Baby Luke's ABC Blanket.....

One of my co-workers and his wife are expecting their first baby in January. They are a sweet, sweet couple, and beautiful to boot. I struggle on a daily basis not to hate their guts. They are also roughly the age of my own Sweet Girl, which makes me realize I am old enough to be a grandmother.

Yikes.

I have made this particular pattern four times now. The first time was for my friend Neena WHOSE BIRTHDAY JUST HAPPENS TO BE TODAY - HAPPY BIRTHDAY, NEENA!!! Sorry....Forgive me for shouting. I get overexcited sometimes.

Neena, I know what the hell I'm doing now, and I can make this blanket with the edges EVEN. Could I replace the one I crocheted for one of your precious babies? I realize the retarded defective one might have "character," but it makes me cringe with shame when I realize that back then I thought "approximately" the same number of stitches on each row might be acceptable. What a dork.

Sorry the picture isn't better. I tend to do things like wait until the sun goes down to try to take a picture in natural light because I don't like the flash. Also, the fact that you can't see the "A, B, C" at the top is causing a severe Monk Moment even as we speak. Another thing I never think to do is take multiple shots from different angles and different amounts of ....... up-closeness? Reason #989164718 that I'll never be a REAL photographer.

This pattern is actually a lot easier than it looks. It's just single crochet stitches, with the letters formed by making puff stitches. The only challenge is that when it's time to make the puff stitches, I'm working from the BACK of the pattern. If I get involved in a baseball or football game, sometimes I just sail along making single crochet stitches and forget to throw in a puff stitch every now and then to form the letters of the alphabet. The last time I made this blanket, for a friend of Sweet Girl's, I was so confident that I knew what I was doing that when I made the letter "J," I made it backward.

The part of this blanket that makes me CURSE is the border. I have to make puff stitches just like I do for the letters, but they don't fit neatly into the side stitches and the bottom edge stitches. By the time I get to the border, though, I've got so much time invested in the rest of the blanket that I have to finish it. And by the time I hear of another pregnancy, I forget what a beeyotch the border was, and the cycle begins again.

If you would like to give one of these adorable blankets to someone in your life who is expecting a little bundle of joy, just let me know. I'll be happy to share the pattern with you.