Last weekend I had a bit of time to start a new knitting project, a baby blanket for baby #2 due in July. I am not sure how much use it will get in July, but come the fall and winter I am sure we will use it.
This is my first attempt in knitting a blanket. I have made many baby blankets, but usually I crochet or sew them (and I still have to sew one for a baby born months ago, maybe this weekend?). Knitting a baby blanket or any blanket just seems like a lot of time and more ambition than I seem to possess. But I found this pattern and fell in love and told myself I could do it.
This fun pattern, "Honeycomb," is from the book What to Knit When You're Expecting by Nikki Van De Car. The pattern is also free on her website. I am looking forward to knitting other items form this book too, I just probably won't get to them while I am expecting.
This blanket started out with casting on just 4 stitches and then increasing a lot to make a square. I started this blanket many, many times over. The beginning is very tricky, but once you get through those first few rounds, it gets much better. It is great TV watching knitting too because the pattern is so easily remembered. Soon, the blanket will be so big that I will need to add another cable on to my needles, one of the great things I love about interchangeable needle sets. With my knitting cable connector set, I can make my circular needle as long as I need it to be. I love circular needles and I love being able to adjust their length! This is the KnitPick's Harmony Wood Interchangeable Needle Set. I've had this set for over 18 months and love it. So worth the investment.
But now I am at a stopping point, I have knit as much of this blanket as I can without guidance The next step in the pattern is a bit confusing (okay, maybe really confusing), so I will need to visit my local yarn store and get some advice. I love having a friendly yarn store to help me with all my issues. I have 9 skeins of yarn left (with about 100 yards per skein) to knit into this blanket and only 9 more weeks until my due date. This works out perfectly to be a skein a week, however I would love to get this done before then, so I must visit the yarn store for advice soon (and not buy anything, right?).
On the home front, I think we are coming out of a a crazy spell, until the baby is born anyway. That will be a crazy time for sure. Until then, we have weeks of summer ahead of us. The summer class I usually teach has been cancelled due to low enrollment. While this is a bummer for the cash flow, it it probably a good idea for my sanity. D is finished with swim lessons until after the baby is born. My husband's work schedule is a bit less crazy and he has been home quite a few nights recently. (Maybe he can start working on updating the bathroom and fixing the gutters.) I also have a whole week of vacation to use in June before the end of the fiscal year (it is time I cannot use for maternity leave since maternity leave is after the beginning of the new fiscal year). I've made a list of all the cool things to do around the area all summer. We might do these things or not, I am just trying to take things a bit slower and not "over do it" in my last few weeks of pregnancy.
Oh and I turn 30 this week. Instead of meeting this day with alarm, it is giving me a sense of calm. I have high hopes for my 30s. Somehow I feel I will be a wiser, better person, I doubt that this will really happen, but it might. Like I said, I have high hopes. It is kind of like a New Year's resolution period. I am entering a new decade and I can make new goals and dreams, however unlikely this all sounds. I will become organized, raise two children, keep a clean house, cook only with whole foods, be a model employee, continue to be a wonderful wife, daughter, sister, aunt, and friend, and have time for knitting, reading and running, maybe train for a triathlon. Is all of this possible? No, not really, but it is nice to have hopes and aspirations. I do have a decade to get it figured out.
Any advice for turning 30?
This is my first attempt in knitting a blanket. I have made many baby blankets, but usually I crochet or sew them (and I still have to sew one for a baby born months ago, maybe this weekend?). Knitting a baby blanket or any blanket just seems like a lot of time and more ambition than I seem to possess. But I found this pattern and fell in love and told myself I could do it.
This fun pattern, "Honeycomb," is from the book What to Knit When You're Expecting by Nikki Van De Car. The pattern is also free on her website. I am looking forward to knitting other items form this book too, I just probably won't get to them while I am expecting.
This blanket started out with casting on just 4 stitches and then increasing a lot to make a square. I started this blanket many, many times over. The beginning is very tricky, but once you get through those first few rounds, it gets much better. It is great TV watching knitting too because the pattern is so easily remembered. Soon, the blanket will be so big that I will need to add another cable on to my needles, one of the great things I love about interchangeable needle sets. With my knitting cable connector set, I can make my circular needle as long as I need it to be. I love circular needles and I love being able to adjust their length! This is the KnitPick's Harmony Wood Interchangeable Needle Set. I've had this set for over 18 months and love it. So worth the investment.
But now I am at a stopping point, I have knit as much of this blanket as I can without guidance The next step in the pattern is a bit confusing (okay, maybe really confusing), so I will need to visit my local yarn store and get some advice. I love having a friendly yarn store to help me with all my issues. I have 9 skeins of yarn left (with about 100 yards per skein) to knit into this blanket and only 9 more weeks until my due date. This works out perfectly to be a skein a week, however I would love to get this done before then, so I must visit the yarn store for advice soon (and not buy anything, right?).
On the home front, I think we are coming out of a a crazy spell, until the baby is born anyway. That will be a crazy time for sure. Until then, we have weeks of summer ahead of us. The summer class I usually teach has been cancelled due to low enrollment. While this is a bummer for the cash flow, it it probably a good idea for my sanity. D is finished with swim lessons until after the baby is born. My husband's work schedule is a bit less crazy and he has been home quite a few nights recently. (Maybe he can start working on updating the bathroom and fixing the gutters.) I also have a whole week of vacation to use in June before the end of the fiscal year (it is time I cannot use for maternity leave since maternity leave is after the beginning of the new fiscal year). I've made a list of all the cool things to do around the area all summer. We might do these things or not, I am just trying to take things a bit slower and not "over do it" in my last few weeks of pregnancy.
Oh and I turn 30 this week. Instead of meeting this day with alarm, it is giving me a sense of calm. I have high hopes for my 30s. Somehow I feel I will be a wiser, better person, I doubt that this will really happen, but it might. Like I said, I have high hopes. It is kind of like a New Year's resolution period. I am entering a new decade and I can make new goals and dreams, however unlikely this all sounds. I will become organized, raise two children, keep a clean house, cook only with whole foods, be a model employee, continue to be a wonderful wife, daughter, sister, aunt, and friend, and have time for knitting, reading and running, maybe train for a triathlon. Is all of this possible? No, not really, but it is nice to have hopes and aspirations. I do have a decade to get it figured out.
Any advice for turning 30?
No comments:
Post a Comment