Call me crazy!

13 of these
(slinky, silky, soft Knitpicks Shine)

Plus

One of these
(that's a size 4, baby)

Equals

Me in a couple of months

OR

The beautiful Debbie Bliss Baby Knits Alphabet Blanket. Isn't it stunning?

How this came about...my first niece or nephew is due in May, and I'm pretty excited. I decided that any baby related to me (the only knitter in the family) needed a special baby blanket. I checked out several books from the library, browsed the internet, and leafed through patterns at my LYS. Nothing grabbed me until I saw this.

It's perfect. It's good for a boy or a girl. Since they don't know what they are having yet nor has nursery stuff been picked out (to my knowledge anyway), it made the answer to what color to make it easy. It's also not your typical baby blanket. Not that all handmade baby gifts aren't special but this one is just so nice. This is the one.

258 rows of the chart, not including the edging, at 6 st/inch. 187 stitches per row. What am I getting myself into??? That means 48,246 stitches just for the main part, not including the edging that isn't a small feat itself. At least I have until May! If I average about 10 rows a week, that leaves a few rows before baby's born to do the edging, and Baby H can come home from the hospital wrapped in a gift from Auntie Stacy (er, since Baby is due in May, maybe not. But the thought is nice).

I woke up yesterday morning and wasn't feeling so hot. The horrific display by the Kentucky football team didn't make me feel any better. So rather than do anything productive or actually leave my house, I began work on the blanket. Shine is so nice to work with. It's definitely deserving of all the raves it's gotten.

I cast on (187 stitches per row!) and did 4 rows. Oops, screwed up the whole RS/WS thing. Rip it out and do another 4 rows. Oops, should have purled that row way back there at the beginning, instead of knitting it. Eh, it doesn't looks so out of place given the border. No one will ever notice, right? Forge ahead and complete 7 rows. Of course, someone will notice. I NOTICE and can't take my eyes off the mistake. What if baby is as anal as me? Rip back and prepare to begin again. It's a simple chart, my mind just wasn't functioning yesterday. Let's hope I can make it past row 4 without any more major mistakes!

Speaking of the horror that is the University of Kentucky football team...

President Bush is trying to persuade Kentucky Head Coach Rich Brooks to take over as permanent FEMA Director based on his ability to evacuate 65,000 people from a stadium in less than thirty minutes.

In recent weeks, they have been so bad it was almost comical. Yesterday, it wasn't funny. Not even close. I love my Cats and will always love them but it's no wonder people are giving up season tickets in droves (not us, we're suckers). Thank goodness for basketball starting in only 5 days, 6 hours, 12 minutes, 36, no...33, no...29 seconds (you get the point) according to UKathletics! The boy's gotten me into the Pittsburgh Steelers this season, and I have always liked the Bengals. At least both of those teams are doing well so football season hasn't been a total wash.