A Cardigan for Baby Girl

Yesterday, I finally put the finishing touches on a cardigan I've been knitting for Baby Girl:

I finished the cardigan a few weeks ago but needed buttons. There is a fabric store in West Los Angeles that has the most amazing button selection, but yeah, I didn't have the energy to make the pilgrimage. I decided to visit our local JoAnne's instead - except I kept delaying that outing as well, again for lack of energy. Finally, after lunch yesterday, I managed to drag my pregnant ass to JoAnne's and was rewarded with these sweet bunny buttons:

The pattern for this cardigan is in More Last-Minute Knitted Gifts. It's the first pattern I tried from the book, and I pretty much want to knit everything in the book. The cardigan was relatively easy to knit but it was a learning experience. It's been a long time since I knit something more complicated than a blanket or scarf, and I thought I could knit this cardigan while watching television. BIG EFFING MISTAKE. I was 90% done with the cardigan when I realized I had done something ass-backwards that could not be undone. This mistake was entirely my fault and I had to unravel the entire sweater and start over.

Fortunately, baby sweaters are so tiny it hurts, so starting over is not such a big deal. But seven or eight years ago, I was a crazy perfectionist. If something like this had happened, I would have cried and raged at myself and buried all of my knitting supplies in the back of my closet. I would not have touched my needles for at least a year.

But I've grown up a lot and become much more patient with myself. When I realized I had totally effed up Baby Girl's cardigan, I shook my head, laughed a little, calmly frogged the project, and happily started over. Maybe this is just a sign that I'm getting older and wiser. Maybe it's the pregnancy hormones. Or maybe it's the fact that I haven't had caffeine since before I got pregnant. But I think it also has something to do with cooking.

I've been cooking more and more over the last decade, and cooking has taught me a lot about mistakes and improvisation. If you cook enough, you will ruin your fair share of dishes and that's okay. At least twice a year, I completely ruin dinner and Nathan has to run to McDonald's for burgers and that's okay. Sometimes the roasted asparagus is a little too salty or the cookies are a little burned, but hey, that's okay. Cooking has taught me to be patient and kind to myself when I whip up a kitchen disaster. Lucky for me, that patience has spilled over into the rest of my life.

My First Baby Blanket

I have wanted to knit a baby blanket since my Grandma Shirley first taught me how to knit, way back when I was in law school. In the intervening years, many babies I know have been conceived and born; but I never finished a baby blanket.

I tried! Seriously, I tried to knit blankets for a half dozen babies, but I always got disgusted with the yarn. The yarn for Baby Natalie's blanket was too itchy. The yellow yarn for Baby Annie's blanket was too cheap and started to fall apart. And so on. I accepted that I would never cross this item off my knitting bucket list.

Then I discovered Abuelita's, my favorite yarn store, which is a slice of yarn heaven in South Pasadena; and while browsing their yarn selection, I fell in love with Berroco Weekend.  Berroco Weekend is 75% acrylic, 25% Cotton, and 100% gorgeous. I could not resist buying a rainbow of colors (literally):

I followed the Purl Bee's Super Easy Baby Blanket pattern, and two months later, I finished my first baby blanket:

The blanket has been sent to its new owner, a newborn in Boston. I hope the blanket survives its cross-country journey! If it gets lost and ends up in a crack house or den of inequity, I will weep. Maybe I should only knit for Southern California babies?

I've already bought more yarn for my next striped baby blanket. The last blanket took over two months to knit, but with the Olympics coming (yippee!), I foresee many hours knitting in front of the television. (Is that ironic or just pathetic?).