A Weather Mobile for Graham

This mobile was very easy and repetitive, using a lot of circles of single crochets. The original pattern can be found here. I cheated a little in order to save money on yarn. I used a yellow-orange color instead of a yellow and an orange. I also created the green from white yarn and kool-aid. I simply soaked the white yarn in water for 30 minutes, before I placed powder from a green kool aid packet in a bowl with 1/2 cup of water and the yarn in the sun for an hour, then pulled the yarn out and dried it in the sun (all done while sunbathing and crocheting the mobile's sun). The yarn I used was a really thin wool, the same that I used for the clouds. I used quilting batting to stuff it.

My niece was pretty excited when she came to visit while I was sewing the rays on the sun. She smiled really big, grabbed it, and ran off. I could crochet her a stuffed animal, but I am hesitant to spend the hours on it if it is going to fall apart or get lost in her overflowing toy chest. I want to crochet some stars from the yellow-orange yarn before I see if there is enough to crochet a sun for her. I envision hanging these pieces over Graham when he is in his play gym, before he is able to grab them. John's mom is giving us a baby shower this weekend. If we do not get a suitable play gym, we are going to construct one from pool noodles, pvc pipes, and ribbon. Play gyms are expensive, but we can make one ourselves for less than $10. We did receive a play gym from a family member, but the bar that held the toys was not stable when set up correctly. I don't want to have to worry about Graham's play gym collapsing on him, so we exchanged it for some clothes.

I am undecided on my next crochet project. I thought about crocheting some blocks, but I want to be able to stuff them with a solid cube so that they can be stacked without collapsing. I need ideas of a cheap material I can place inside the cubes. I have also thought about crocheting more booties and mittens for him, but will probably get a couple pairs from the shower. For the same reasoning, I have held off on crocheting a sleep sac such as:

The baby shower invitees were not provided the link to the baby registry, so I have a feeling we will be getting a lot of newborn onesies, blankets, scratch mittens, and booties (all blue of course). I will probably take a break from my crochet mania until after the baby shower.