Every so often, I get the desire to do some knitting. I’m not an advanced knitter. I’m self-taught, and good enough to make decent scarves or blankets or washclothes. Sweaters? Anything with shaping? Not my forte.
I have a lovely friend named Julie whom I met singing with the Cleveland Orchestra Chorus. Last fall, when I rejoined the chorus, Julie told me she wouldn’t be singing as she was pregnant and her second daughter would be born in January. We’ve talked on and off during the pregnancy, and shortly before Thanksgiving, I asked Julie what I could get as a gift for the new baby. She showed me the darling linens she had chosen at Crate & Barrel Kids. The name of the pattern is Sunshine, and I told her I’d split the cost of the comforter with her. And then she asked if I’d knit the new baby a blanket, as I did for Julie’s first daughter, who was born about eight years ago. Another handknit baby blanket? Absolutely! I said yes, and started looking for my favorite baby blanket pattern. (I knit the first of these patterns as a gift for a sister-in-law in 1973.) I couldn’t find the exact pattern, but found a similar pattern, which I’ve been very happy with.
I did some searching on Ravelry, and found the Window Pane Pram Blanket, from Morris & Sons.
I looked at the colors in the linens for the baby’s room, and found a yarn I loved. Berroco makes a cotton blend yarn they’ve named “Modern Cotton.” It’s 60% Pima cotton and 40% rayon. And the color? I loved it. (We’ll ignore the fact that I couldn’t get a picture with a true representation of the yarn color, and just look at Berroco’s marketing photo.) The color is named Salty Brine.
I started the project a week or so before Christmas. I knitted while riding in a carpool to Cleveland Orchestra Chorus rehearsals. I knitted in the hotel the first weekend of six Cleveland performances. I knitted as I “watched” (i.e. listened to) the evening news. And when all was said and done, the 135 stitches-per-row blanket had 223 rows. If you do the math, that’s 30,105 stitches. That number takes my breath away. But when I look at the photo of the new baby wrapped in her blanket, which was finished two days after her birth, every stitch was worth the effort to me.
Congratulations, Julie. I’m so happy for you and your family.
