For some reason, when I was pregnant with our first daughter, I imagined her receiving at least one sweet, handmade baby blanket. I figured it was a given. When she was born and said blanket ended up being a figment of my imagination, I decided it was up to me to provide her with a special blanket she could cherish forever. After some issues with the pattern (namely that, at this point, I had never read a pattern and I inadvertently messed it up and then had to make something up or unravel all of my work and start over), a terrible yarn choice and a lengthy project made even longer by choosing to use a pretty small hook, I finally finished her "special blankey" (as she still calls it). She was almost 2 and I vowed I'd never do it again. Except for the fact that I was pregnant with daughter #2. So...here we go again! I was determined that Matilda would have her blanket while she was still a baby! Since my husband was gone at the Navy's OCS and we had moved in with his parents, I had a lot of extra time on my hands. I was able to finish it in the car, on the way to his graduation in Rhode Island. Matilda was 6 months old! I did it! Then 6 weeks later, after an extended stay in a hotel in Newport, R.I. and a hotel in Norfolk, VA, we moved into our current house in Virginia Beach. We unpacked our carload of belongings...no blanket. NOOOOOOOOOO!!!! Somewhere between the hotels and our house it disappeared. I mourned the loss of that blanket far more than little Matilda did. All those hours of work! Periodically my husband would mention that it would be nice for Matilda to have her own special blankey, but the thought of making another one made me shudder. As I've said in previous posts, I love doing amigurumi and making hats because of the quick completion time. Blankets are tedious! Last month though, after completing my last round of orders and gifts, I started thinking about it again. She should have a blanket--it's not her fault hers was lost, after all--and now we have baby boy who is also without a special blanket. It wouldn't be fair for me to make one for Theodore when Matilda doesn't have one. Blanket time! I found myself falling surprisingly* in love with the retro zigzag pattern. It reminds me of old ladies and I feel like it should be made with mustard yellow and avocado. ;) I found an easy pattern that was less severe--more of a ripple than a zigzag--(and there's also a photo tutorial if you need one) on Attic 24 and set to work. I gave myself a bit of a break by choosing a larger hook (an "I" in this case) and using 4 different shades of purple. I realize that doesn't actually make it go any faster--and weaving in all those ends is annoying--but every time I finished a row and started a new color I felt like I had accomplished something! 2 weeks later, Matilda's Special Blankey 2.0 is ready for snuggling!
I had intended it to be wider but she became very insistent that the ripples not be touching her chin so I made the flat edges the top and bottom instead. Miss M is very particular!
*surprising because I feel that crochet can sometimes look cheap and old lady/dated (certain yarns make this worse) and previously zigzag was one of those patterns that made me feel this way (along with your run-of-the-mill granny square).
