A First Attempt the Second Time Around

My great aunt, Annette, was one of the most interesting people I've ever known. When I was growing up, it was not uncommon for me to spend time with her and my great uncle, Julian, at their house in Montgomery, in their "garden" in Perry county, or at their lake house on Lake Jordan. I learned all kinds of things--how to ski, how to eat vegetables right out of the ground after bumping a little dirt off them, and a wide variety of crafts, particularly how to knit. Annette had made several different crafts for me when I was growing up, particularly several afghans that I still have and cherish. Annette's hands were always busy doing something--shelling butter beans or peas, cracking pecans, and playing cards--so when I saw her knitting a blanket, I decided I wanted to learn to do that, too.

Well, patience has never been one of the easiest virtues for me to come by, and knitting takes concentration and focus for a beginner. I learned the basics, but never really "got into it" like I did cross-stitching. One year for Christmas, Annette gave me The Reader's Digest Complete Guide to Needlework which included just about any kind of sewing you could imagine. I have poured over the pages at various times in my life, but couldn't bring myself to pick up knitting again...until Christmas Break this year.

I decided that I wanted to knit a baby blanket for LE before she arrives. Since we had decided on pink and brown as the accent colors for her room, those seemed like the perfect colors for a blanket. The day we got out of school, I made my way to Mich.ael's and wandered up and down their yarn aisles trying to find the perfect colors and textures for my very first adult attempt at making a blanket. I finally found some yarn that was soft and not too thick or thin that I thought I would feel comfortable working with, bought it, and came home to search the internet for an "easy baby blanket." (Some people's ideas of "easy" are obviously VERY different from mine!) I found one that only used the knit and purl stitches (the only ones I felt comfortable enough with to start) and didn't seem to be too big as a finished product and I got to work.

That first day, I would knit a few rows, think they didn't look right and then unravel them. After working for about half a day, I had completed five knitted rows and I hadn't even gotten to the true "pattern" that the instructions called for! I was bound and determined that I WOULD do this, though, so I plodded on through. At the end of the two week break, I had finished over half the blanket and felt like I was accomplishing something. I finally finished the blanket this past Thursday night, binding off the end and weaving in the stray threads. I am so proud that I have something that I have made to give to my daughter!

(If you click on the picture, you can better see that the blanket does have a pattern.)