A Knitting Frenzy

What feels like many years ago, I promised my friend Sommer that I would knit her baby-boy-to-come the first-ever baby blanket that I would make. I couldn't promise perfection, which I'm sure she was not expecting, but I did promise the blanket. And then I began knitting said blanket.

Months have passed. I feel like a terrible friend. Owen was born at the end of August, and while I know this blanket would really be too heavy for the summertime (even in Massachusetts), I would have loved for that blanket to be there waiting for his return from the hospital. Alas, it was not to happen. The pattern that I am using for this blanket comes from my father-in-law's cousin, the fabulous and wonderful Jeannie. Although I have only met Jeannie twice, she has been more instrumental in my life than she likely realizes. A couple of weeks after Silas was born, she mailed a package to our home containing a blanket that she knitted for him. This blanket, in conjunction with Facebook status updates from a close friend's sister about how cozy and awesome knitting is, spurred me to learn the trade, which is exactly what began last Christmas when I asked for knitting supplies as gifts. So thanks to Jeannie and Jill, for introducing me to knitting. But that is an aside. So, Silas has this very cool blanket knitted by Jeannie, and after learning the basics and knitting SEVERAL projects in 2011, I finally decided I was ready for my first baby blanket, and Sommer was my target recipient. Naturally, I wanted to knit the same blanket I had come to love in our home, knitted by Jeannie. I asked her for the pattern, bought the yarn, and quickly began struggling. My floundering continued, and thus my motivation waned, for several months until I got to see Jeannie in person in Indiana a couple of weeks ago, incidentally on the very day that baby Owen was born. Jeannie quickly set me straight on what I had been doing wrong, and just seeing her again and scheming with a fellow knitter (of whom I seem to know very few) was so rejuvenating for me that I haven't stopped working on this blanket since! I am now well into the fifth ball of yarn, and the blanket will only take just short of six balls. (Skeins I should say. Sorry. It looks like a ball to me.)

So hang in there, baby Owen! It's coming! My goal for completion is October 1, and I don't think that is unrealistic at this point. I haven't blogged about knitting in forever, so probably some of my friends didn't realize that I was still going strong. Never fear, readers, needles are still clicking. =)