111:365 Made it on time...

Anna: Some friends of ours are having their first child together, due any day now. I decided to make a baby blanket for their new addition. After borrowing several books on crochet from the library, going through the patterns, I decided to...

... wing it. *L* It's basically a big square, similar to a baby blanket I received as a gift while pregnant with my older daughter. In fact, that blanket is why I learned to crochet in the first place. The blanket was a white square, bordered with tiny granny squares in pastel pink, purple, blue and peach, with a peach "flower" in the very centre.

The darn thing wouldn't lie flat. Drove me nuts. I'd lay it down and it'd be flat in the middle, but s0mewhere along the way, it stopped lying flat. It bothered me so much, I finally borrowed some books on crochet, figured it out, then used my newfound knowledge to figure out what was wrong. It turned out to be very simple. The friend that made it for me accidentally added one extra stitch on one side. By the time she finished, that one side was several stitches wider then the others. I ended up undoing the whole thing, then remaking it. We still have it.

To think my mother had tried for years to make me learn crochet, unsuccessfully, and all it took was something that clashed with my OCD tendancies. ;-)

After deciding what I wanted to make, I had to choose the yarn. I wanted the softest I could find, so I spent about 20 minutes wandering the yarn aisles at Michaels, fondling the balls. Every now and then, one of the girls would go by and I'd snag them, holding out a pair of balls, saying "feel this," to get their opinions, too.

My daughters think I'm weird.

After all my fondling, I settled on Bernat Satin. Amazingly soft, with a lovely sheen. It's also washer and drier safe - always important for baby stuff. ;-) 100% acrylic, so there should be no worries about allergies, either.

Next, I chose the colours. I had one prerequisite. No pastels. I figure the proud parents will be inundated with pastel baby gifts - especially pink, since they're expecting a girl. I also wanted to stay away from white, if possible, since it tends to show dirt and stains more easily. With the girls helping me choose, we settled on Sable and Wine Mist Heather. I think they go well together. I ended up using about 3 1/2 balls of Sable and most of one ball of Wine Mist Heather.

I hope they like it. :-) And they'll actually get it before the baby is born. Unless Baby decides to show up tonight or something. Might be another week, though.

Mom is looking forward to having a bladder again.