cradle sets

I’ve made a few cradles sets for Bridget’s Cradles. My pieces are plain. The folks at BC add embellishments so the final pieces will look prettier.

The mission of BC from their website: “The mission of Bridget’s Cradles™ is to provide hospitals with knitted and crocheted cradles to hold babies who were born into Heaven in the second trimester of pregnancy.”

Each set is made up of a cradle, a blanket, and a square. Parents keep the square as a remembrance of their son or daughter who has passed on.

The sets above were made with I Love This Yarn Turquoise with a G hook. There are extra squares because these are given to parents who lose their child in the first and third semesters.

If you are interested in helping this cause, you can fill out a volunteer form here.

I haven’t decided what I’m going to work on next. I have yarn for another shawl so maybe that although I’ve been thinking of making squares again. When I know, you’ll know. 🙂 It will probably be something entirely out of the blue. LOL

Happy crocheting!
Sandie

website move

About a year ago, I got a new computer.The program I purchased to update the Crochet Cabana web site in 2012 could not be moved to the new computer.  When I contacted the publisher of the program, they said it was no longer supported and I'd have to repurchase the program. I didn't care for the program that much so I didn't want to do that. Thus the website has been sitting without additions or changes while I thought about what to do. The blog and Facebook / Twitter are what I have used to relay information. 

The dilemma I faced is whether to keep the site going or not. Is the website really that useful? Are people visiting enough to go to the trouble of moving the site? The world of crochet is expanding and changing. Am I able to offer enough new and pertinent content to make it worth a visit or can I do what I need to do with just the blog and YouTube accounts?

With regards to expenses, besides creating the site, it has to be hosted somewhere. The problem I had with free hosts in the past was that they couldn't handle the number of pages I had on site and the traffic using the site. I had to keep moving it. Because of this we purchased hosting which we've been using with no problem since 2004. However, they are raising costs by about 30%. The only other thing I use the host for is to get those neat statistics I post at the beginning of the year - well, neat to me.

I also own the domain name, which has to be renewed annually.

To see how useful the site is, I put up a poll on the blog and mentioned it twice on the Facebook page which also posts to Twitter. I have an average of 8500 followers on the FB page. 8 of them responded to the poll. That seems to indicate that the site is not as useful as it perhaps once was. One doesn't expect every person to respond. Some may have missed the notification. Others wouldn't care or wouldn't have time. All understandable. 

Before I put up the poll I had checked out a few places to which to move the site. To my knowledge, there is no "automatic" way to move the website anywhere.

I already had a free account with Wordpress. The free account does not include videos so I would have to use links rather than embedding videos. There is also a limit to how many pages one can add though I couldn't find out how many that is. One place said 80, one said 88, one said 100. 

The name "Crochet Cabana" is being used by another Wordpress client. That site was last updated in November 2015. Nonetheless, I wouldn't be able to use that name while working on the site. I own the domain name, however, and can just redirect it.

All that to say in year 20 Crochet Cabana will be having another overhaul. Even though it may not be as useful as it once was, I find I turn to the site myself to remember things. Since not a lot of people appear to be using the site,  I'm not willing to pay for space. However, since I use it myself I'm willing to keep it going at least for a while.

I have moved most of the information to Wordpress. It's fairly easy though there's a learning curve. There are 82 pages currently. I haven't gotten any notices about the number of pages so I am assuming it is okay.

The site is actually active though there are still some things I'm working on. The blog will be part of the site, not separate, so if you have this blog bookmarked you will need to bookmark the other one. Wordpress does have a feature to automatically pull blog posts so all of the posts are there, including the recent ones which I've moved over manually.

If you are curious to see the new site now, you can find it here. I have to figure out how to move the domain name over which I hope to do soon. If you do visit and you find something not working, please do holler out to me. I'm still learning Wordpress. I was so excited to figure out the menu thing. LOL

Happy crocheting!
Sandie

more cocoons

I wasn't going to do another cocoon post as I'm sure you're tired of them, but I decided to give all the details in one spot.

These were made using the same preemie pattern. It has a flap so it can be opened and the nurses can get to the baby while still keeping him or her mostly covered. 

I have not had occasion to try these on an actual baby but the feedback has been positive. If you're a nurse or someone who handles preemies, feel free to holler out with opinions.

For these, I used Bernat Baby Sport (#3) with a G hook. The skeins are 8.5 oz (240g), 892 yards (816m). 100% acrylic. I was able to get 6 cocoons out of each skein with a smallish ball leftover. The colorways are Tiny Tulips (pink) and Funny Prints (blue). 

The methodology of creating the flap is fairly simple. You go into the front loop only on a few stitches, then when you get back to that spot you stitch into the back loop only for those few stitches. From there on, you turn your work each round.

Here is the pattern:

Preemie Cocoon with flap  
©July 2017 Sandra Petit, http://www.crochetcabana.com
Materials: G hook, DK or sport weight yarn (Bernat Baby Sport is used in the sample)
Note: If you prefer, you can start each round with a ch-3. It won’t change the pattern.

