as their parents hold them for the last time. The more afghan, the easier to wrap a baby.

[badrhinogillett]

Here's another AggieMay RR - using the colors of the last two I've done. I'm surprised at how far 3 skeins of 2 colors will get you! Tomorrow I"m off to Joann's - fleece is 1/2 off, so I may go and do a few edged fleece blankets again.

 

The dark color is actually purple here, this time of day, hard to get the picture just right.

[CrochettingMama]

So pretty!!!

[badrhinogillett]

I fell in love with this fleece. It's bright and cheerful and fun, which is perfect for this project.

 

I'm still playing around with edging fleece, and rounded off the corners on this which I think made it work alot better. However, I'm finding that corners are not laying completely flat if I make a wide crochet boarder... still have to play a little more to get the complete hang of it.

[detroitdeb]

Wow, the fleece blankies you're making are so pretty!! And so soft, I'm sure!

 

I just have to wash the ones I and my daughter made, pack them up and send them (except I seem to keep making more - so may wait a while longer). I at least will try to take some pictures to post, been working a lot and planning my 30th high school reunion.

 

deb