Crochet Christening Gown

Another week has passed already?  Where does the time go?  I've been working on more crochet, some quilt blocks, and school work again.  I tolerate enjoy college, but I think I've gone insane again this semester by taking two classes at the same time.  It's just a lot of stress, and it really cuts into my crafting and blogging time!

But, my lack of substantial progress on other projects gives me an opportunity to share the crochet christening gown that I finished back in the fall.  I started this project without any real plan on who I was making it for.  I was only going to test the neck line to see if I liked it, and then I just kept trucking away at it over the next three months.

I love the simplicity of this gown accented by a detailed neckline and gathered sleeve.  The pattern calls for size 20 crochet thread, but I went up to size 10 and this increased the gown to a 6 month size.

It's not a hard pattern, but it gets a bit tedious after row 40 and the small metal hooks hurt my fingers if I go for more than an hour.

You can find the pattern here, or you can go to it's Ravelry page here.

Once I finished the gown, I decided that it had to have a bonnet to go with it.  Yep, that's me.  I spend 3 months making a homeless christening gown and then once it was all done I decide that it had to have a bonnet!  I'm starting to see a pattern in my life :)

I came up with a few different designs for bonnets, since I was making a blessing bonnet for my sister's baby (she already had a christening gown that's been passed down in our family, but the matching bonnet got lost somewhere along the way).

This bonnet has a spiral back and then shells on the sides and front.  It is the more feminine bonnet, and the shells match the gown skirt.

The second bonnet is more masculine with a ribbed band at the front and an eight pointed star on the back.  This one is very similar to the one that I made for my sister's little boy, and I was trying to balance pretty and heirloom without going frilly so that it would look right for a boy.

One of these day's I'll finish writing up these patterns to share.  I actually sold this gown and one of the bonnets on my Etsy shop.  I just started my shop a few months ago and it really has nothing in it yet, but I'm trying to get some good pictures of the crocheted items that I make so that I can do custom hats and other items through Etsy.  I love to shop on Etsy and have to give credit to all those people who have established shops.  It's not easy getting all the photography together and deciding on prices.

For those who don't know what Etsy is, you have to check it out at www.etsy.com because it's a wonderful site for hand made goods and supplies.  I love shopping there and have many favorite sellers that are just incredible.  It's addictive. :)