Size: Working to 25 rounds, with a G hook and sport yarn, gave me a cocoon about 10 1/2" tall. If you need a taller cocoon, work more rounds. The bottom is 4-5" diameter.
Special stitch: 
standing dc (join with a dc) for this pattern only: place slip stitch on hook, hold yarn tail firmly in right hand, with working yarn, yarn over twice, insert hook in specified stitch and complete a dc as normal. (Some choose not to put the slip stitch on hook, but that’s how I do it)

Instructions:
Make a magic circle (or ch 4 and join with a sl st to make a ring)

Round 1: ch 1 (ch-1 does not count as a stitch here and throughout), work 12 dc in the center ring, join with a slip stitch to first dc (not the chain). You can pull your ring a bit tighter now if you're using the adjustable ring. That will almost close your hole. (12 dc)

Round 2: ch 1, work 2 dc in same stitch, then work 2 dc in each stitch around, join with a slip stitch to first dc (24 dc)

Round 3: ch 1, dc in same stitch, 2 dc in next st, (dc in next st, 2 dc in next st) around, join with a sl st to first dc (36 dc) 

Round 4: ch 1, dc in same stitch, dc in each of next 4 stitches, 2 dc in next stitch  *dc in each of next 5 stitches, 2 dc in next stitch, repeat from * around, join with a slip stitch to first dc (6 increases - 42 dc)

Round 5: ch 1, dc in same stitch, dc in each of next 5 stitches, 2 dc in next stitch *dc in each of next 6 stitches, 2 dc in next stitch, repeat from * around, join with a slip stitch to first dc. (48 dc)

Round 6 - 10: ch 1, dc in same stitch and in each stitch around. On last dc, pull yarn through and use the invisible finish off to close round. Place a stitch marker around post of this stitch. This is front side. (Alternately you can join with a slip stitch to first dc and finish off.) (48 dc)

Note: If you want a shorter flap, just work to 15 rounds and then continue with Round 11. This pattern stops at Round 25, but if you want a longer cocoon just make more rounds.

Count 21 stitches from where you ended Round 10 (or your Round 15 if you’re making a short flap)
Do not count the stitch where you joined the round.  
Place a stitch marker in stitch 21 to mark the spot.

Round 11:  In stitch 22 make a standing dc in front loop only.  Dc in each of the next 4 stitches in front loop only, dc in each remaining stitch around going through both loops. 

When you get to the beginning where you worked the front loop stitches, do not join. 

Working behind the next stitches, in the free loops (BACK loops only), make one dc in each of the next 5 stitches. This will put those stitches behind the stitches made in the front loop. This will be one side of your flap. From here on out, you will be turning each round. 

Round 12: ch 3, turn, DC in each stitch around. Make sure you don't catch the stitches below as this will close it up. Also don’t miss the standing stitch. (53 dc)

Round 13 - 25: ch 3, turn, dc in each dc around.  Finish off. (53 dc)

Edging:  With right side facing, starting at lower edge of the left flap, join yarn with a sc. SC in each row along the side. Then sc around the top, then down the inner right flap. Finish off.

Sew all tails in.

Pattern can also be found in my Ravelry shop for free if you want to put it in your library.

Happy crocheting!
Sandie

cocoons

I've been cranking out cocoons lately. My goal is to make all the cocoons I can make with these two skeins or until I get tired of making cocoons LOL. So far, I've made the ones pictured here plus one more pink which was already sent out. The pink is Bernat Baby Sport Tiny Tulips and the blue is Bernat Baby Sport Funny Prints.

These are going to two places - Heartstrings of Houma and God's Tiny Angels. 

Although I am using my own pattern, I wanted to mention that Heartstrings has a pattern for a preemie cocoon/sacque which uses a formula I thought was interesting. At first I was like ugh math so I went my own way, creating my own pattern. But then I went back to it and once I actually did the math, it wasn't difficult at all. Kaci has kindly allowed me to share the details here.

Basically you use the length of the baby. If you don't have a specific baby in mind, no worries. Babies come in all sizes. Your cocoon will fit someone. The figures come from that starting point. (See chart below)

The formula is Length divided by 3.14 to get the diameter of your cocoon bottom. You round up to a whole number so using the "if it's less than half go down, if it's more than half go up" you will essentially be using 3 diameters - 4, 5 and 6".

Here is the chart to refer to. Click to make it larger so you can actually read it.

I'll save you the trouble of doing the figuring, however.
For babies 11.8" to 13.8" diameter is 4". That is 23 to 27 weeks gestation.
For babies 14.4 to 16.7" diameter is 5", That is 28 to 32 weeks gestation.
For 17.2" it was 5.5"so I was flummoxed whether to go up or down. LOL
For 17.7 to 20.2" diameter is 6". That is 34 to 41 weeks gestation.

To determine length of cocoon (which determines how many rounds to do) you just subtract 2 from the listed length. In other words If the length is 15", you might make your cocoon 13"'.

Here it is in chart form:

These are just guidelines, of course. For the length, I would probably just get an approximate measure. I'm not going to try and get to 9.8 but if it's around 9 1/2" to 10" I'd call it good. My thought is that if it is too long, you can fold it over. If it's too short, the baby won't be fully covered.

Note that the cocoon at Heartstrings uses velcro. I don't put velcro on mine. My past experience with velcro and yarn has been less than successful, especially in the wash. That said, if you are interested in adding it, you might like to make a sample and give it a try.

Happy crocheting!
Sandie

Preemie cocoon

I'm back to making cocoons for the preemies. This time I used Bernat Baby Sport in Tiny Tulips colorway. I've actually made two but I forgot to take a picture of the other one. I'll be making more as this is an 8.5 oz skein. I used a G hook.

The finished length is about 10 1/2". If flattened and measure across, it is about 6" around where Round 10 is. With the flap open it appears wider but really is not when the flaps are closed properly.

Happy crocheting!
Sandie