Baa Baa Blankie Have You Any Wool?

And so the BABY BLANKET DRAMA begins.... As some of you may know, little nephew is soon to be (as are his three baby showers). He's the first grandchild, nephew, and Rowan (my darling sister) and I are nowhere near helping in that department. So I can understand, just a little bit, why ever since Christmas knitting ended, Rowan has been asking, "So when are we going to knit the baby blanket?" That's right. You read it correctly. We. I should clarify that I LOVE my sister. She's the reason why I learned to knit. She suggested we take the class. She can't cast on or purl, but she can knit. She goes to every yarn store with me (Oregon road trip...umm.. seven yarn stores!). She encourages me to buy yarn when I'm sad. She even buys me yarn sometimes too. But, she seems to have forgotten that January and February are when I knit for me, especially after all of the holiday knitting, which we are going to try to avoid next year (see...we is appropriate to use here because I actually need her help to remind me to try not to knit for EVERYONE next year). So what did she ask in January, "Where's the baby blanket?" Remember Wicked. My first sweater for me. Ever. "Cute. How's the baby blanket coming along?"

Now I did have a plan all along. I bought some cute yarn for a baby boy blanket from Suss Design a year ago and its soft and fluffy and perfect! But I wanted to knit a cute sweater for the baby first. "Cute. Where's the blanket? You know the shower is less than a month away?" Cute hat. Same thing. So imagine how excited I was when I finally swatched, yes SWATCHED, the above yarn for the blanket to show Rowan. And what did she say. What did she say with just three weeks left until the baby shower. "Really? That's it? Its got that stuff in it (as she made a kind of spitty noise referring to the fluffy blue stuff)." Now, I must admit, that deep down, I kinda knew that maybe this wasn't the perfect blanket for my sister-in-law's taste (she is so country french. so is the baby's room. this blanket. well is so fluffy fru-fru. but I knew she would love it no matter what). My sister said, "That's all you have?" And I replied, "Well, I had the yarn in my stash." To which Rowan said, "THIS IS YOUR NEPHEW!" "but I would feel so guilty not using this yarn and having it still in my stash." (honestly, it was kinda hard not to laugh as I said this, but it just came out of me, I swear). To which she replied, quite sarcastically, "Really, that's what you would feel guilty about in your stash? Seriously?"

And so now I must admit..... Rowan was right. I LOVE THIS BLANKET. Even though the drama has not ceased, I love it. Seriously, the yarn store didn't have the right yarn that I was going to use, so I was distressed over what to substitute it with, but with Valerie's help we decided on RYC Cashsoft Aran doubled and I LOVE it. Of course, more drama, after knitting a whole big row/panel, I realized my gauge was WAY TOO TIGHT and I had to frog the thing and start all over (now only about two and a half weeks left). Then, my stitch 'n bitch group agreed that I would DEFINATELY need to do a lining on the back (Rowan of course said, "I told you."). Have I ever done a lining on a blanket? NO. Am I worried that it is going to ruin all the knitting? YES. But I still LOVE this blanket and I'm sooooo glad my sister encouraged me to do something else!

Here's a little peek! I'm almost done with the knitting. That should leave a week to figure out how not to screw up the lining!


Isn't he the cutest! Thanks Rowan. Oh, and one more thing. With all the blanket drama (e.g., "Why is she bugging me about this blanket nonstop?" "She doesn't like what I have picked out." "I don't want to buy more yarn" hehehe), dad said, don't worry, I'll buy the yarn for the blanket. Got to love little nephew already!! Thanks dad, too! xoxo Irishgirlieknits