Adventures in Knitting a Baby Blanket

Deciding to knit a baby blanket was the easy part.  Search through Ravelry for the perfect blanket design and then buy the suggested materials? Noooo, not Haze. That would have been far too easy. I had a vision.  Fuzzy, like watching an old tv signal from an antenna that didn't quite pick it up .. but still a vision that I knew I had to follow.

I knew it had to be crib (cot) size. Not too big, not too small.  About this wide (what you can't see me stretch my arms?) okay, about a yard/metre wide, give or take 6 inches.  And roughly 50'ish inches long. Yes this was very mathematically calculated and precisely measured, why do you ask?

I knew it had to be edged with satin blanket binding. This was a no-brainer for me.  Because what baby doesn't love the feel of satin between their fingers as they suck their fingers or thumb?

I knew it had to be varying shades of  mauve, yellow and blue. This was part of the vision. You don't mess with the vision!  I found the most colourful satin edging at....wait for it... Walmart.  Yes, I bought satin edging that had all the required colours in it!  When knitting a blanket, who doesn't go and buy the satin edging first?
 
Next I  started the search for the yarn.  This little grandbaby is going to be born and will live in Australia.  Australia = Hot. Wool = Out. Acrylic=Out. Cotton = In. Bamboo=In.   So with binding in hand to match/contrast colours,  off I go to Ram Wools Yarn Co-op.  After a brief discussion with the very helpful gal that was working that day, we chose Estelle Cotton Cloud. Soft, lightweight and hopefully durable (we'll find out). I purchased multiple skeins in yellow, mauve and a shade of blue that I always call pencil crayon peacock blue, and that didn't clash too badly with the binding! 


I knew it had to be backed with blanket fleece.  This would make it warm enough on those cold Australian winter nights (yes, it does actually get cold at night there... it's all relative) And it would also be a nice thick pad for baby for tummy time on the floor. And hopefully to be snuggled up with as baby grows into a toddler and beyond.

With Sating binding and a braid of the three yarn colours in hand, I trek over to the fabric store.  I had a vision of (yes again with the visions) a deep blue that would compliment the peacock blue and contrast vividly with the yellow and mauve.  Fail.  I had 4 choices,  Goldenrod (puke yellow), Hot Pink (my daughter had been very explicit in her command to limit the amount of  pink...oh, did I not mention that at this point we knew our grandbaby was going to be a little girl!), Brown..really an ugly, pooh brown.  Or White.  White.  Who doesn't think White is a great choice for a baby blanket that will be dragged around and used on the floor?  Yes, I bought the White.  I only have to make it, I don't have to wash it!

I knew I was knitting quilt squares and I wanted them all different textures.  This is where Ravelry came in handy!!  I found various knitted afghans that had been knit in squares.  I knit the ones that moved me at that moment (again, this was all very specifically planned and thought out! Not!)

Now, quickly, glance up at the name of this blog.  Creative Procrastinator.  I know myself well enough to know that if I knit a bunch of squares that had to be sewn together I was going to have yet another bag with a partially finished project stuffed into a corner in my craft room.   I decided to knit the squares together as I knit them.

I started knitting in June.  Aylen Patricia Joan Robenn was born on July 20.  I knew I was going to see her in November.   I finished the blanket!!

I posted more information on the squares and more pictures of the blanket in progress and finished on my Ravelry Project page.

2011? Really?

It's time to blow the dust off this blog! I'm going to commit to 2 blog reports per week.
One for my knitting and crafting, which I will post in a day or two.
The other weekly post (starting today) will be for the never-ending 'life style change' that goes hand in hand with being fat.

Yes, Fat. Not plus-size, not over-weight, not any of the other politically correct terms we hear now to describe someone of my size.... reality check.. I'm Fat. But that is NOT the end of the story. It's not the beginning either. I've been on this journey, or roller coaster ride, for most of my adult life. Sadly for the first several years I didn't realize that I was actually a healthy weight! Really, I'm 5'9" and used to think and feel fat when I weighed over 130lbs.!! I remember thinking I was going to die when I hit 160. What I wouldn't give to feel THAT fat again! My current weight is 250lbs. (Yes Oprah, it IS about the number when the number is that big!)

I cannot begin to count, or list all the diets I've been on. I've had several 'lifestyle changes'. I've eaten cabbage soup, grapefruit, protein shakes, Slim-fast, Atkins..Atkins does work if you follow it properly, trick is to stay away from the birthday cake and ice cream, heck they probably all work if you stay away from the ice cream! I even handed over my wallet to U-Weight Loss Centres, but I'm not saying anything more about them, they are bad for my blood pressure and sense of serenity... I'm currently a paid up member of Weight Watchers on-line, but can't remember my password, I own all the Biggest Loser Books (yes I joined there also, but cancelled my membership) I have bought and given away most published diet books. Currently own and recently purchased The Core Balance Plan, Dukan Diet and The Cleanse. I own several exercise DVD's, Wii-Fit, Treadmill, York Gym and AeroPilates (must admit I do like doing the pilates workout).

So that's a brief history of my journey. Sort of looks like my golf game, all over the course and if there's a water hole I'll be in it!.

So today is the first day of the next stage. I'm going to be taking everything I've learned from all the various sources and figure out what works for me. I'm going to commit to doing some sort of exercise every day and I'm going to journal what I eat, how I feel and what is going on emotionally. So that's today. I'll be back next Friday with a report on how Week One goes.

how I Knit

There's a thread on Ravelry asking 'I'll show you mine if....' well it's all about the many different ways people knit. This is a bad video of How I Knit. First the Purl stitch, then the Knit stitch.

Two-Colour Lever style knitting

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This is a bad video of how I knit with two colours. I suggest you turn off your sound as my husband, the not-so-professional photographer has a bit of a cold and coughs part way through the video. I don't speak, so I don't know why he had the sound on....

Anyway, I hold both strands in my right hand, one in front of my index finger and one behind. I do both knit and purl this way. I am now humbled at how hard it is to knit when someone has a camera trained on your every motion! I can't believe how nervous it made me!