You know that moment as a wife when you are like, "Managing a household? I got this"? That moment when you feel confident to cook, clean, pay bills, calculate next month's budget, tend the flowers out front, and work a full-time and part-time job, all at the same time?
Yeah, me neither. (I did put pants on today and Brian served two piping hot grilled cheese sandwiches for dinner, so I'm definitely getting closer. Plus it helps I already killed the flowers last summer. I digress.)
BUT in one shining "proud wife" moment this month (outside the putting on of real pants, of course), I learned how to crochet and finished my first project!
By 'learned" I mean I found a pattern I liked that included the words "Beginner" and "Easy", and then I You-Tubed (that's a verb, right?) each stitch until I was able to fumble through the first row, then the second, and so on. Regardless, I'm pretty darn proud of the end project: a baby blanket for my dear friend, expecting her first little boy this summer.
I used THIS pattern from Southern Daisy, which I found to be both achievable enough to catch my attention and challenging enough to keep it. This coming from my vast wealth of experience from my previous zero projects, of course.
I used THIS pattern from Southern Daisy, which I found to be both achievable enough to catch my attention and challenging enough to keep it. This coming from my vast wealth of experience from my previous zero projects, of course.
Too afraid to test my narrow limits, I decided to follow the pattern exactly. I used a 5mm crochet hook and Yarn Bee worsted weight (that's #4 medium) yarn. I chose Sky Blue, Fog, and White -- I told you I followed the pattern exactly, didn't I? -- and started with the blue to chain 142 stitches. From there I just continued with the pattern, alternating between three rows of blue and three rows of gray, separated each time by one row of white.
The blog's author stated her baby blanket was 34" x 45". Mine was somewhere in the vicinity of 25.5" x 35". Same number of stitches, same amount of yarn. My only guess is that my stitches were significantly tighter than hers. There's probably a crochet term for that. Maybe I'll YouTube it later.
The blog's author stated her baby blanket was 34" x 45". Mine was somewhere in the vicinity of 25.5" x 35". Same number of stitches, same amount of yarn. My only guess is that my stitches were significantly tighter than hers. There's probably a crochet term for that. Maybe I'll YouTube it later.
For all of you as impatient as I am, this blanket moves fast. Of course, I took up this hobby because my doctor gave me an ultimatum to find a channel for the stress of working 60-hour night-shift work weeks before I had a heart attack. This blanket might just be an indication of how freaking hard stressful my last two weeks at work have been, but I finished this blanket in 14 days flat.
Despite its imperfections and losing a few inches all the way around, I love this blanket and I am soooo excited to give it to Baby B and his adorable parents! Now if only he would get here already so I can hold him. :)
Despite its imperfections and losing a few inches all the way around, I love this blanket and I am soooo excited to give it to Baby B and his adorable parents! Now if only he would get here already so I can hold him. :)
