Intro Post, FO, WIP

I began knitting for an admittedly silly reason. I wanted to make my boyfriend Tanner a scarf for Christmas. Typically, for birthdays, anniversaries, and holidays, I'll buy him DVD box sets or video games. He always appreciates these presents, and they get a lot of use. Still, as I was going to be moving in with him in the summer, I wanted to show him that I was serious by making something with my own hands. So, my mom, who seems to have been knitting forever, taught me how to knit. Then, I received a couple of surprises. Tanner LOVED the scarf. Even though it was just straight garter stitch and he had never worn a scarf in his life (believe it or not, this kid lives in Maine and used to walk a mile to work, often in below-freezing temperatures), he seemed to think it was a great gift.

My other surprise? I was totally addicted to knitting.

Although I've knit plenty for myself, I find that most of my knitting goes to others. This has a lot to do with the fact that my mother makes baby baskets for a charity called The Lowell Wish Project (link can be found on the side). Each baby basket has things like diapers, baby clothes and bottles as well as a few hand knit items. My mom, who is a much faster knitter than I am, makes sweaters and afghans. I contribute afghans as well. These baskets go to social workers who then give them to poor mothers and sort of a peace offering on their first visit. The scary thing is these baby baskets are often all they can afford. Everyone knows that a baby is a serious financial commitment. Can you imagine being limited to one baby basket?

I've always made sure to put care into these blankets. I don't want to give a mother something poorly made that she has to use, but something that she'll be proud to wrap her baby in. I can't afford to use the best yarns so I try to put a lot of care in what I knit, and knit attractive patterns. I recently received a pattern book from my mother called Our Best Knit Baby Afghans (http://www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/1574862235/ref=s9_asin_title_3-1966_p/002-7718779-1926463?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-1&pf_rd_r=1BFH6183GHM1N9AJESV4&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=278240701&pf_rd_i=507846). I decided that for the next year I want to make as many as these 33 patterns as I can. Whether they go to the Lowell Wish Project, other charities, or to other new mothers, I want to be able to knit as many as possible. One good thing about this idea is that I'll be able to learn and practice new things in my knitting, as there are a large variety of patterns in here. I'm still a beginning knitter have plenty to learn. Hopefully knitting these baby blankets can sharpen my skills.


To give you an idea about what you'll be seeing in this blog I'd like to present my most recent finished object. The blanket to the left is knit in a basket weave pattern. I have never knit in a basket weave pattern before and it was fun to learn. The pattern came from the book listed above and was knit with pink Caron Simply Soft Yarn. I'm probably going to be using this type of yarn on most of my blankets. It's nice and soft and affordable. The one drawback is that the yarn tends to get tangled in the skein very easily, so watch out for that.



To the right is my current WIP. It's' the Sleepytime Shells Blanket, also knit in Caron Simply Soft. This blanket is a considerably more difficult pattern because it involved a couple new stitches for me: knit 4 tog, and knit 4 tog tbl.
Er.... let's just say I tend to knit tight, so things can often get a little complicated. This blanket also has quite a few errors in it. Each time I look down a couple rows and see a mistake I just want to cry and throw it all out. Luckily, none of the mistakes seem to be too visible to the naked eye so it's not that big of a deal. I'm just going to have to hope that the person who receive this is not a serious knitter. Beyond that, I'm pretty happy with the pattern.

This is the first blanket I've knit that's not intended for charity. It's going to be given to a woman that Tanner works with who's due on August 4th. As someone who was born a full month ahead of schedule, this makes me sweat a bit. I have tons more work to do on this, so I know it won't be done by next week but I'd like to get it down as soon as possible. Not to mention I know I didn't buy enough yarn for this. Seeing as I'm almost done with one skein here I know that I'm going to have to pick up a fourth to complete it.


So that's me, and that's my knitting. Thanks for getting all the way through this post!