Anyone who follows my sister Barb's blog knows Baby Avery will be arriving on the scene in just about a month. Her shower was this past weekend, but since it was over 1500 miles away I didn't make it!

I have been working on a gift for her though. In my newbie knitting ignorance I started a blanket for her over a month ago. Being new at this, I decided to choose a project that would be a 'challenge' - it had yarn color changes, increases and decreases, yarn overs, etc. - all stuff I wasn't very familiar with. After working on it for weeks, ripping out over and over, I was on row 70 of the 270 needed, so it would be done when she was a toddler. I'd been dragging it to the doctor the entire month of January and every time the injection guy would ask, "Aren't blankets supposed to get bigger? Yours shrinks every week!" I'd also started with regular pink yarn that was inherited from my mother-in-law and decided it was a little too pepto-bismal looking. So I added a skein of baby merino wool and one of baby kid mohair. A bit more pricey than the inherited pink yarn, but very pretty, very soft.

A few nights ago I decided to cry "UNCLE", sat down and ripped it back out, I saved the mohair and merino, and took the pink mess to the garage, opened the lid and threw it in the trash. And started over on a sweet baby hat from the two salvaged yarns. I'm pretty sure it's against the knitting law to throw away merino and mohair. Susan B. Anderson, from Itty Bitty Hats says there's nothing nicer to knit for than a baby head, and I quite agree.

So after two nights of watching TV and knitting away it's finished. I added a sweet tag I had ordered before Christmas. They didn't arrive in time for the plethora of gifts I knit up in December, so this is the first one I used. I think it adds a sweet touch. "Knit Just 4 Ewe With Love". It would have been even nicer with a little sheep emblem but they didn't offer that.

So, a sweet hat for a sweet baby head, I bought a beautiful multi-colored blanket, a bib, a nice photo frame, and some velvety hangers for Miss Avery's quickly expanding wardrobe to round out my gift to her.

The whole point of gift-giving is to let others know we love them. The hat will speak love to my niece as well as the blanket would have, yet leave my sanity intact. (I do believe her Nana has been busy crocheting blankets...) I'll tackle increases and decreases again soon, but this time on a project for something or someone who doesn't grow! That'll give me the freedom to take forever if need be.

PS to Barb - no telling (or showing) Krissy - I'm popping this in the mail tomorrow so it should arrive early next week. xooxxo

Labels: Creative License