As you know, I and my last 2 kids at home have been going to our local humanitarian center twice a week, and I have been crocheting up items for the newborn kits. This little activity goes hand in hand with another new passion of mine ~ GRANDCHILDREN! YEAHHHHH!
Because YES< My oldest daughter & her wonderful husband are expecting the very first ever little GRANDSON! He is due near the end of December or the first week of January, and I have just been having a HEYDAY making little things for him. Well, believe it or not, a kid can actually have ENOUGH newborn handmade items....... and so, in my excitement, I make quite a few for charity too. This not only uses up yarn stash, but also helps out other little wee ones as well.
So, in my quest for some really great, cute, versatile & FREE patterns, I have come across quite a few links to some very LOVELY patterns. I hope that this can help any of you out there in your similar quests!
As you can see, this is a great, versatile pattern that can easily be male or female, just change up the colors! Here is the link to Joanne Holt's fantastic newborn bubble, and on Ravelry, here.
Ok, now for the sweater pattern ~ Here we have a very fun sweater pattern that also can be male or female, depending on trims, colors, and etc.
For this little sweater, I didn't add the sleeves, and I added decorative integral ties as well as a scalloped edge.
Same sweater pattern, but I have added a few rows for the sleeves.
Here again, same sweater pattern, but the sleeves are in contrast.
And with this one, I sort of improvise a fancy lower half.
This wonderful sweater pattern comes from Beth Koskie, over at Bundles of Love.
If you would like to see my personal changes to this sweater, you can look it up on Ravelry, here.
Believe it or not, these both come from that same sweater pattern as well! Just a few trim differences, sleeves, and colors all make for a VERY versatile pattern that is FAST, EASY, and cute!!
This is my own dress & bloomers pattern, posted here, & on Ravelry, for the dress, here,
and for the bloomers, here. Each only takes a few hours to make, & any new mother will love them!
Now for the hat & booties. The booties come from Beverly Qualheim, & can be found on her website, as well as on Ravelry.
A few changes that I made to this pattern include an extra row of hdc ( 5 rows, instead of 4), a few different ways of decorating the cuffs, & a ruffle on the 3rd row from the bottom (pink & yellow booties).
I seem to have stuck the hat pics in the middle of the bootie pics. Ah well ~
This hat pattern is my own, but it is totally inspired from Cathy Wood, at Cat's Rockin Crochet Fibre Arts. I will post a proper pattern for this, along with a few sweater patterns on a new post soon.
If you understand how this form of crochet works, however, this may suffice for now ~
just chain 36, all stitches are done in the back loop only, go back along the chain with dc's until you get to the last six chains~ sc in each of those, make about 17 to 20 rows, fold it in half length-wise, whip stitch or sl st up the side, gather the sc end, stitch shut, & add a pompom. Now fold up the brim twice, and VOILA, cute baby hat!
And this little pair of Valentine booties comes from this pattern, by Sandy Hagan, except that I changed up the cuff again.
This little set was actually NOT made for charity, but rather my sweet coming grandson, however, there is a free pattern for this, as well. It can be found over at Cathy Woods, with her Cats Rockin Crochet, as well as on Ravelry, and let me tell you, she really does ROCK! You will LOVE the ingenuity of these all-in-one designs. Once you get the hang of it, you can adjust the sizes to whatever you need, just get the measurements right, and VOILA, adorable baby clothes!!
And here are a few of the sets put together.
For a boy.
Asian-inspired, it seems so springy to me!
For a sweet girl.
And another for a girl. By the way, this photo bothers me, because the way I put the pieces together make it look like it just has bad proportions ~that's really not how it is in reality. It actually goes together better. Just bothers me, & since I already sent it in, I can't retake the pic. It was late at night, what can I say.
I hope that you have enjoyed these free pattern links, and I would just be thrilled if you sent me pics of your finished projects as well. I will post them here so others can see your amazing work & charitable hearts. Remember if we all work together, with God's help, we can overcome any obstacles!
