the hoodie (that once was a blanket)…

A Story Involving a Little Prince, a Few Balls of Yarn and a Complete Frog…

I first learned to knit in March of 2005. I started out knitting a scarf for my daughter. That Christmas, I knit everyone in my family something and I just about burned myself out on knitting for good!

Then in March of 2006 I picked up the needles again in the attempt to knit my son a warm blanket for his crib:

I picked a thin yarn (Sugar ‘n Cream), which I doubled (see the two strands of yarn?), a large set of needles (US 15), and a Moss stitch (K1, P1, end with K1). This was back when I only knew how to knit English-style. Whoever coined the term “thrower” was very clever. I nearly wore my arm out throwing the yarn back and forth to knit and purl this blanket!

Well, I started this project about four months before my son’s birth and I still wasn’t done by the time he’d had his first birthday. Then one day fine in August I took a good, hard look at this nearly finished blanket and made a good decision: I was never going to use this blanket. And even though it was the right size to keep him nice and warm at his age, I had to admit it—I didn’t like the blanket. So, I frogged the entire thing…

Gasp!

And then I went to the library and checked out a copy of Debbie Bliss’ Special Knits for Babies. It was my intention to make a hoodie for my son (size 24m). But you know what they say about gauge! You need to check it first. Oh, and if you’re also bad and numbers and math, you should also have someone double-check your work so that you’re sure that you don’t mess up the needle size, too. Thankfully, I have a very appreciative four year old daughter who’s going to love this her new hoodie (size 5T?!):

Once it’s all sewn up, that is. But that shouldn’t take me too long, right? ::wink::

What is it with knitters and unfinished projects? Well, to my credit, this is the only one of it’s type. I don’t have a lot of UFOs living around here, just this hoodie. But you’d think I’d finish this off before casting on a scarf and a pair of socks! And then there’s that little pink hat that’s waiting patiently for it’s turn to be cast on, too… but not before I sew this up! Promise!

Having a blog can help keep you accountable to finish what you start, I think. Well, I’m hoping that’s true for me because that’s the whole point of this post! Ha! ::wink::

And now my story is done (well, almost done…). Off to sew!