Crocheted Baby Rattles

Today I made something for the first time in a while... crocheted baby rattles. I got the idea from my sister, Cayce - who got the idea online somewhere....
So here's what I did (with lots of pictures):

I started with this bright colored baby yarn



I crocheted rows across to make a long rectangle:



Here it is folded over, so you can see how long it was:



Then I sewed the long sides together to make a tube:



I just crocheted the two sides together all the way down:



Then I looked for some sacrificial toys (ones the kids no longer play with or ones that are just past their prime). Also, another idea from Cayce, I found ones with the bells, rattles and squeaky things inside to harvest:

The lovely caterpillar above offered up his internal organs for my crafting experimentation. He contained lots of stuffing, a squeaker, the crinkle sound makers AND a bell!


And a mystery was also solved. What do they put into baby toys to make that crinkle sound? Well my friends, it's stuffing wrapped in plastic tape! How simple is that? Here is a crinkle sound maker:



So then I stuffed the tube with the toy guts:



Then I sewed the ends of the tube together to make the ring.
Here is one of the rattles, this one squeaks:



I made two, one that has the rattle bells inside and one that squeaks - they both also have the crinkle noise in them as well:

I included my hand so you could see the size of them, they're rather large. (Ignore my lack of upkeep in the nail polish department.)


So this is what I did today. Tomorrow we will see if the baby actually likes them.