Getting my flow back

I think you all know by now that it’s been a bit of a rough year for me. I haven’t done much crafting at all. I hit a wall on a few of my ongoing projects and just couldn’t get into the right mindset to start something new. I really needed a relatively quick and easy project that I could just throw myself at, to get my flow back.

Well, a few weeks ago, one of my coworkers at the restaurant (did I mention I’m waiting tables now to make ends meet?) mentioned that she didn’t have a baby blanket she liked for the baby she’s due with at the end of January. It’s her second kid, and she said she was gifted tons of special blankets for her eldest, but nothing really special for this new baby. Kismet.

No real baby pictures in this post, but baby C’s doll is modeling the blanket. Fun fact, this doll has a budding acting and modeling career, since it also played the roll of Jesus in this year’s pageant at Caitlin’s church, and C climbed up on the chancel during the play to try to pull the doll right out of the manger!

I bought some yarn (well, I sent Caitlin to buy some yarn, she bought more than double what I needed of course) and started knitting. I’ve made a lot of baby blankets over the last few years. For my own kids, for my nephews, for several friends’ babies. Some I’ve purchased patterns, some I’ve written my own patterns. This is the first time I just kind of winged it. I did use free font pattern for the lettering, and I did sketch out the phoenix (with Caitlin’s help) on graph paper before knitting that section. But other than that, no pattern at all, I just kind of made it up as I went along.

Here’s the phoenix picture, I’m not super thrilled with it but it’s really hard to get a recognizable design for something as complex as a phoenix in a 22×22 pixelated grid!

It was liberating! I didn’t make a gauge square, I didn’t take any measurements, my plan consisted of a few scribbled hand written notes in my pattern book. I knew I wanted a border for stability, and a name panel in the middle. I like cables, so I added some 3 strand braided cables flanking the name. Several times I wasn’t sure if it was turning out right, I came very close to frogging and re- evaluating more than once. But I was determined to trust my instinct and just keep going. It’s not perfect, and it’s not my fanciest or most elaborate work, but I’m pretty pleased with how it turned out! It’s empowering to see how much I’ve grown as an artist, knowing that a few years ago I would have considered a blanket like this to be a big challenge, requiring a detailed pattern that I’d need to reference constantly, and taking months of work. Now, I can pull it out my ass in just a few short weeks.

I was able to give it to my coworker in plenty of time before her baby was born, and I hope it brings joy and comfort and warmth to little baby Phoenix. And, best of all, I’m hopeful that this project has given me the momentum I needed to pick back up some of my other UFOs that have been taunting me for the past year.

  • Featured project: Phoenix Blanket
  • Medium: knitting
  • Pattern: Original
  • Materials: Big Twist, Bulky, 100% acrylic Gentle
  • Started December 2023, Completed: January 2024
  • Time to complete: approximately 20 hours
  • Price I would charge for a similar project on commission: $320

#knitting #doneisgood #showcase

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