Six months of my life....

were dedicated to this baby blanket. My boss and his significant other are expecting their first child this October, and I, rather excitedly, decided to knit them a baby blanket. I figure that handmade baby items tend to carry more emotional weight; when I was a child, I was pretty attached to the crocheted blankets and hand-sewn quilts that my maternal Grandmother made me. I knew that it was going to be a big project, but I didn’t realize exactly how long it was going to take. I’m glad I chose the easiest type of blanket imaginable- it’s straight garter stitch, with no fancy borders, meaning I could basically zone out and watch the entire season 5 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer while only having to pay attention to the colorwork. I read somewhere that newborn’s eyes can only really tell light from dark, and that high contrast colors would help them train their eyes to focus. I didn’t want to make a black and white blanket, so I chose two colors that would contrast nicely- pale yellow and dark blue. These colors are also the colors of the Brazilian soccer team, and since the mama-to-be is Brazilian and the father-to-be is a soccer fanatic, that worked out nicely, even though I didn’t plan it that way. Anyhow, I made the stripes in an alternating shuffle, so one end starts out blue and then the blanket fades to yellow, and vice versa!

I finished it with an hour to spare before I had to go to the baby shower! Frankly, after completing this task, I didn’t feel like knitting for a good long while, but unfortunately, with not a lot of disposable income lately, tons of yarn, and Christmas approaching, I have to get going on some presents for the family and the boyfriend. I find it pretty gratifying that, since finally learning how to knit two years ago (my aforementioned crafty Grandmother tried to teach me in vain when I was younger, but it never stuck), I’ve actually only made myself a scarf and a pair of gloves. Everything else has always been for other people! With that in mind, I did decide to sit down and make myself something new for the fall- a ribbed cowl. It’s already almost done, so I hope cooler weather will soon come to Louisiana so I can wear it out and about. Optimistically, fall will be here in about another month, but really, it most likely won’t be cool enough until November. Sigh.