My friend Dominique, who I’ve known since school, has given birth to a baby girl recently! I’m still amazed that I’m at the age where people marry and give birth. It feels so grown up! Obviously that notion is fully ridiculous, as I’m in my thirties. (I’ll lose my delusions at some point, hopefully.) Anyway, I’m super happy and excited for her!

While I’m not much of a baby person, I LOVE knitting baby stuff! The little hats and mittens and booties are just so goshdarn cute. Unfortunately, babies grow very fast, which means you blink once and they’ve grown out of the clothes and accessoires you’ve made for them. That’s why I figured a blanket might be a better present, because it’s versatile and you get more use out of it in the long run.

I picked the Pinkie Blankie by Julie Riedl from my Ravely queue. It has been sitting there for years, waiting for the perfect moment! Technically, it’s a pattern for adults, but I figured it might be especially useful for a baby mom now that autumn and winter are near! The blanket is knit in a super bulky yarn weight so Dominique and her little one are going to be warm in the upcoming colder months.

I agonized over the yarn I was going to use for the pattern. Sounds dramatic, but it’s the truth! I wanted something soft and cozy, but at the same time it needed to be able to withstand multiple washings. To be honest, I worry about the latter because I ended up choosing a wool alpaca blend. I just hated every single option with synthetic fibre content … Hopefully, it’ll hold up in the wash, but I’ve had a good experience with that particular DROPS yarn in that regard.

And honestly, doesn’t it look scrumptious? I kind of want to wrap it around myself like a warm, soft cocoon and stay like that all winter. 😀 I hope Dominique will love it as well!

PROJECT OVERVIEW

Pattern: Pinkie Blankie by Julie Ridl

Yarn: Garnstudio DROPS Andes (super bulky, 65% wool/35% alpaca), 6990 Navy Blue