The eternal baby blanket

A long, long time ago (just after Christmas 2005), I began a beautiful pink baby blanket for the little girl growing in my belly. I had the best of intentions. I would get her blanket done in time for her to use in the hospital when she was born in April. She was born in March. Six weeks early. Her blanket was not finished. When she came home, the blanket was not finished. Months passed. The blanket was not finished. Christmas 2006 came... and went... and the blanket was not finished. A few weeks from her birthday, I was determined to finish her blanket. I knit into the wee hours. Then, I ran out of yarn. Whoops. I don't get out to that store much anymore, so it took a while to get the yarn. Her birthday came and went. The blanket was not finished. I got another ball of yarn. Then I ran out again. So, back to the store for yarn. It's been discontinued and they had no more of the lovely pink. So I bought some white. Her blanket is finally finished. It only took six balls of yard, five pink and one white, and only 17 months. About eight inches of the corner are white. It's rather silly looking, but a pretty good story to tell her one day while I teach her how to knit.

In the beginning...

I took a class on how to knit at the YMCA at Virginia Tech back in 2002 (I think...). It was really fun! The first part of the class was just the basics, but the second part was more in depth. We actually made an itty bitty sweater. It was itty bitty so we could complete it in just a few hours. I learned so much in that class. Later, I took a workshop at a yarn shop where the main focus was to get us to buy things. The instructor cast on the stitches for the beginners and said they could come back later to learn casting on. The point that day was to learn the knit stitch for a scarf. No other stitches or techniques were taught.



Since I learned to knit, I self-taught crochet. I like the appearance of knit things better, but they seem to take me more time than crochet. Knitting is more compact, but crochet seems to travel better. When I want to knock out a quick baby blanket, I'll crochet. If I want something more satisfying, knitting feels more like an accomplishment.



I have created 3 knit baby blankets, 4 crocheted baby blankets, several knit cotton washcloths, a couple of knit Christmas pickles, and 2 knit Christmas stockings. I am about to begin my first wearable: socks! It seems like everyone in Yarn for Breakfast is doing socks, so I'll give it a shot. I picked up some yarn and a pattern at Knit Wits' clearance sale, and I think I'm going back today to see what else I can find! I'm sure she will appreciate me hauling my toddlers into her little shop two days in a row! I also picked up a pattern for a sweater for my kids.



Anyway, I have a blog in existence on myspace: ptownval; but this is my attempt to focus on one thing that I enjoy: yarn.