A little less old ladyish?

I read an article the other day about the health benefits of crocheting. Apparently, spending your time with hook and yarn in hand lowers stress and can add years to your life.

I KNEW IT.

I really crochet to keep my hands busy while watching TV with my husband. In the last three years, I've definitely gotten more crochet crazy, cranking out blanket after blanket. I love giving these handmade items as gifts, as I think giving such a keepsake is a good way of saying "you are special enough to me that I spent the time to make this for you!"

The only issue is that I really struggled to find patterns that didn't look like something your great grandma would have thrown over the back of her plastic slip-covered couch. I did some fun stuff with bright patterns, and then I discovered appliques!

These baby blankets are three of my favorites I've every done.

I really think these retain the "keepsake" nature of a gift, but also allow for something very personal and more modern looking. As an example, the bottom blanket was for a friend who used a pond theme in her daughters nursery.

All of these patterns are available on Ravelry saved in my queue. http://www.ravelry.com/people/CrochetShauna