Awesome B has six children. She and I are the same age, which never ceases to blow my mind. Having six kids is only part of what makes her awesome. I am indeed full of awe that she not only wanted to have six babies, but has six beautiful, charming, polite and funny kids.
I am awed by the fact that B is able to keep the days straight and that she still knows her own name, with what it takes to raise six children.
When B was pregnant with her first baby, a boy, I was still a very novice knitter, but I was determined to make her a blanket. That project was the very first time I went to the yarn shop with the intention of making something specific and then giving it to someone. It was the first time I had a deadline too. You'd think that nine months, even for a novice knitter and a seemingly simple project (a baby blanket, after all, is just a big square) would be enough time. I chose fine, soft baby yarn, blue and white, with a hint of silver running through it. I picked out a pattern book full of baby blanket patterns and had the yarn lady help me with the amount I needed and in picking out the right needles.
I started the project with all the vim and vigour a new project brings. A few minor mistakes later and having to rip back a fair number of times (thereby ripping out yarn overs mind you) I was discouraged and let the project languish in some dark corner somewhere. I wanted it to be perfect after all. Nothing less than that would do.
I ended up doing a basket weave blanket, much smaller than the sparkly one I had started, out of some left over acrylic. It was intended as a car blanket. It was a weird shape and I remember concentrating really really hard on doing alternating knit and purl squares. My purl stitches were all twisted, cuz I wasn't doing it right and I'm sure my cast on and cast off edges were atrocious.I didn't even finish that one in time for the first. It ended up in a gift basket for the second baby, a girl. And somewhere in there a very ugly hat materialized for B which B was too polite (until recently, when she could see that I had markedly improved in skill) not to accept.
Here is where my memory gets a little fuzzy. I'm worried that baby number three, another boy, didn't get a knitted anything. There was a good stretch of time where I was pretty broke and the rapidity with which B was having babies, I just couldn't knit that fast. So Baby 3 either got the blanket started for Baby 1 (as I know I eventually finished it and did give it to B), or nothing at all, or Baby 4 (another boy) was the one left in the lurch. I'll have to knit him a hat or a sweater at some point. Cuz by Baby 5 (yet another boy), I had my stuff together and managed not only to crochet (crochet is much much faster) a baby blanket, but made a baby quilt to match. And a little cardi too I think.
Which brings us to Baby 6, the final little bundle of joy, and this time, a much anticipated little girl.
Baby 6 was born in June, and even though I didn't know whether she was going to be a boy or a girl (neither did B), I didn't pick out a pattern ahead of time. I was confident enough to know that I could now knit something quickly, and of decent quality.
Some of you may have noticed that the shawl that appeared in the other photos is now conveniently missing. Had it not been for the house reno's, I likely would've finished it too, but as my skill has improved, so has my acceptance of some basic knitting realities. If you want baby items finished before the child enters college, you have to lower your expectations. So I thought that the bonnet and bootees would suffice. As long as they had some outfits to go with them.
So I guess the days of knitting for B's Babies are past now. Maybe someday it'll be my turn. I'll have gotten all the knitting kinks out and be pretty confident as to what I'm doing in that department, having had all these years of practice. I'm sure B will have some sage advice on the topic of raising children when I call frantic and bewildered, which I'm sure I will do.
B just received the package yesterday, and seems genuinely pleased with the workmanship. Baby wearing items photo should follow soon. Now I need to make up for the ugly hat.
