Knitting is the name of game

I have been in a knitting frenzy the last couple weeks - gosh maybe longer. As you know I'm expecting a baby boy in April. You'd think I'd be all too excited to knit up a wonderful blanket or some clothes for him, but alas I bought the yarn for a blanket and decided against it after knitting a swatch for the pattern. It turns out it's a very heavy gauge holding two strands together to make a very bulky weight yarn. Not really baby blanket-style to me. So, fortunately my BFF is also expecting a baby boy - just one month after I am due. Well, of course I had to start a project for her!! I had seen this cute patchwork blanket here on Ravelry when I had been looking for a design for my own baby's blanket. My BFF is set on a very specific color scheme of gray and yellow  for her baby's room, so I headed to Michael's and picked out the perfect shades and included some white to have a good variety. I remember when I first showed them to her, she gave me a hug and said, "Finally someone understands what I want".

I set straight to work on it. That was back in November. My original dimensions were just 4 squares by 4 squares but when we laid out the first few I had finished she decided it should be 6 by 6. She's my BFF so I went along. :) As of a few weeks ago here's how it looked so far. There's 21 1/2 piece done in this pic, but now I have 24 complete - 2/3 done!

However, if anyone knows what kind of knitter I am, they might ask why I decided on a patchwork blanket since I HATE the finishing part of knitting. That is, piecing together and weaving in all the ends. Do you see how many ends and pieces I will have to put together? What was I thinking!!

So, last Thursday I was feeling a little shaky about my current pregnancy and frankly worried that things were starting to go downhill toward Pre-Eclampsia (turns out it was all in my head), so I decided I need to relax. What better way than knitting - and not something frustrating, but something mindless and fun. How about socks for me? Besides, I finally completed a pair for Hubby a couple weeks ago (after he was complaining that I was spending too much time on BFF's blanket) and honestly after they were done I thought, "that wasn't so hard". What took me so long?!

So, trying to spend my days relaxing both Friday and Saturday, I knit my little heart out. I finished one whole sock for myself. Here was the start. It is a self-striping yarn I got at a thrift shop for only $3.50 that still had the original price tag of $17!

After texting my BFF about my new socks she reminded me that I had told the other girls in my Bradley Method birthing class that I would knit them all hats for their babies. There are two having girls and three of us having boys. So I set aside my sock and started straight away! Here's the first girl hat.

Well that only took about two hours so I then went back to work on my socks and by Sunday evening I had a whole first sock done. Back to work on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday so not much time for knitting. However, by Friday, I was back in gear and back to baby hats. Actually, this next one turned out more like a toddler hat, I think, since it nearly fits June Bug. Oh, well it was only about two hours, so if I decide to keep it for my baby and make a slightly smaller one for the.other girl's baby, it'll probably knit up in a jiffy.

Last night I was determined to tackle some sort of start of seaming up the blanket for BFF's baby. I had to start somewhere, right? I tried two different techniques. Mattress stitch and whip stitch. What do you think?

Mattress Stitch

Whip Stitch

This is the back of the blanket. Hubby likes the whip stitch and I think I do too. The front looks really nice and about the same for both. I'll ask BFF what she thinks too, but I'll show her the live pieces.

So, today I am suffering with a head cold so I couldn't go to a very anticipated kids party where June Bug was invited. However, hubby had the day off and took her for me. What a great husband! I rested and of course knitted. I did a little work on my second sock and as of this evening started the second baby girl hat. I think that that hem alone took two hours, but I was watching Vanity Fair with Reese Witherspoon, so I was a little distracted. lol I love Reese! I can't beleive I've never seen it. I've watched Sweet Home Alabama probably half a dozen times! Well, Dr. McDreamy is in that one too, so you can't blame me. :)

Oh, here's how the baby girl hat #2 is progressing

P.S. In case you were wondering why I've been in such a knitting frenzy (besides trying to relax), it's because I found a new blog to follow. Yes, I've caught up on every post she's ever done. Wait, should I admit that? Anyway, what a knitter!! You can find her here http://allkindsofknitting.wordpress.com/.