Making Do

Baby toys. They need to be simple, safe, and sturdy. Bright colors are preferable so that baby will notice them, but not necessary. And how it looks isn't too important to the baby, just to the parents. At the same time, baby toys can cost an arm and a leg, and recent studies can put a new parent ill at ease about plastic toys certain to find their way into baby's mouth. So I make do.

My little one is just at the age that he's starting to enjoy toys. I wanted him to have a rattle. Unrelated to my baby, I also wanted to use up little bits and pieces of leftover sock yarn. I put a few dry black beans in an empty prescription bottle, closed the lid, and crocheted a cover around it in single crochet. I started with a hexagon just a little bigger than the diameter of the lid. Then I worked without increasing in a tube for the length of the bottle. Finally, I decreased six per round around the bottom of the bottle, trapping the bottle in the cover.

After making the cover, I did not finish of the project. I made a chain the length of the bottle and attached it with a slip stitch to the other end. I finished off after working a row of single crochet. The result, while not the most aesthetically pleasing rattle, but it does what it's supposed to do and the handle fits securely around my baby's wrist, so he won't drop it easily.

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