Tranquil Sea Baby Afghan

Finally - here's a project I finished!  I didn't make this for anyone in particular (which is why you can find it in my Etsy store - PrettyPrettyCindy).  The yarn was a bit difficult to work with because that baby yarn can be so thin.  But the shell pattern with the delicate look of baby yarn was beautiful.

The best part of this afghan was a little trick I learned to give a regular shell pattern a three-dimensional look.  On each stitch, I inserted the hook into the back loop of the stitch below.  It looks a little like this:

O.K., it's hard to see in my picture, but I'm not great at taking a picture while holding fine yarn.  However, if you notice, the loop on the far right is the previous stitch and the one in the middle is yo over for the double crochet.  If you look at the stitch immediately to the left of the back loop, you will see that there are two loops on each stitch.  If you insert your hook into just the back loop instead of both loops (like you normally do), you get this three dimensional look.  It's also cool because that dimensional work appears on both sides of the afghan.

The other thing that was a little difficult was that the thin yarn appears to pull the stitches out of shape so they don't appear tight enough.  This is just amplified by using only the back loop.  But as you can see, it works just fine.

The other advice I would give working with this thin sport yarn is you really have to COUNT!  I hate counting stitches and many times when I'm making afghans, I just "eye" it so the sides line up.  But with fine lightweight yarn, that's nearly impossible.  I learned that the hard way when I had to rip out rows of stitches when I discovered I messed up many rows back.  Now wonder why it's been a while since I finished a project??

Anyway, I'm really proud of this one.  And, because I was given a lot of this baby yarn in white, pink, blue and green, I'll probably be making more baby afghans.

If you want the complete pattern for this afghan, you can find it here.

cindy

DIY Day Camp - Boys

I was recently tweeting with another mom who was dreading the summer break (hi Jenny!) and it made me remember something I did with my niece and nephew one summer.  I did a weeklong "day camp" (called it Camp Campbell).  This is a great idea to get together with other moms who can also take another week to host their own "day camp."  It's a bit fun to be a camp/activity director for 5 days, but you have to be prepared.  When I did it with my niece and nephew, I had to plan the days out ahead of time (there's nothing worse than a bunch of kids with nothing to do).  Here are some ideas of "camp" activities for boys (I'll do girls tomorrow):

1.  Swimming.  This is especially great if you have them all bring a water weapon and let the water wars begin.  Marco Polo anyone?
2. Bike rides. 'Nuf said
3. Hikes. Take the boys to your favorite wooded areas or trail and set them loose.  Maybe you could do a scavenger hunt?
4. Make homemade pizza - fun and gets them through lunch!
5. Make paper airplanes.  Have contests for whose flies the best or looks the best.
6. Wiffleball game.  This is great for a backyard or park where you don't have to worry about losing a ball.
7. Video game tournament.  This can go over several days.
8. Movie afternoon in your home (or better yet, outside if you can).  Break out the popcorn and movie candy.
9. Make a movie!  If you have one or more video cameras, this will entertain them for more than a day. They come up with their own plots, dialogue, costumes etc.  At the end of the week, have a film festival!
10. Play poker.  Now I know some may object to this, but boys will be fascinated for hours.  You can play for cookies, small change or just a prize in a "tournament".

Those are just a few ideas and you could probably think of more. You can also purchase "The Dangerous Book for Boys" which may give you even more ideas.  You can also get "The Pocket Dangerous Book for Boys - Things to Do".  Don't forget - plan, plan, plan.  The best camps are ones with activities planned in advance.  You can always schedule time everyday for free play with TOYS (you remember those, right?)  The important thing is that the boys understand it's "camp" not a democracy.  They need to know they are coming to do whatever the "activity director" has planned.
Best of all, you get to have some organized fun AND if you get other moms to play along, you get a couple of weeks to yourself!

Tomorrow I'll get into the day camp for girls!

cindy