The Babette blanket

I've been crocheting for about two years now. I originally learned at my tiny Lutheran grade school - all the students, including the boys, were taught to crochet. At the time, I was impatient and apparently a bit anxious - I could not master the relaxed tension in the yarn and therefore anything i made would grow smaller and smaller as my stitches got more and more cramped. And when a scarf did not appear after a few hours of work, I was bored. So I gave up that hobby fairly quickly.

I decided to start crocheting again after attending a continuing education class and observing a few other women knitting during the class. My brother and his wife were expecting a baby, and I realized that a beautiful handmade blanket would be a nice keepsake for my niece. My first blanket was a disaster because I forgot the composition of some of the basic stitches. It had some nifty stretchy qualities, though. My second attempt at a blanket for my niece was a basic granny square since I was running out of time before baby's arrival. Since then, I have made seven other baby blankets and two oversized throws. Here's what I've learned:

1. Crocheting satisfies my inability to just sit and watch TV. I must have something else to do. (sidenote - it isn't uncommon for me to read and also watch TV, and know exactly what is going on with both.)

2. Making blankets isn't cheap. Yarn can be expensive. I try to get reasonably priced yarn that is still decent quality. The average skein (or bundle for those not versed in geeky yarn technology) is $3-4 dollars. Baby blankets can average 6 skeins - so that's about $24 dollars just in materials. Yes, you can get a nice soft fleece blanket at Target much cheaper.

3. People are very impressed that I can actually make a blanket. It's almost like a stupid human trick. When the mom-to-be unwraps the blanket and finds out it has been made, not purchased, and by someone under the age of 80 no less, they are amazed and awed. I am still somewhat surprised by this, as crocheting takes some skill, but it's fairly easy to at least become decent at it.

4. I like to test the limits of my ability. My stepdaughter's blanket(s) are a testament to this. Since observing me crocheting baby blankets, she asked me to make her one. I said I would, and she could choose the yarn, and the pattern (oops - mistake). First, she chose a strip blanket (not one where you tuck a dollar in between the rows, but rather one where you crochet various strips, then stitch them together). I. Hate. Strip. Blankets. I made one, and I have vowed to never make another, because I am not consistent enough to make joining the strips all easy-peasy. So I vetoed the strip blanket. Then, after I talked her out of the (admittedly patriotic) red, white, and blue yarn (she's 10, and would have abhorred the thing in about a year). She chose yarns in all shades of blue, but two different weights. I tried valiantly to make that work - changed my yarn tension, changed hooks depending on weight - the edge of the blanket still wove in and out like I had been crocheting drunk and with my feet. So after about 20 rows or so, I admitted defeat. My admission of defeat only occurred after my discovery of the Babette blanket.



I stumbled on a picture of the babette blanket online one day, and loved it. Beautiful bright colors, irregular squares, sort of a crocheted crazy quilt - and fit my stepdaughter's personality perfectly (the original blue blanket was supposed to be a bunch of irregularly sized stripes in differing shades of blue). The babette blanket uses 17 different colors of yarn, and involves over a hundred different sized granny squares. (which brings back in my expensive comment before - stepdaughter's blanket is probably going to cost about $50 in materials - but she's worth it). So, I am knee-deep into the making of this blanket and loving it. I hope to make another when this one is done (which I will probably be able to do with the leftovers from the 17 skeins of yarn I had to purchase). My husband thinks I'm nuts, but also loves that I do such a homey, family-oriented hobby. I hope to take some pictures to post of the progress soon.